A COUNTESS AND A DUCHESS
By SyndicatedNews | SNN.BZ
Luann de Lesseps and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, would appear to inhabit very different worlds. One became famous to millions through The Real Housewives of New York City; the other married the younger son of Britain’s reigning royal family. Yet place their biographies side by side and an intriguing parallel emerges: both women married men who brought historic titles into their lives, subsequently became celebrities whose identities extended far beyond their marriages, and learned that an aristocratic title can become an unusually powerful part of a modern public image.
Luann de Lesseps became Countess de Lesseps through her 1993 marriage to French aristocrat Count Alexandre de Lesseps. They remained married for 17 years and had two children, Victoria and Noel. Luann has repeatedly explained that the countess designation was a courtesy title connected with her husband’s historic French family rather than membership in a currently reigning royal house. France abolished the legal privileges of nobility long ago, making her situation fundamentally different from membership in Britain’s functioning system of titles.
Meghan’s path was more formal. When American actress Meghan Markle married Prince Harry at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, on May 19, 2018, Queen Elizabeth II made Harry Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel. Meghan consequently became Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel. Those titles remain officially recognized even though Harry and Meghan ceased being working members of the Royal Family.
That distinction is important when comparing the women. De Lesseps’ “Countess” is now closely associated with her entertainment identity. Bravo itself describes her as the model-turned-Countess who went on to become a cabaret performer, author, actress and television personality. Her title became so thoroughly intertwined with her public persona that her cabaret career included Countess and Friends, while her music included the knowingly aristocratic anthem “Money Can’t Buy You Class.”
Meghan’s Duchess title occupies a considerably more complicated position. Harry and Meghan announced in January 2020 that they would step back as senior working royals, and Buckingham Palace confirmed in February 2021 that they would not return as working members of the Royal Family. Nevertheless, leaving royal duties did not, by itself, erase the dukedom or Meghan’s status as Duchess of Sussex.
The similarities become more noticeable in what happened afterward. Both women entered their marriages with careers of their own. Luann had worked as a nurse and model before becoming a television personality; Meghan had an established acting career and played Rachel Zane for seven seasons of Suits. Marriage dramatically expanded the international visibility of both women, although on vastly different scales.
Both also discovered that titles have commercial and cultural value outside the traditional aristocratic world. De Lesseps has been unusually candid about this, describing “The Countess” as part of her brand. Meghan and Harry, meanwhile, have retained the Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles while developing media, charitable and commercial ventures outside the working monarchy. In both cases, the title has remained conspicuous long after the woman’s original relationship with the institution or marriage that produced it fundamentally changed.
There is another, more controversial similarity: both women have publicly been characterized as narcissistic or self-centered, although that is an opinion about their behavior, not a medical diagnosis. De Lesseps’ Real Housewives castmates accused her of narcissism, and former friend Barbara Kavovit later publicly called her a narcissist; de Lesseps rejected that characterization, explaining that behavior viewers perceived as self-centered occurred while she was concentrating on maintaining her sobriety. Meghan has faced the same label from critics: royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith publicly described her as “very narcissistic,” controlling and dominating, while other commentators have made similar accusations. Meghan’s defenders strongly dispute the broader hostile portrayals of her, and Prince Harry and Meghan have repeatedly challenged what they regard as distorted and damaging media narratives. What can fairly be said is that narcissism has become part of the public debate surrounding both women; it cannot responsibly be presented as a clinical diagnosis of either one without an actual professional evaluation.
Perhaps the most revealing comparison, then, is not which woman is the “real” aristocrat—or which criticism of either woman is justified. Their titles originate in different systems and operate under different rules. The more interesting story is how two American-born women entered rarefied European social worlds through marriage and subsequently carried those identities into entertainment, business and popular culture. Luann transformed “The Countess” into a deliberately theatrical persona and successful cabaret brand; Meghan retained an official British title while constructing a life and career outside the institution that bestowed it. Both have attracted admiration, ridicule and accusations of excessive self-importance along the way. In the twenty-first century, they demonstrate something aristocrats of earlier centuries could scarcely have imagined: a title may begin at an altar, but celebrity can give it an entirely different second life.
