Harry and Meghan’s Interview Causes Ripples Across the Pond
On March 14th, 2021, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engaged in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, revealing details about their negative experience with the British royal family and their decision to leave the UK for California. An estimated 17 million people around the world tuned into the revelatory interview.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex—the younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana who died in 1997—is a member of the British royal family and is sixth in line to the throne. Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, has continued to be the reigning monarch of Britain as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries of the Commonwealth since 1953. In 2018, Prince Harry married actress Meghan Markle, which to many seemed like a fairytale come true. The interview, however, made it clear that life in the public eye was not always sunshine and rainbows. Soon after the interview was broadcast, it was deemed as a “once in a generation”, similar to Princess Diana’s interview in 1995.
Meghan explained the isolation she felt as she lived the private life of a royal. She experienced no freedom to drive, travel, eat out at a restaurant, or take a walk. There is tremendous pressure to stay hidden and avoid bad press from Britain’s infamous tabloids and paparazzi journalists. Meghan’s American passport and driver’s license were taken away by palace officials when she returned to the US. She repeatedly received harsh media coverage by British tabloids, causing her distress. When she was pregnant with Archie, she felt so alone and depressed that she contemplated suicide. The royal staff, who she referred to as “the Firm”, did not provide any assistance. Markle described Buckingham Palace to be a rigid ancient institution, which did not offer counseling, fearing that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.
Meghan’s most explosive revelation was the insinuation of racism within the Royal family. Meghan—who is the first person of color to marry into the royal family—provided details of several privileges which would be denied to her son Archie, including Royal security detail and a title. There were questions about how dark-skinned her son, great-grandson to the queen, would be. Neither Prince Harry nor Meghan revealed who made these remarks, but they later clarified that it was not the queen.
The reaction to the interview was mixed. An opinion poll showed that only 32% of the British public like Meghan Markle. Screen personality Piers Morgan called the interview “crass,” meaning it lacked sensitivity. Commentators in Britain said that British high society is conservative and still believe women should be “mostly seen and not heard.” Some tabloids even went on the offensive, claiming that Meghan mistreated her palace staff and that she should not have conducted this interview while the Queen’s husband Prince Philip was in the hospital.
Across the pond (as the Atlantic is affectionately called), there was an outpouring of support for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The palace reacted with a quiet message saying the royal family was “saddened” by what Meghan went through and the family will address these issues privately. They also said Harry, Meghan, and Archie are “much-loved family members” of the royal family, which put a stop to further public discussion.
by ANIKA BASU