Beforehand, it had been agreed that Meghan would exercise caution, steering clear of controversial topics such as politics, Donald Trump, or her budding relationship with Prince Harry. However, the magazine unexpectedly ran a cover story with the headline "She's Just Wild About Harry," a topic that had decisively not been part of the initial plan.
Within hours of the pre-publication copies of the magazine circulating, Meghan was reportedly on the phone with a public relations firm, expressing her dismay about the palace's reaction.
According to author Tom Bower, who wrote "Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors," Meghan had initially been ecstatic when asked to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair's September 2017 issue. But, as per Bower, the interview was supposed to focus on Meghan's philanthropic efforts and celebrate the 100th episode of the legal soap opera "Suits." However, the research conducted for the interview apparently found no evidence of Meghan's philanthropic work.
When asked about her relationship with Harry during the interview, Meghan allegedly replied that they were a couple and in love. This interview took place at Meghan's home and was conducted by Sam Kashner, a long-standing contributing editor at Vanity Fair who had admitted before the interview that he had no prior knowledge of who Meghan was.
Meghan's decision to automatically proceed with the interview without seeking permission from the palace was noted, and it's suggested that she should have kept her relationship with Harry under wraps for her own security. Bower wrote that Meghan, at that point, would not have received a magazine cover without her connection to Harry, as she was considered a D-list actress, and her age made it unlikely for her to hit it big in Hollywood. Her unexpected openness about her relationship with Harry reportedly took the palace by surprise.
The interview's release triggered sensational reactions, as Meghan had promised Harry that she wouldn't discuss him in the media. She talked about Harry to Vanity Fair despite these previous assurances. Meghan later claimed that she had known very little about the British royal family before meeting Prince Harry and that she had never even looked him up online.
However, some, including her former childhood friend Ninaki Priddy, questioned this apparent naivety. Shortly before Meghan and Prince Harry's wedding in 2018, Priddy told the Daily Mail that Meghan had always been fascinated by the royal family and wanted to be "Princess Diana 2.0."
Regarding the Vanity Fair story, when Meghan was found out by the palace, she changed her stance and criticized Vanity Fair's cover featuring her. She began dating Harry and claimed that it was discriminatory. It's worth noting that the cover was a homage to Princess Diana's iconic "Wild About the Harry" cover photo with baby Harry, published in 1985.
Meghan's reaction seemed to imply that she wanted to portray herself as a victim. It appears that she deliberately revealed her relationship with Harry, even though he had specifically asked her not to discuss it. The whole situation suggests that Meghan and her PR team may have orchestrated this for the purpose of gaining more publicity while maintaining plausible deniability.
