The Beginning of the End: How a Twerking Video Might Topple the Monarchy

After centuries of wars, abdication crises, and tragic royal deaths, we may have finally arrived at the moment that brings the British monarchy to its knees.

We knew this day would come.

It wasn’t Wallis Simpson. It wasn’t Diana’s BBC interview. It wasn’t even Prince Andrew’s catastrophic denial over Pizza Express. The monarchy survived Charles’ tampon-gate, Fergie’s toe-sucking scandal, and 1992’s official annus horribilis. But this. This might finally be too much. 

A video of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, twerking to induce labour may be the thing that pushes the institution off the edge for good. 

The monarchy has weathered worse, at least on paper. King Henry VIII disposed of inconvenient wives. Charles I was executed. Edward VIII gave up the throne for love and questionable judgment. Even the glossy dramatization of The Crown didn’t kill it off. But apparently, a royal spouse dancing in a hospital delivery room, under fluorescent lights is where the pitchforks come out.

The video, shared to celebrate Princess Lilibet’s fourth birthday, shows Meghan dancing in a hospital room, smiling, swaying, and, by her own account, trying to get labour started. It was personal. It was confident. It was, depending on who you ask, either charming or catastrophic.

For some royal watchers, this was confirmation that the mystique is well and truly gone. The monarchy depends on carefully curated distance, ceremonial grandeur, and the illusion that the Windsors are somehow not quite like the rest of us. Twerking does not support this illusion.

If anything, it yanks the curtain off entirely.

Perhaps it was meant as a playful gesture. A private moment shared publicly to reclaim the narrative. Instead, it triggered renewed scrutiny and shifted the conversation to what truly matters: how many twerks does it take to bring down a thousand-year-old monarchy?

The monarchy has endured civil war, family feuds, wiretaps, leaks, Netflix. Now it must face the most fearsome force of all: viral content.

It survived Cromwell. It may not survive the comment section.

© Marilyn Braun 2025

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.

Meghan Twerks Into Royal History

Royals have been having babies for hundreds of years. At this point, it takes something truly unexpected to earn a footnote in the royal history books. All of the royal firsts appear to be covered. Queen Victoria took chloroform during childbirth. Prince William was the first direct heir to be born in a hospital. We’ve had decades of royal mothers exiting maternity wards in carefully chosen outfits, smiling politely for the press while quietly recovering from what was, let’s be honest, global interest in a deeply personal event. 

Just when we thought the tradition had been perfected. Along comes Meghan. Twerking. In hospital. To bring on labour. 

The video, shared on social media to mark Princess Lilibet’s fourth birthday, shows a heavily pregnant Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, dancing with enthusiasm in a hospital room, hoping to get things moving. No doubt in 10 years, Lilibet may look back and cringe, wondering why she couldn’t have had a nice, boring royal birth like the rest of her ancestors.

Royal watchers were, predictably, horrified. Shocked. Aghast. Much of the response was openly derisive. But I, for one, think Meghan should be hailed as a trailblazer. A history-making royal birth we’d never have heard about if not for the famously privacy-seeking couple letting a little daylight in on the… ahem… magic.

The result of sharing the video has been, predictably, more speculation. If Meghan was trying to troll her detractors, it worked, though not quite in her favour. Yes, she did it her way, possibly as a not-so-subtle response to years of whispers about her pregnancies. The conspiracy theories, the scrutiny over her belly, the surrogacy accusations. None of it put to rest. If anything, the video just gave people more to pick apart. A hip thrust and a smile can only do so much.

Whether Queen Victoria would have approved is difficult to say. It’s just as likely she wouldn’t have known what twerking was and would have had to be told by a footman.

In any case, Meghan has become the first royal mother to twerk her way into the historical record. Not through tradition or duty, but by dancing to induce labour. It’s not the usual route to royal legacy, but it appears to have worked.

A trailblazer? A cautionary tale? Depends who you ask. But one thing is clear, future royal mothers have a very tough act to follow.

© Marilyn Braun 2025

 Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.