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Princess Kate’s Message for Ukraine Evokes Meghan Backlash

Kate Middleton wrote messages on a box of supplies destined for Ukraine in an echo of a past scandal that engulfed Meghan Markle. The Prince...



Kate Middleton wrote messages on a box of supplies destined for Ukraine in an echo of a past scandal that engulfed Meghan Markle. The Princess of Wales visited the Vsi Razom Ukrainian Community Hub in Bracknell, about 10 miles from her home at Windsor Castle, England, on Wednesday. 


And Kate wrote a message on a box of supplies, including food and toiletries, that was due to be sent to Kyiv to support Ukraine's efforts in the war against Russia: "We are all thinking of you." The princess' gesture appeared to go down well in the British media, with the Daily Mail, for example, describing it as a thoughtful message. Columnists for the newspaper were less positive when Meghan Markle in February 2019 performed a similar stunt. During a visit to charity, One25, in Bristol, southwest England, Markle wrote supportive messages on the side of bananas in packs that were due to be given to sex workers.


These included "you are strong," "you are special" and "you are loved," though the move, on February 1, 2019, sparked ridicule at the time.

Kate Middleton's message of support on a box of donations destined for Kyiv during her visit to Vsi Razom Community Hub, in the Lexicon Shopping Centre, in Bracknell, England, on October 4, 2023. The Princess of Wales wrote: 'We are all thinking of you.'Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The headline on a Daily Mail column by Liz Jones read: "Oh, Meghan! Writing twee slogans for sex workers on bananas won't change anything." Her copy read: "The scribbled-on bananas change nothing. Not because they will soon turn brown, destined for landfill. Not because, well, do women on the streets, in sub-zero temperatures, actually want to eat bananas in the first place? "Is the inclusion of one of their five-a-day a bit of politically correct virtue signalling when, in reality, each of these women's five a day has an altogether different, more shocking, meaning?" Jones added. "And should they even glance at the slogans, I'm sure the sex workers are intelligent and lucid enough to understand these platitudes are simply untrue. Because they are not strong: if they were, they would seek help to stop selling their bodies. "They are not loved: if they were—by a man, by their families, by friends—they would be given shelter, a job," Jones wrote. "They are not special: they know this every time they have sex with a man for money," she added.

Meghan Markle writes messages on bananas as she prepares food parcels for sex workers during a visit to charity One25, in Bristol, England, on February 1, 2019. Meghan was criticized for the gesture.Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images


Piers Morgan was equally scathing in his column for the newspaper: "I could barely believe what I was watching. Meghan Markle is not a stupid woman. "So why did no part of her considerable brain realise that this gesture was, ironically, a massive banana skin to trip on? "Giving schoolchildren an 'empowering' banana with their lunch is one thing," Morgan added. "Giving prostitutes an 'empowering' banana after they've spent the night subjecting their bodies to often vile, sexually depraved men, is quite another. "There is no escaping the fact that bananas have long been the subject of ribald humour for their phallic shape," Morgan wrote.


"(Meghan's even used them as sexual props before, posting a photo to her old—now deleted—Instagram account of two bananas spooning each other, with human eyes, mouths and hands drawn on to portray lovers. 'Sleep tight' was her accompanying message, which was later assumed to be a reference to her then secret lover, Harry.)" The Instagram photo referred to showed two bananas side by side appearing to hug, though it is unclear what about their use constituted a "sexual prop." Not that either columnist knew, but Meghan and Prince Harry's visit came around two weeks after the duchess told her husband she was experiencing suicidal thoughts for the first time. It came ahead of a visit to Totem, by Cirque du Soleil, at the Royal Albert Hall, southwest London, on January 16, 2019. Meghan's support for sex workers and Kate's support for Ukraine have similarities, but they do have differences as well.


One element of the backlash against Meghan came from the perception that she was promoting a California brand of socially conscious politics. Morgan described Meghan as Harry's "'woke' wife" and accused her of "scrawling cheesy, cliché-ridden messages of LA-speak 'empowerment.'" By contrast, Ukraine as an issue does not sit within the social-justice sphere and therefore may not trigger the same anti-"woke" backlash Meghan experienced. However, it is also inescapable that the accusations against Meghan came at a time of feverish hostility towards her in the British press. The duchess would later describe this as "almost unsurvivable" during an appearance on the Teenager Therapy podcast.