3-56

56.

Days later the pregnancy¹ was announced publicly. The papers reported that Meg was battling

fatigue² and dizzy spells and couldn’t hold any food down, especially in the mornings, all of which

was untrue. She was tired, but otherwise a dynamo. Indeed, she felt lucky not to be suffering

severe morning sickness, since we were embarking³ on a hugely demanding tour.

Everywhere we went, enormous crowds turned out, and she didn’t disappoint them. All across

Australia, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, she dazzled. After one especially rousing speech, she got a

standing⁴ ovation⁵.

She was so brilliant that midway through the tour I felt compelled…to warn her.

You’re doing too well, my love. Too damn well. You’re making it look too easy. This is how

everything started…with my mother.

Maybe I sounded mad, paranoid. But everyone knew that Mummy’s situation went from bad

to worse when she showed the world, showed the family, that she was better at touring, better at

connecting with people, better at being “royal,” than she had any right to be.

That was when things really took a turn.

We returned home to jubilant welcomes and exultant⁶ headlines. Meg, the expectant mother,

the flawless representative of the Crown, was hailed.

Not a negative word was written.

It’s changed, we said. It’s changed at last.

But then it changed again. Oh, how it changed.

Stories rolled in, like breakers on a beach. First a rubbish hit piece by a hack⁷ biographer of Pa,

who said I’d thrown a tantrum before the wedding. Then a work of fiction about Meg making her

staff miserable⁸, driving them too hard, committing the unpardonable sin of emailing people early

in the morning. (She just happened to be up at that hour, trying to stay in touch with night-owl

friends back in America—she didn’t expect an instant reply.) She was also said to have driven our

assistant to quit; in fact that assistant was asked to resign by Palace HR after we showed them

evidence she’d traded on her position with Meg to get freebies. But because we couldn’t speak

publicly about the reasons for the assistant’s departure, rumors⁹ filled the void. In many ways that

was the true start of all the troubles. Shortly thereafter, the “Duchess Difficult” narrative¹⁰ began

appearing in all the papers.

Next came a novella in one of the tabloids¹¹ about the tiara. The article said Meg had demanded

a certain tiara that had belonged to Mummy, and when the Queen refused, I’d thrown a fit: What

Meghan wants, Meghan gets!

Days later came the coup¹² de grâce: from a royal correspondent, a sci-fi fantasy describing the

“growing froideur” (good Lord) between Kate and Meg, claiming that, according to “two

sources,” Meg had reduced Kate to tears about the bridesmaids’ dresses.

This particular royal correspondent had always made me ill. She’d always, always got stuff

wrong. But this felt more than wrong.

I read the story in disbelief. Meg didn’t. She still wasn’t reading anything. She heard about it,

however, since it was the only thing being discussed in Britain for the next twenty-four hours, and

as long as I live I’ll never forget the tone of her voice as she looked me in the eye and said:

Haz, I made her cry? I made HER cry?

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

3 embarking   

乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• He's embarking on a new career as a writer. 他即将开始新的职业生涯——当一名作家。
• The campaign on which were embarking was backed up by such intricate and detailed maintenance arrangemets. 我们实施的战争，须要如此复杂及详细的维护准备。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 ovation   

n.欢呼，热烈欢迎，热烈鼓掌

参考例句：

• The hero received a great ovation from the crowd. 那位英雄受到人群的热烈欢迎。
• The show won a standing ovation. 这场演出赢得全场起立鼓掌。

6 exultant   

adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的

参考例句：

• The exultant crowds were dancing in the streets.欢欣的人群在大街上跳起了舞。
• He was exultant that she was still so much in his power.他仍然能轻而易举地摆布她，对此他欣喜若狂。

7 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

8 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

9 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

11 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。

12 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。