Meghan has been cast as the inverse to Diana, a photonegative of adoration. Why do we need scapegoats? | Brigid Delaney

The hatred the duchess inspires – like the mourning of her mother-in-law – reveals hidden aspects of British character and tells us something about public anxieties

Whatever unhinged parasocial relationship the adoring public had with Diana, Princess of Wales, their relationship with the Duchess of Sussex is its shadowy reflection.

For decades, Diana was the subject of public adoration that was locked in a permanent hysterical register. Clive James, for example, captured the hyperbole when he described himself as a “besotted walk-on mesmerized by the trajectory of a burning angel” and Diana as like “the sun coming up; coming up giggling”.

Yet in terms of public opinion, Meghan is stuck in its opposite register – a perceived darkness to Diana’s light.

In a single year in 2019 – still in the honeymoon stage – Meghan appeared in negative news stories 21,100 times across 29,000 tabloid and broadsheet publications, according to data analysis firm Brandwatch.