Meghan Markle makes 'unexpected' admission as she attempts not to 'alienate' public

Meghan Markle speaks about Prince Harry at SXSW panel

Meghan Markle recently took part in a panel about women in media and entertainment and her words were powerful, says one royal expert. 

Daily Express US spoke to Pauline Maclaran, a professor at Royal Holloway, who said of the SXSW event, “I think this panel was a very good fit for Meghan and she seemed comfortable in her role.”

Meghan’s charity Archewell Foundation sponsored the event, which resulted in some criticism, that Meghan was invited as a guest speaker, when in fact she was the host, it's being said.

Invited guest or not, Maclaran believes Meghan used her time on stage “wisely” talking about her work at Archewell and sharing her personal experiences with social media and how it can be cruel.

“I think what she said was very moving and will resonate with many women.”

READ MORE: Harry and Meghan urged to 'garner public support' and stop 'ruffling feathers'

Meghan looks right at home on stage (Image: Getty)

During the talk, Meghan addressed online bullying and how it can be toxic, pointing out that, in her experience, it was mostly perpetuated by women.

Maclaran added: “She said she couldn’t understand why this would happen, that women would attack each other so much. I think the reason is that in a patriarchal society, women see each other as competition!”

While Meghan, who is a graduate of Northwestern University, stopped short of explaining why women may be more prone to take part in online bullying, she didn’t expand on the reasoning, with Maclaran explaining why that may have been.

Maclaran says of the occurrence: “I think she spoke well and we wouldn’t have expected her to suddenly introduce some of the deeper, more academic feminist arguments about patriarchy.”

Meghan pursued women’s studies while at university, and its presumed she would have an understanding of the topic, but held back, keeping in mind her surroundings, suggests Maclaran.

“This would likely have alienated the audience as well so I thought she handled it adequately. Importantly her emotional delivery about her own experiences of online abuse helps highlight this issue and the need for change.”

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Her hubby, Prince Harry, was in in the crowd, cheering her on (Image: Getty)

Meghan was joined by TV presenter Katie Couric and actress Brooke Shields, with all three women fielding questions from moderator Errin Haines, editor at large at The 19th.

Maclaran shares her thoughts on the discussion: “All the panellists talked to a certain extent about their own personal experiences and I didn’t feel Meghan did this more than the others.”

“There is a famous feminist mantra, 'the personal is political’ so talking about their own experiences and then looking at the bigger picture within which these took place was, in my view, very relevant.”