Admittedly, it's Brimming with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. However, I Honestly Cherish Meghan's Holiday Special.
No considering the season, it's perpetually hunting season for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, from seasoned journalists to online pundits, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's initial installments to shreds. The general consensus seemed to be a greater royal outrage had seldom occurred than the notorious snack re-labeling incident.
Now, in the spirit of a holiday maverick, she is back once again with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a Christmas special). But this time, the dynamic has changed. The familiar ingredients audiences anticipate – psychobabble word salads, overzealous entertaining – remain, but set of a holiday show, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come perfectly; it's a flawless festive blizzard.
At this stage, Meghan is like the oddball family member at Christmas celebrations everywhere – dispensing random tips, and supplying the odd random outburst. ("I love spinach!" … "A tradition has to have a beginning." … "A tree is part of my memory and love of the holiday season.") She's quite a personality, but her presence is familiar and oddly reassuring. And she looks pleased; she's inflicting the slightest hurt.
She knows her each tiny facial movement, syllable and glance will be dissected and judged, but nonetheless looks relaxed and too blessed to be stressed.
Maybe this is the initial instance in history where that old chestnut – "Ignore them, they're just jealous" – might be true. Because, in all honesty, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration is lovely. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, foolishness and extravagant – but is that not exactly what Christmas is for? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the example she sets genuinely looks beautifully curated.
Whatever she sets her mind to, she executes with panache. Her culinary efforts looks delicious, the wreath she crafts is stunning, her gifts are almost too pretty to unwrap. Nothing is average or ugly – including the way she secures her apron is stylish and elegant. She doesn't bung a dish in the oven, it "goes for a spin", and she wraps gift paper like an paper-folding expert. She also seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be won over, overcome by holiday spirit and left with a powerful yearning for handmade crackers or a crudites platter where broccoli is arranged in the form of a wreath?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, obviously, but even so, after the level of scrutiny she has faced since she met Prince Harry, a theoretical combination of Meryl Streep and Judi Dench would find it hard to appear this naturally. Her unwillingness to alter or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, widely parodied, is strangely reassuring. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can depend on: Meghan will remain herself, whatever happens. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're remaining skeptical of what she's selling, a reminder that will certainly come as a relief: you don't have to. The UK has abolished national service anymore, and were it to return, it would be doubtful to include watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you willingly check it out and are gripped with envy about her flawless Christmas, you can take solace either. If you are a duchess or a everyday person, no kid fully understands the time and energy their parent does in the holiday season. So you can console yourself by picturing Archie and Lilibet's faces when they open a beautifully scripted letter that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a DIY festive calendar, in place of a candy.
