Prince Harry's wife Meghan Markle closed her car door. So what, Britain?
Britain is stunned.
But the world should be shocked over why Britain is stunned.
Britain is stupefied — also awed — because American actor-turned-newly-wed wife of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, shut a car door herself after stepping out of the vehicle.
DUCHESS CLOSES DOOR: The Duchess of Sussex - #MeghanMarkle - closed her own car door and exchanged traditional Maori greetings during her first solo engagement at the #RoyalAcademyOfArt in London pic.twitter.com/8hwVo5og22
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) September 26, 2018
On Tuesday, September 25, attending her first solo event at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Duchess of Sussex closed her own car door.
In doing so, Markle has broken protocol — but there is cheer around the fact that a British royal has taken the pains to close the door of a chauffeur-driven car.
Are you even British if you are not going mental over Meghan Markle closing a car door #RoyalFamily #british
— Vanessa Carey (@welshness89) September 27, 2018
Slow claps to that royal feat! And a standing ovation for those celebrating it!
Videos of the moment flooded social media and generated headlines that searched for adjectives to describe what had just struck Britain — an able-bodied woman closing her own car door when stepping out of her ride.
Sample some of the headlines that followed the door-shutting gala:
Meghan Markle leaves people in shock as she shuts own CAR DOOR on first solo engagement — The Express
Meghan Markle stuns Britain by shutting car door — The Straits Times
Meghan closes a car door and some people can't handle it — BBC
Meghan Markle defied royal protocol at her first solo event and closed her own car door — Marie Claire
Markle has, on more than one occasion, defied stereotypes revolving around gender and the royal way of life, but people who live in awe of the obnoxious royal life, which is nothing but brazen feudalism in the 21st century, just can’t get over their hangover.
Expecting people to hold car doors for you is nothing but pure entitlement and those providing legitimacy to it are only strengthening this suffocating bias.
But what is happening in Britain in not exclusive to that country.
In India too, the sight of people waiting for their drivers to get out of the driving seat and jump to hold the door for them is very common.
Not that people waiting for the door to be opened are always incapable of doing so physically themselves, in which case it would have been understandable and recommended.
But people do it because they are caught in a time warp of feudal existence and refuse to come out because it is darn comfortable to be in there.
Many women see men holding the door (of a car or building) as a sign of chivalry. Two minutes of silence for them. If this is how women want men to show 'respect' towards them, we need to revisit the idea of feminism.
Markle has challenged that bias too by reaching out to help Prince Harry open the door after he helped her get into the driver’s seat.
Harry has served his country as part of NATO troops in Afghanistan. It is really baffling why he needs help to open a car door now. If the idea is to show that women can open the door for men, just as they can open it for women, then it has to be said that we have driven feminism down to being a rather juvenile concept.
People are capable of opening and shutting their car doors except in cases where they are infirm or carrying so much stuff that their hands are not free.
Beyond that, this useless awing and gushing over the opening and closing of doors needs to be shut — right here, right now.