Despite my hatred of all things ginger (don’t ask it’s a Brit thing), Prince Harry has always been my favourite Royal. Although, there really isn’t that much competition (I did like when Prince George refused to hi five the Canadian PM, though). William toes the line too much and is just sooooo vanilla. Charles is an obnoxious twat. The Queen never seems to say much. And those other two actual princesses (because technically Princess Kate and sometime soon are actually duchesses’) really need use some of the British taxpayers money to hire a stylist (the vagina hat – need I say more). Anyway, back to this week’s Royal engagement.

Sure, it’s exciting (as if there aren’t enough regular engagements plastered all over Facebook to make a single girl want to slit her wrists) but many have gone as far as to call this one a game changer for British race relations with claims of it being symbolic of the archaic institution known as the Royal Family modernizing. Personally, I feel much of this chitter chat is just over exaggeration. I doubt that Harry’s engagement to Meghan Markle is all that significant in the grand scheme of things and won’t significantly alter anything in the long-term. Here’s why:

Harry is actually just a ‘normal’ person

No, I’m not saying he is a mere commoner like the rest of us. But maybe it’s something to do with him being something like 5th/6th line to the thrown that takes the pressure off a little and allows him to act like a bit more of a normal person, than say Wills or Charlie Boy.  Who remembers the time Harry went to a fancy dress party dressed at a Nazi ? Sure, it wasn’t the wisest (or most PC) of costume choices but he was a student at the time and who can say they didn’t do silly things back in the day? I for one certainly thought this incident made Harry more relatable. At about the same time I was also a student getting intoxicated and dressing up as a chav just for the LOLs.

As we’ve all grown up, we’ve all matured (well, hopefully!) and maybe become somewhat more realistic about our relationship choices. When it comes to the issue of Meghan being a divorcee…well, wasn’t there a time when we all thought we’d maybe marry our first loves? By the time you reach your 30s you realise that most people have a past (which in some cases make them more equipped to handle the challenges that relationships pose) and the chances are we are going to have date someone who comes with a bit of baggage, be it a divorce or kids from a previous time, etc.

Most Men Date Up

For most plebs marrying an actual prince would be the answer to all the worlds problems. But let’s get something clear, Meghan Markle isn’t a pauper by any means, she is a successful career woman that is independently wealthy. Other than perhaps the title, there isn’t all that much for her to gain by joining the Royal fam.

Being born a Prince isn’t actually an achievement. It’s an advantage the same way that being born male or to parents that aren’t complete deadbeats is. It’s a well-known fact that despite being seen as the weaker sex, in Western countries, the number of female high-achievers (academically) outnumber their male counterparts quite significantly. Thanks to the laws of supply and demand, most men these days do get to shoot above their league when it comes to dating.

So, yup Harry, like most men, is making the most of the gender bias in dating.  At the end of the day he is just a soldier dating a successful actress.

The Haters Still Gonna Hate

When it first came to light that Harry and Meghan were dating there were a lot of comments made about Meghan’s ethnic background (apparently some people though she’d come straight out of Compton!). After the Brexit decision, I wouldn’t blame a person for believing that Britain is a horrible racist little island.  Sure,  there are still those narrow-minded people (across all race groups) that  actively stick their own but the more progressive among us have grown up alongside of people of different backgrounds and genuinely don’t see much of an issue when it comes to interracial dating.

So will the arrival of an African-American princess really change anything for the commoners? I doubt it. Don’t expect this Royal engagement to suddenly unite the country. The BNP supporters are still going to go around spouting off their stupidity. And the rest of the country will carry on happily mingling.

Working woman? Not for much longer

It might be too soon to say for sure but it’s unlikely that Meghan Markle will continue acting once she moves into the Palace. I mean can you see a member of the Royal family taking on a role where they may be seen getting all hot and bothered with another Hollywood hottie. Highly unlikely that the Queen will be tolerating any of that.

Like Grace Kelly who gave up Hollywood to become royalty in Monaco, it looks like Meghan will need to chuck it all in to pursue her royal duties. After all, her people need her now! For less of a historic example, just look at Kate, before she got hitched to Wills she was humble fashion buyer. At least she was paying her own way back then though.

Agh, giving up your career for love isn’t the end of the world, I guess. Meghan Markle will still be able to continue to her charity work and make more of a difference in the world than the rest of us plebs.

To conclude, while I agree this is pretty exciting time for the UK, when it comes to talking about this union as a ‘game-changer’ it’s important to put things in perspective. It’s nice that Harry and Meghan have found their happily ever after and yes the forthcoming nuptials will give us commoners something to talk about down the pub but in actual fact this engagement is all that different from other relationships and more importantly it’s unlikely to change things for the country in terms of race relations, women’s rights or the demise of the Royal fam. At best, the UK could get an extra public holiday where they can watch the media event of 2018 while boozing their lives away.