Meghan Markle has revealed what the process of applying for UK citizenship was really like. Photo / NZME.
Meghan Markle has revealed what the process of applying for UK citizenship was really like. Photo / NZME.
The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she found the UK citizenship test “so hard” that even Prince Harry was stumped by some of the questions.
Meghan is understood to have started studying for the Life in the UK test after getting engaged in November 2017. Buckingham Palace said at the time that she intended to become a British citizen.
The 45-minute test, which consists of 24 multiple choice questions about British life, is one of the requirements.
However, the Duchess said that some of the material, which covers history, people, customs, laws and political systems, was so difficult that she had to seek advice.
She referred to the experience on the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast, in which she chatted to actress and director Pamela Adlon, who recently became a British citizen.
“That citizenship exam is so hard,” she said. “I was studying for it and I remember going: ‘Oh my goodness.’
“I would ask my husband: ‘Did you know this? and people went: ‘Oh, I have no idea.’”
Adlon, best known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy show King Of The Hill, joked: “I think they made it harder for you. They were like: ‘We’re gonna really throw up walls on this one.’”
Palace aides made clear in 2017 that the Duchess would move through the process, which takes several years, like anyone else and would not jump the queue.
Under strict Home Office rules, she would have been eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain after three years.
However, in order to do so, she would have had to have limited the number of days she spent abroad during that time to less than 270 - something she failed to do.
When the Sussexes quit the working monarchy in 2020 and moved to the US, sources told The Telegraph that such plans had been quietly shelved.
Despite starting the process, the Duchess found “no reason” to pursue an application for dual citizenship after the couple decided to set up home in California, they said.
The latest episode of Archetypes examined how “crushing” the weight of expectations can become for women.
Canadian prime minister and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau. Photo / Kevin Van Paassen / Bloomerg
In chatting with guests, including her old friend Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, the Duchess warned against the “immense” pressures to be a good wife or mother.
She branded domestic work “the most thankless, unpaid labour there is” and said that much of it was “born out of expectation”, leaving women feeling trapped.
The Duchess said that from a young age, she had “longed to be a mom as much as I longed to be a wife”.
She said that at the same time, she also considered herself a feminist but insisted that she did not consider the two things mutually exclusive.
The Duchess described the “whirlwind” of the daily “morning rush” at the family home in Montecito, California.
She said the Duke of Sussex was “great” and questioned how single mothers coped.
“I’m sure it’ll only get more chaotic as they get older,” she said.
“But for me, it’s, you know, both monitors on, for the kids, to hear them, always up with Lili, get her downstairs, then a half hour later Archie’s up.
“Start doing his lunch box right before he’s up, while I have her, getting her a little nibble. My husband’s helping me get him downstairs.
“I make breakfast for all three of them. It’s very important to me. I love doing it. To me, it feels like the greatest way to start the morning.
“And then it’s, like, feed all three of the dogs because we just got another dog and then get Archie out of the door to school. It feels like a whirlwind.”
The Duchess also spoke about her campaign for guaranteed paid parental leave in the US. She said its absence “speaks directly to what we value in society and also what we undervalue in this society”.
Meghan Markle with her mother Doria Ragland. Photo / File
Her mother, Doria Ragland, made a brief appearance on the show when she called her daughter during the recording.
She is heard saying: “Hey, how’s my girl? You have on your smiley face.”
The interruption prompted Meghan to reminisce about the way her mother had supported her as a child, “how she took care of me and the house and herself and how she just juggled so much”.
She added: “Women just work really, really hard. And a lot of that work is born out of necessity. But so much of it is also born out of expectations. The idea that we need to fit the exact cutter shape the world wants to jam us into.”
Introducing Mrs Trudeau, the Duchess recalled the days they had spent together with their children by the pool during the summer and laughed about an inflatable pizza slice she had bought online and “proved to be a big hit”.
She revealed they had been friends for at least seven years, having met when the Duchess was living in Toronto. The Duchess described her friend as someone who understood “how crushing the guilt of expectations can become”.
Meghan added: “She’s the type of person who cares really deeply about her friends. She used to send me these little meditations during my pregnancy and voice notes, just these moments of encouragement.
“And I’ve gone to her over the years for advice. She knows what it feels like to be a mom and a partner, and specifically a mom and a partner in the public eye.”
