South Africans have hit out at Meghan Markle after she told of an apparent fire that broke out in her son Archie’s room while she was on a tour of the country.
Archie, then four months old, was not in the room in Cape Town when a heater started to smoke – but the incident left the Duchess of Sussex ‘shaken’ and ‘in tears’, she told tennis star Serena Williams in her new podcast.
Others are understood to recall the incident which took place on September 23, 2019 – and while they do not remember there actually being a fire, the heater was certainly smoking and was unplugged and dealt with.
Despite the upset, Meghan said in the Spotify podcast that she was obliged to continue with official engagements, accusing those running the tour of concentrating on ‘how it looks, instead of how it feels’.
However, South Africans have not taken too kindly to her claims on social media, to the point where ‘#VoetsekMeghan’ – an offensive term meaning ‘go away’ – was trending on Twitter.
One wrote: ‘South Africa… You’re amazing – the #VoetsekMeghan tag is brilliant. She’s single handedly offending the world country by country! Shame really when most of her fanbase is in SA…oopsie!’
Another said: ‘I don’t care about the fire incident but the statement: coming to South Africa was the bravest thing she has done. Speaks volumes. As if she was coming to some apocalypse state or something. She should elaborate on what was brave about it, is it because is in Africa? #VoetsekMeghan’
A third added: ‘So after the supposed fire , Meghan could have taken Archie to their engagements in South Africa. Catherine did it in Australia and New Zealand without issue. Why could she not? You know why? Because then it would no longer be just about her! #VoetsekMeghan’
Meghan, holding son Archie alongside husband Harry at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa in 2019
The Duchess has been defended by sources over the event, who claim that any parent would have been understandably concerned. The Sussexes were then transferred to another lodging as the trip went on.
After months of preparation on the ground, there would have been an expectation that Harry and Meghan would continue with their commitments; nevertheless, as senior royals, they would have had the ultimate decision.
Additionally, a source informed the Daily Telegraph that any news about Archie being in danger of burning down or having to postpone a speaking engagement where they discussed Apartheid would have overshadowed the couple’s efforts.
The Sussexes had an unexpected walkabout when visiting Cape Town’s historic District Six later that day. There, they met locals and heard from those who had been forcefully relocated to a township during the Apartheid period at the Homecoming Centre.
Freed slaves, artisans, immigrants, merchants, and the Cape Malay community used to live in District Six, an inner-city neighborhood in Cape Town. However, after the government declared it a “whites-only area” in 1966, more than 60,000 residents were forcibly relocated to the Cape Flats township, 15 miles away.