50: The Remarriage of the Century - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Brian Mayer celebrates the 50th episode of The Remarried Life podcast.  In honor of this, today’s episode will be much different that the others.  We will talk about possible the most famous remarriage that has ever taken place and that is the recent marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle.  Meghan was previously married and divorced before meeting Prince Harry.  Many things will probably be different based on the royal duties that they will take on, but just like us they will probably experience some of the similar issues that remarried people face.  Today we will talk about this important issue.  We hope you enjoy today’s episode.  For more information and additional resources please visit our website at http://www.theremarriedlife.com Today's Goodies Recently, in the United Kingdom a royal wedding took place between Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.  At the time of the wedding, Prince Harry was 33 and Meghan was 36.  The most interesting thing about this marriage and what ties it to what we talk about here, is that this is Meghan’s second marriage.  Meghan met her first husband Trevor Engelson in 2004.  Engelson is a movie producer.  They married in 2011 and were divorced shortly thereafter in 2013. You might think divorce and remarriage is not something that would hit the royal family as much as it might us everyday folks, but it seems that they are real people too behind all the jewels and glamour.  The most famous divorce took place between Harry’s mother and father.  Princess Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996 after about 15 years of marriage.  As we all know Princess Diana died in a tragic car accident a year later.  Prince Charles remarried in 2005 to Camilla Bowles.    In fact of the 4 children that Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburg have, 3 of them divorced.  In addition to Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Andrew the Duke of York have divorced.  Andrew’s marriage and divorce to Sarah Ferguson was highly publicized.  Knowing all this, do the royal have a tougher time with marriage than the rest of us?  This is hard to know because the sample size is so small, but it does appear being a royal and staying married can be difficult.  Royals have much more help to take care of daily activities in the home and with the children.  Often they will have a housekeeper, personal assistants, nannies for the children, press officers, private secretaries, cleaners, gardeners, butlers, and maids.  So to be sure they get lots of help.  However does this translate to a better life and marriage? It appears that the answer to whether or not this lavish lifestyle helps or harms their marriages.  Obviously some in the royal family have been able to stay married while some divorce.  And because they try to remain as private as they can, it is difficult to know if they ones that stay married are in fact happy.  We haven’t even mentioned the pressure that the media and the so called “paparazzi” places on these couples.  In fact, one of Harry’s longtime girlfriends had to call off the engagement and at least publicly said that the intense media pressure was too much.  So with all this being said, how will Harry and Meghan fare?  It is difficult to know, but one thing that Meghan has going for her is that she was an actress and so to some degree she has to be used to media pressure and the spotlight they bring.   This is only one piece of the issue though.  Remember that this is her second marriage.  She could potentially be bringing lots of emotional baggage to this marriage.  Some common issues that we remarrieds have is projecting the issues from our first marriage onto our second.  If there was any infidelity in Meghan’s first marriage she may end up with lots of anxiety regarding Harry’s every move.  So something indeed to watch out for.  Neither of them have children so the complicated dynamic that this brings will not be there.  So in that regard they are probably ahead of the game.  As we all know stepchildren can make it difficult to bond as a family and a newly married couple.  Of course however their marriage plays out, we wish them the best and to live and long and happy life together.  Just like I wish the same for you no matter how many times things have not worked out in the past.   I hope you have enjoyed this much different episode in the past where we take a look at the royal family and their similarities and differences to us in the remarried journey. Thanks For Listening! With so many things that take time in our lives, I more grateful than you know that you took time to listen to this podcast episode.  If you liked this episode and believe that it would be beneficial to a friend, family member, or colleague, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. The Remarried Life Facebook Group is a community of people just like you who get and give support.  Please join today!  ​ As always remember that marriage is nothing something you have, it is something you do.  Talk to you next week unless you are binge listening in the future in which case I will talk to you in about a minute!  Take care.