The former editor of Vanity Fair has revealed the troublesome process behind enlisting Meghan Markle as the cover star of an issue of the magazine back in 2017.
Graydon Carter, who worked as the editor of the publication beginning in 1992, spoke of his experience collaborating with the Duchess of Sussex for one of his final covers before departing Vanity Fair in 2017. According to Carter, Markle bristled with the interviewer for her accompanying profile, because she assumed the story would be focussed not on her burgeoning relationship with Prince Harry, but on her philanthropic work.
Take a look behind the scenes of Meghan Markle's October 2017 Vanity Fair cover shoot. pic.twitter.com/cONZgDlqMl
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) September 5, 2017
Speaking with Page Six, Carter said Markle told the reporter, Sam Kashner, “excuse me, is this going to all be about Prince Harry? Because I thought we were going to be talking about my charities and my philanthropy.” This assumption led Carter to believe that Markle “is slightly adrift on the facts and reality,” since her relationship with Prince Harry was far more noteworthy than her philanthropic efforts. Regardless of her challenging the royal-focussed content of the story, Vanity Fair went on to run the Markle article with the headline “Meghan Markle, Wild About Harry”, so she didn’t quite get the philanthropic attention she’d hoped for.
Carter’s criticisms of the Duchess didn’t stop there. He went on to tell Page Six that Markle’s late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, wouldn’t be too thrilled about her son’s departure from royal duties and relocation to the United States. Carter, who claimed he knew Diana quite well and crossed paths with her at several functions before her death in 1997, said the former Princess of Wales “would feel great sorrow for her son to have been pulled away from his family like this, especially his brother but also his father.”
The legendary former editor joked that Meghan was "slightly adrift on the facts and reality" after she said she didn't want her famous 2017 cover for the magazine to be "all about Prince Harry."
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 24, 2025
Read more ? pic.twitter.com/XFv7I8idnF
“Anytime someone comes between siblings that’s a disaster, horrible for a family,” Carter said. Coincidentally, it’s not the first time the royal couple have been subject to criticism from Vanity Fair employees, or by the magazine as a whole. Earlier this month, yet another former editor of the publication, Tina Brown, took aim at Markle’s new lifestyle Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, describing it as “preposterous” and slamming its quest for “fake perfection.”
Before that, Markle and Prince Harry were the subject of a scathing Vanity Fair exposé with the headline “American Hustle” that investigated the couple’s business manoeuvres in the wake of their departure from the royal family. Let’s just say, the results were less than flattering, and reportedly came with an ego bruise for the royal couple. Markle did receive more favorable coverage as the cover star of a recent People magazine issue, which promoted With Love, Meghan and included revelations about her marriage.
Meghan graces the cover of @PEOPLE’s latest issue, photographed by her friend Jake Rosenberg. In her most intimate interview in years, she opens up about life with Prince Harry, their kids, launching her brand As Ever, and finding balance as a wife, mum, and entrepreneur?✨ pic.twitter.com/JdB6HmsnMj
— Rebecca ? (@rebecca_sussex) March 3, 2025
Wherever the press lands in terms of their coverage of Markle, she is nonetheless powering ahead with her business moves. With Love, Meghan was renewed for a second season, and she recently announced the rebrand of her lifestyle company, As Ever. Since she’s Meghan Markle, people like Carter will always have something to say, but the Duchess will no-doubt continue her quest to harvest honey and top everything in sight with edible flowers on With Love, Meghan.
Published: Mar 25, 2025 2:14 AM UTC