Prince William has spent the past six months helping to produce a 300-page special edition of Country Life, and somehow the monarchy has survived.

The Prince of Wales will guest-edit the magazine’s 11 November issue, covering everything from rural life and environmental stewardship to his favourite painting, recipe and view. Country Life also says the edition will highlight William’s campaign to improve access to mental-health services in rural communities. And do you hear that? Nothing remotely resembling the outrage Meghan faced over her guest editorship. How nice for him.

But I cannot help remembering that when Meghan Sussex guest-edited British Vogue in 2019, producing what became the fastest-selling issue in the magazine’s history, we were suddenly told that royals were not supposed to do such things.

Dan Wootton went on ITV’s Lorraine and declared: “Royals don’t guest edit magazines!” However, there was just one problem. They did.

The Royal Rule That Never Existed

By the time Meghan edited Vogue, King Charles had already guest-edited Country Life twice, in 2013 and 2018. Kate Middleton had guest-edited HuffPost UK in 2016, while Prince Harry guest-edited BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in 2017.

Since then, Princess Anne guest-edited Country Life in 2020, Queen Camilla followed in 2022, and now William is getting his own 300-page edition.

In fact, Country Life itself proudly describes William as following a distinguished line of royal guest editors. So there was never a royal rule against guest editing.

Some royal commentators simply invented the rule when a Black duchess did it. The double standard could hardly be more blatant, yet royal fans will still insist that racism had nothing to do with it.

Meghan spent seven months working with British Vogue editor Edward Enninful on the September 2019 “Forces for Change” issue. She chose 15 women for the cover, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Laverne Cox, Jacinda Ardern, Greta Thunberg and Adut Akech. She deliberately declined to put herself on the cover because she thought doing so would appear boastful.

Instead of applauding Meghan for using one of fashion’s biggest platforms to spotlight other women, the press subjected her to an avalanche of criticism.

Meghan’s Real Crime Was Doing It Differently

The reaction was not just about imaginary royal protocol. Meghan used her issue to discuss women, race, privilege, climate change and social change. Camilla Tominey, a royal reporter for the Telegraph and one of Meghan’s biggest critics, even questioned why only five of the 15 women Meghan selected were white, asking whether Meghan herself was displaying “bias.” She went even further, suggesting Meghan’s choices discriminated against the “pale, male and stale.”

Graphic featuring a quote from British journalist Camilla Tominey criticizing Meghan Markle’s 2019 British Vogue guest-edited issue. The quote reads: “I wonder whether Meghan was conscious of the bias she showed in choosing 15 ‘forces for change’ for the Vogue cover, all of whom were women, of which only five were white?… If I was pale, male and stale, I’d be feeling pretty discriminated against right now.” To the right is the Vogue cover with black-and-white portraits of diverse women, and below is a photo of Camilla Tominey. The image is branded with the logo “Mad History.”

Edward Enninful later said some of the criticism directed at Meghan’s Vogue collaboration was racist. Historian Kate Williams similarly pointed to the glaring double standard, noting that Charles and Kate had undertaken comparable editorial projects without attracting anything resembling the same hostility.

That is what makes William’s new Country Life project so revealing. When Meghan entered an influential British cultural space and filled it with a visibly diverse group of women, her motives, politics and suitability as a royal were picked apart.

William spends six months working on a 300-page glossy magazine and it becomes a charming demonstration of his commitment to Britain’s countryside. Same basic activity. Completely different framing.

Perhaps Bradninch Deserves a Few Pages

There is another problem with William’s Country Life issue. The magazine says it will highlight his work improving access to mental-health services in rural communities.

Meanwhile, tenants on his own Duchy of Cornwall estate say the planned sale of Bradninch has caused serious distress. Families face buying homes and farms they may not be able to afford or leaving places some have occupied for generations.

Mary Ryan, a former GP involved in mental-health research and suicide prevention, accused William of hypocrisy for championing mental health and homelessness while his estate’s actions were damaging tenants’ wellbeing and putting some at risk of losing their homes.

Then there is Forest Lodge. William and Kate’s move to their eight-bedroom Windsor home was accompanied by a permanent security exclusion zone that removed public access to around 150 acres of Windsor Great Park, closed Cranbourne Gate and its car park, and affected access to an educational centre previously used for lessons.

That sits awkwardly beside Kate’s own campaigning. Only weeks ago, she said time outdoors had “never been more important” and launched work examining how nature-rich environments could support children’s wellbeing, with the aim of making nature more accessible to young families.

So William and Kate now live within the 4,800-acre Windsor Great Park while the security arrangements around their home have removed public access to roughly 150 acres and disrupted an environmental education centre used by children.

If William wants 300 pages celebrating his commitment to rural life and mental health, perhaps Country Life could spare a few for Bradninch and Windsor. Mental health and access to nature should matter even when the people affected are not royal.

The Double Standard Is the Story

William is perfectly entitled to guest-edit Country Life. I have no problem with a royal using a magazine to discuss farming, environmental protection or mental health.

That was exactly the point in 2019. Meghan was also entitled to use Vogue to discuss the issues she cared about. The problem was never guest editing. Charles had already proved that. Kate and Harry had proved it too.

The problem was who was doing it, what she chose to talk about and whose faces she placed at the centre of one of Britain’s most influential magazines.

Seven years later, William can spend six months producing 300 pages of Country Life and nobody seems particularly concerned that a future king has wandered dangerously into magazine publishing.

Instead, it is presented as royal tradition. Funny how quickly those sacred royal rules disappear once Meghan Sussex is no longer the person breaking them.

And if William really wants his special issue to demonstrate his commitment to rural Britain and mental health, there is an obvious place to start. Bradninch is in Devon. His editors already know where to find it.

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