Yes, it's Packed with Gibberish, Over-the-Top Hospitality and Self-Help Jargon. But I Do Adore Meghan's Christmas Special.
No concerned with the season, it's perpetually fair game for criticism on the Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. Commentators, both professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when enthusiastically shredding the lifestyle show's earlier episodes to shreds. The common opinion held that a more egregious regal scandal had never been witnessed than the much-discussed pretzel re-packaging incident.
Currently, as a festive rebel, she is back with a new offering with a "Holiday Celebration" (also known as a yuletide episode). However on this occasion, it's different. The usual elements we've come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – persist, but set of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The puzzle has come together; it's a ideal seasonal storm.
By this point, Meghan is like the eccentric aunt at Christmas celebrations everywhere – providing unasked-for guidance, and contributing 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 an interesting figure, but her aura is known and oddly reassuring. And she seems happy enough; she's not doing any harm.
She is aware her each tiny facial movement, utterance and glance will be analyzed and scrutinized, but manages to seem relaxed and remarkably at ease.
Perhaps this is the only time in history where that well-worn saying – "Don't listen, it's pure jealousy" – could actually be true. Because, let's face it, everything in Meghan's Holiday Celebration truly is delightful. Admittedly, it's all awkwardly over-the-top, nonsense and over the top – but isn't that just what Yuletide is about? And the advice she gives might be absurd, but the life she leads appears to be shop-bought.
Anything she attempts, she pulls off with panache. Her recipes looks tasty, the holiday arrangement she makes is breathtaking, her gifts are almost too pretty to tear into. Not a single thing is mediocre or aesthetically displeasing – even the way she fastens her apron is creative and fashionable. She doesn't bung a meal in the oven, it "has a moment", and she wraps gift paper like an craft master. She also seems to be genuinely relishing herself throughout. How could any cynical observer not be convinced, filled with seasonal cheer and left with a powerful yearning for personalized Christmas crackers or a vegetable display where broccoli is organized in the likeness of a festive circle?
Meghan used to pretend for a living, naturally, but even so, after the degree of attention she has faced since she started dating Prince Harry, even a hypothetical offspring of acting royalty would struggle to act this genuinely. Her unwillingness to change or even tone down her routine, even though it being so relentlessly, globally mocked, is oddly heartening. In our volatile world, here is one thing we can rely on: Meghan will stay true to form, whatever happens. We will always know where we are with her.
If you're still not buying her brand, a point that will certainly come as a relief: you aren't required to. The UK has abolished mandatory conscription these days, and should it be reinstated, it would be doubtful to include streaming With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration. If, however, you decide to tune in and are consumed by jealousy about her flawless Christmas, there is hope either. Be you a duchess or a everyday person, few children truly appreciates the time and energy their mum puts in in December. So you can take heart by picturing the young royals' faces when they unfold a calligraphy note that says, 'I love you because you are brave,' from a homemade Advent calendar, rather than a sweet treat.
