As a sometime royal reporter – working for Time Inc. in London – I have processed through the dislike and envy felt by every normal human faced with the Windsor’s unimaginable wealth and power, through to a grudging acceptance of just how bloody hard the family works, how much good they do, and how important they are to the world. This is the attitude of a woman, which is to say me, dragged into maturity at the last moment possible, and forced to recognize that adulting comes along with the dullest of duties and that weirdly, performing them, brings happiness.

The most accurate assessment of Meghan Markle’s sojourn with the Royal Family and her break-out response comes from Rose Adkins Hulse, a successful black woman from Santa Monica who married the grandson of a baronet and whose 2017 wedding was lavishly featured in Tatler, Britain’s society rag.