Meghan Markle Is Already Receiving Royal Coverage from the Press

Although she’s not officially a royal yet (she’s just dating Prince Harry), actress Meghan Markle is already receiving the royal treatment from the press. Before her relationship with Harry, reporting on Markle was on par with that for other actresses. She gave interviews about her show, Suits, and though she did a lot of humanitarian work and ran a lifestyle site called The Tig, neither of those endeavors were widely reported. After she started dating Harry, however, all that changed, and media coverage of Markle took on almost reverent tones. Suddenly, former costars were talking about her as if she were different from us including to Vanity Fair), merely because of her association with a prince. After her latest endeavor—a trip to India with the World Vision organization—sources spoke to reporters about her work in the flattering way usually reserved for Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, when she acts philanthropic.

In January, Markle visited New Delhi and Mumbai on behalf of her role as a global ambassador for the charity organization World Vision. Per E! News, Markle traveled to India for a week to work with World Vision’s Daughters of India initiative, whose mission is to provide better access to hygiene—specifically toilets—to girls in schools. She also met with other activists working for progress for women in India.

“It was an incredibly productive and meaningful experience for her,“ a source told E!, speaking in a dutiful tone. “She's been working on issues around women and girls since she was 11, when she wrote letters to Hillary Clinton about the sexist soap commercials. She's now in the planning stages of an initiative based on what she learned from her trip. She's very excited to share.”

Us Weekly had a similarly glowing report from a source. “Meghan had been planning this [for the past eight months], compiling her own research and helping set the agenda for the trip. She didn't want to be given notes by someone else and just show up. These are important areas of interest for Meghan, and [they] cover issues she feels extremely passionate about.”

The actress made a similar trip to Rwanda in early 2016, so this is definitely a cause to which she’s been committed to for a while. What’s unusual now is how reporters are covering Markle’s every move, including those that don’t involve Harry, and she’s being described in the manner usually reserved for royals who—just like stars, supposedly—are not like us.