Obviously, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are no strangers to controversy.
In fact, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been dealing with one mini-scandal after another for the past year or so.
The setbacks started with the mixed reaction to Harry’s memoir, which was published back in January.
Since then, the couple has endured an endless barrage of negative press, culminating in minor — albeit embarrassing — career difficulties such as the cancelation of Meghan’s Spotify podcast after just one season.
And bad press has led to more bad press, as the couple’s rivals in both the royal family and the British tabloid media have delighted in kicking Harry and Meghan while they’re down.
That’s how we ended up here, with multiple media outlets obsessing over the Sussexes’ Halloween festivities, and how the celebration might have ruffled feathers in Buckingham Palace.
To understand the bigger picture here, we need to do a quick dive into royal history
(We’ll be back to the contemporary gossip stuff before you can say “hopelessly outdated institution!”)
During her legendary reign of dourness, Queen Victoria allegedly banned her family from celebrating Halloween and instituted a rule that royals must “uphold total class and sophistication” at all times.
A recent report from the New York Post notes that while exceptions have been made from time to time — Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret participated in a charity Cinderella reenactment for Halloween of 1941 — the rule has remained more or less a constant in royal life.
The Queen never again acknowledged the holiday following her ascension to the throne in 1952, and she reportedly encouraged her family to abstain from celebrating as well.
But Meghan is an American (which means she grew up trick-or-treating) and an actress (which means she understands the appeal of pretending to be someone else for a few hours.
So it was that — according to a new report from In Style — the Sussex family hit the streets of Montecito last night, with 4-year-old Archie dressed as a skeleton and Lilibet sporting “a pink costume.”
Not surprisingly, the parents were more inconspicuously attired.
According to the report, “Meghan and Harry wore similar variations of dark T-shirts paired with blue jeans, sneakers, and baseball caps.”
Naturally, there’s been no public reaction from King Charles or anyone in the Windsor clan.
Halloween celebrations have become more frequent in the UK in recent years, and it doesn’t take a PR genius to know that ridiculing children for wearing costumes and eating candy probably wouldn’t go over well.
But insiders say Meghan received some mild criticism behind closed doors when she appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ daytime talk show in 2021 and discussed her kids’ love of trick-or-treating.
“We were home and we saw you guys [DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi], which was great, but we wanted to do something fun for the kids, and then the kids were just not into it at all,” Meghan laughed.
“Archie was a dinosaur for maybe five minutes,” she added. “Finally Harry talked him into putting the head on, but Lili was a skunk … like Flower from Bambi.”
The other royal children don’t engage in any Halloween festivities that we’re aware of, and apparently, some stodgier royals felt that Meghan was boasting about the fun and frivolity of her family’s new life in the US.
That may be — but we’re pretty sure kids who aren’t allowed to trick-or-treat don’t need anyone to tell them it looks fun.
They’ve likely figured that out for themselves!