Who cares about Meghan Markle?

Why should any of us care that The Real Housewives of Westminster is due to receive an additional cast member sometime in the next year?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
(Image credit: Alexi Lubomirski via Getty Images)

The news that the actress who played Jill in the first two episodes of the 2008 incarnation of 90210 is affianced to a 33-year-old reformed pot smoker and ex-soldier would be of almost zero significance to those of us who do not care about the personal lives of H-list celebrities if it were not for the fact that the latter's grandmother is one Mrs. Elizabeth Mountbatten, better known as Queen Elizabeth II.

What difference does that make, though? The conduct of Britain's supposed royal family has been indistinguishable from that of the permanent tabloid class since at least the '80s, if not the '30s, when the Nazi-sympathizing Edward VIII at least had the decency to "abdicate," despite the assurances of such charming pals as Sir Oswald Mosley that marrying a divorced American socialite would not be frowned upon in the only circles that mattered, i.e., the continental set surrounding Goebbels. Why should any of us care that The Real Housewives of Westminster is due to receive an additional cast member sometime in the next year?

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.