Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and wife of Britain’s Prince Harry, has offered an unusual take on the meaning of a particular word when it is used to describe a woman.
Speaking on an episode of her Archetypes podcast titled “To ‘B’ or not to ‘B’”, Markle argued that the word “difficult” is used to “gaslight” strong women.
She then proceeded to speculate that the word “difficult” in such context is “really just a euphemism or is probably not even a euphemism”, before adding: “It's really a code word for the B-word” – apparently referring to the word “b*tch”.
At least one UK media outlet suggested that Meghan herself has been referred to as “Duchess Difficult” since around 2018, with royal correspondent Richard Palmer tweeting at the time: “The crazies on Twitter won’t like it but it is clear that Meghan is regarded as difficult and demanding by some in the family and on the staff.”