Britain honours its fallen with a custom that is solemn, dignified, and deeply rooted in national identity. The poppy is not merely a flower; it is a promise — a quiet pledge of gratitude to those who laid down their lives for Crown and country.
Which is why Meghan Markle’s latest excuse for appearing without a poppy, though her husband wore one, at *Kris Jenner’s high-glam birthday party* on Remembrance weekend deserves a level of scrutiny.
According to reports, Meghan “couldn’t find a poppy in the United States”. An extraordinary claim that I tested. I—an American living in Florida — managed to order one online and have it delivered overnight. For the record, I have neither Meghan’s resources nor title. I don’t have assistants, staff, or a global PR machine. But I do have respect for the poppy’s significance and sincerity, and that appears to make all the difference.
The more one thinks about her explanation, the more it collapses under its own weight. Poppies *are* available in the United States through the Royal British Legion’s overseas branches, British veteran groups, online shops, expat associations, and American supporters of the Poppy Appeal.
And Meghan knows this perfectly well, because she has worn poppies in the US before — on multiple, well-documented occasions. It was achievable then; it is achievable now. The only variable that seems to have changed is her willingness, not the availability of the flower.
Meghan's implausible excuse sits comfortably within her long record of dramatic contradictions — hypocrisies, if we are being honest — and therefore surprises no one who has followed her carefully curated public life:
• She has demanded privacy while participating in television interviews broadcast to hundreds of millions.
• She has lamented royal duty, while continuing to trade on a royal title.
• She has spoken at length about kindness, while falling out with almost everyone once close to her, including her family.
• She has vowed to retreat from public life, only to surface with new media ventures, even a recently announced return to acting, whenever the spotlight dims.
This is hardly persecution; it is a pattern.
It is therefore not shocking that, faced with the choice between a solemn British tradition and a Hollywood party, Meghan opted for the latter—and then attempted to cloak the decision in an excuse so thin it would embarrass a teenager.
As an American analyst who foucuses on Britain, its history, and its sacrifices, I find the poppy profoundly moving and I wear one, even here in Florida, during the month of November. It is an emblem created by wounded veterans, worn to honour those who died on the fields of Flanders and in every conflict since. It is a symbol of shared memory, duty, and respect.
Meghan Markle expressed her disdain for Britain with the smallest gesture on Remembrance weekend - Lee Cohen | Getty Images
The poppy is not a red accessory to be paired with a couture dress for a photo opportunity. Nor is it a token to be worn when convenient and discarded when it clashes with a PR moment. It demands sincerity. And sincerity is a quality Markle repeatedly struggles to demonstrate.
If she had turned up at that lavish California party wearing a poppy—knowing full well how little effort she puts into upholding British values — many of us would have winced at the insincerity. The poppy must not be cheapened by performative sentiment. But that does not excuse her eyerolling excuse of unavailability in the USA.
There is, in fact, a grim logic to her going without one. The poppy belongs to those who wear it with honour: Britons, Commonwealth citizens, veterans, families, admirers abroad — people who understand the weight of sacrifice. It is not for those who treat British identity like a designer handbag, carried only when it suits the outfit.
To wear a poppy while offering such a transparently false excuse would have diminished the symbol, not elevated it. It would have been yet another example of Meghan using British heritage as a backdrop for personal branding. Better she left her lapel bare. The symbol deserves integrity, not PR gloss.
If Meghan truly felt connected to Britain’s fallen, ordering a poppy would not have been an inconvenience; it would have been a priority.
Many Americans who cherish our relationship with Britain and wear the poppy annually—not because we must, but because we believe in remembrance. We order poppies. We honour the fallen without cameras, applause, or royal titles.
We do it because it matters.
Meghan's relationship to Britain appears purely transactional—when it suits her. When respect requires effort or humility, she demurs.
When it requires glamour or victimhood, she embraces it. It is a pattern so obvious that even her defenders struggle to explain it. It is difficult to conceive of anyone less deserving of a British royal title, yet she still clings to it. Let us pray she will have it removed someday.
Meghan's excuse for not wearing a poppy this Remembrance weekend was not simply unconvincing—it was insulting. But in a way, her absence of the flower was fitting. The poppy is for those who carry a sense of duty, gratitude, and loyalty. Meghan has demonstrated time and again that she carries none of these. Better she didn’t wear it.. She is not worthy of it.
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