The British Royal That Reminds RHONY's Carole Radziwill Of Friend Carolyn Kennedy

"Real Housewives of New York" star Carole Radziwill was one of millions of viewers who tuned in to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, give a divisive tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. While she watched Meghan recount her struggles around entering the royal family, Radziwill couldn't help but draw comparisons between the royal family's latest black sheep and the heartbreaking love story of her late best friend and cousin-in-law John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Kennedy.

"I just watched the M&H sit down," Radziwill posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, a day after the interview premiered. "Wow. I love how people say Meghan knew what she was getting into...people said the same thing about Carolyn Bessette when she married into the Kennedy family. You could never know. Meghan said it right: perception is nothing like reality."

Despite their best efforts, John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette joined the ranks of other infamous Kennedy family couples as their tumultuous marriage was highly scrutinized until their premature deaths following a plane crash off Martha's Vineyard in 1999. This intense public pressure seems to be what Radziwill was referencing in her tweets.

Oprah Winfrey's famed interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was an overnight bombshell, with Meghan recalling the racist microaggressions and attacks she and her family endured after she joined the royal family. The backlash against the couple was swift and fierce, with royal author Lady Antonia Fraser telling The Telegraph that the Oprah interview was a huge mistake.

To Carol Radziwill, who was the last person Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy called before she died, the widespread condemnation of Meghan reminded her of the predatory way the paparazzi would follow her friend and cousin-in-law wherever they went. Bessette-Kennedy seemed to be on the receiving end of much of the public scrutiny. "The paparazzi treated her horribly," author Steven M. Gillon told Town & Country. "She went from being this vivacious and energetic person, and now she feels captive."

Radziwill continued her sentiments about the connection between her late friend and Meghan in a second post on X: "I'll always be on the opposite side of those perpetuating, willfully or not, misogynistic, and perhaps in this case, racist narrative tropes about women marrying into powerful, controlling families."

It's difficult to hear Meghan Markle's stories of death threats, suicidal ideation, and a lack of support from the royal family without considering the fate of her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who died in a car accident while being chased by the paparazzi in 1997. King Charles III's first wife rocked the boat with a highly divisive interview of her own in 1995, during which she revealed the British monarchy had similar apathy toward her struggles (via the BBC).

These similarities were not lost on Meghan, who married Princess Diana's youngest son in 2018. According to the Duke of Sussex's memoir, "Spare," Meghan Markle once sought 'clarity' from Princess Diana at her gravesite. "She was on her knees with her eyes closed and her palms flat against the stone," Prince Harry recalled, saying that his wife was seeking "guidance" from his late mother. Harry told BBC News in 2017 that he believed his then-fiancée and late mother would have been incredibly close.

Indeed, Meghan, Diana, and Carole Radziwill's late best friend, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, all seemed to share similar fates as young women who, at one time, were far removed — and subsequently deeply disaffected — by the powerful families into which they married.