Of course Meghan Markle isn’t going to the funeral. Would you?

Pretty much as soon as it was announced that Prince Philip passed away last Friday at the age of 99, the memes about how Meghan Markle would be blamed began.

Naturally, the Daily Mail were quick to suggest that the end of Prince Phillip’s life was blighted by “the bitter fallout from Harry and Meghan’s decision to quit ‘the firm’”, which most tabloids quickly followed suit with. Piers Morgan, who recently left a career as a Meghan Markle reporter on Good Morning Britain to become a full-time Meghan Markle reporter at the Daily Mail and who once called Prince Phillip “the rudest human ever” wrote a loving tribute and list of Prince Phillip’s ‘rules’ for royalty that included “stay off Oprah.”

Next, the speculation began about whether or not she’d be at the funeral. If she had said she was going, it’s reasonable to assume that they’d have said she was attention-seeking. The Herald said that she would “embarrass herself beside Prince Philip’s grave” as it would “invite the world to compare what we’re burying with what’s left behind.”

The hysterics began again when it was announced that Meghan, who is in the third trimester of her pregnancy, would not be attending. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson issued a statement saying that”The Duke of Sussex is planning to attend. The Duchess of Sussex has been advised by her physician not to travel.”

Now she’s not going, The Sun claim that a friend of Meghan’s say it’s because she “didn’t want to be the centre of attention.” Cut to the headline ‘Meghan Markle ‘should be quiet’ if not wanting to be ‘centre of attention’ at Philip’s funeral, blasts royal expert.’

As always, damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.

Of course, entirely left out is the fact that Meghan Markle has plenty of reasons not to travel. Firstly, it’s invasive to demand anything of a pregnant woman in her third trimester. Most importantly, she was advised not to by her doctor. Meghan is at higher risk of complications, with her being 39. She sparked a global movement of solidarity when she was open about her struggles with miscarriage, writing in the New York Times that she was “carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.”

We are in a global health pandemic. Travelling would be physically stressful, potentially dangerous, especially on a 10+ hour flight and never mind mentally stressful with the eyes of the world on her and pens poised to criticise every movement.

She knows that any appearance of hers, particularly this one, is likely to be desecrated for days in the tabloids. She’s made it pretty clear that the stress of abuse while in the UK made her suicidal and told Oprah that it was “almost un-survivable,” saying, “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought.”

Not to mention the various fallouts from the interview; how the royal family went out of their way not to support her and took away their security, how Buckingham Palace announced days before the interview’s release that it would investigate bullying allegations against Meghan from 2018 that had coincidentally resurfaced, how she asked for inpatient care for suicidal ideation and was told it “wouldn’t be good for the institution.”

Not forgetting that she’d have to meet every other family member and bloody cousin face to face after she made it clear to the world that the family had “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”

So why would she go? She would be putting her own health at risk, her unborn child’s health at risk, her mental health at risk and opening up another chance for the media to repeatedly take stabs at her. No doubt, they’ll still find something at the funeral this weekend to blame on her, and for many more occasions to come.