Negative Stories About Princess Kate and Meghan Markle Reduce All Women to "Scheming Seductresses or Witches," According to One Royal Author

Both Princess Kate and Meghan Markle have faced unduly negative press as members of the British Royal Family. In fact, racist tabloid coverage is one of the reasons the Duchess of Sussex left the U.K. and moved back to the U.S. with husband Prince Harry. And according to one royal author, all women lose when royal women are unfairly vilified by the media.

In an exclusive interview with Marie Claire, royal author Catherine Mayer—who recently released her book, Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles—discussed the persecution Duchess Meghan dealt with as a senior royal.

"My fear is that the world has learned very little indeed from Meghan's experience and that's another reason I wrote the book," Mayer shares. "As I say in it, you don't have to like her or watch her shows, but what on earth has she done to earn the hatred meted out to her?"

Elaborating on why it's important to discuss this difficult topic, Mayer says, "Telling these negative stories about royal women, whipping up hostility towards them, has a long pedigree as my book shows, and it always goes badly not only for the women in question but for all women."

The author continues, "It's a way of promoting reductive views of women as scheming seductresses or witches. In that respect, some stories about Meghan resemble those circulated about Anne Boleyn."

Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles by Catherine Mayer is available now.

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