LONDON – The explosive interview given by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, attracted millions of viewers in the United States and the United Kingdom this month.
Touching on mental health, race, finances and the aftermath of the couple’s public family, the successful program created a continuing frenzy of media intrigue about what happens behind the palace walls.
But the reactions to the interview revealed another divide: distinct cultural sensitivities on both sides of the Atlantic.
While exiled royals received mostly favorable press coverage and comments on social media in America, Britain, the couple’s confessions were met with more than a measure of disapproval.
Some British tabloids labeled the duo “selfish”, “nauseating” and said the interview was detrimental to the queen, as they ridiculed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for going against the traditional British stance of “stiff upper lips” to expose personal family issues to American media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
In doing so, the argument continues, they reduced the institution of the monarchy over 1,000 years old to the subject for a celebrity talk show.
“This interview removed all the remaining sympathy I had for the couple,” Mark Graham, 52, an educational trainer from Cambridgeshire, in eastern England, told NBC News.
“I thought it was very staged and calculated. Definitely one-sided and targeted.”
Far from harming the monarchy, said Graham, the “unfortunate case” only reinforced the position and popularity of the royal family in Britain.
For Pauline Farren, 50, originally from London but now living in Ireland, her sympathies also extend to Queen Elizabeth II and other royalty.
“I was disgusted with them. I don’t like Meghan intensely and I feel sorry for Harry,” she said. “It was extremely classless to expose your laundry in public after all the royal family did for them.”
The moment was also provocative, she added.
“Prince Philip is very sick in the hospital and the timing could not have been worse, we are in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “They look like spoiled and ungrateful millionaires.”
Philip, 99, was discharged from a hospital in London on Tuesday, returning to Windsor Castle after a month of treatment for an unspecified infection and pre-existing heart disease.
A YouGov opinion poll published after the interview found that it detracted from the popularity of both royalty, with 48% of Britons now seeing Harry in a negative light – a 15-point drop since the beginning of March. It also marked the first time that approval fell into negative territory for the prince.
Meghan fared worse: only 3 out of 10 people in the UK now have a positive opinion of her, the survey found.
On the other side of the lake, however, it was apparently another story.
“The first thought I had, watching Meghan Markle, was that she was so genuine. I was immediately impressed by her clarity and that she was telling the absolute truth about her experiences,” said Chris Pluto, 44, line cook at a restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Pluto said Meghan showed “courage” when talking about his mental health, an approach that resonated and empathized among many Americans.
“It made me cry. I felt that experience. I felt the honesty of what she was saying,” added Pluto.
The Duchess said during the interview that real-life pressure sometimes made her feel suicidal. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she told Winfrey.
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama, singer Beyoncé and White House press secretary Jen Psaki were among the Americans who applauded Meghan for speaking openly about race and mental health.
“It seems to me that the United States is much more open to discussing important issues related to mental health and racism. Britain tends to look the other way,” said British author and Meghan biographer Sean Smith.
“Here in the UK, we spent a lot of time discussing the hurt feelings of TV presenter Piers Morgan,” he added.
Morgan said on the air that he doubted some of Meghan’s comments and then gave up on presenting a morning show to “spend more time with my opinions”, he tweeted. Britain’s broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, has received more than 57,000 public complaints about its comments so far.
For Brittney Watters, 31, communications manager for the Fresno, California Unified School District, California, the actual interview “was so identifiable.”
“What Meghan Markle was talking about happened to me. I’m not a celebrity. I’m an ordinary, middle-class worker,” she said.
“I have experienced racism, oppression. I have experienced suicidal thoughts, feeling exhausted and tired of my efforts as a black woman – constantly trying to fight the system.”
Meghan said a real source had expressed “concerns” to Harry about how dark his children’s skin could be. The couple refused to say the individual’s name, but Winfrey later said that Harry had made it clear that he was neither the queen nor Philip.
Reflecting its traditionally stoic attitude, Buckingham Palace issued a 61-word statement in response to the interview.
“The issues raised, particularly those of race, are of concern,” he said. “Although some memories may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be taken care of by the family in particular.”
Harry’s brother, Prince William, countered the race charges, telling reporters in London on March 11, “We are not a racist family.”
But it only served to feed the press and public appetite in both countries for more information about the family drama.
The Queen’s position among the British, however, remains relatively undated, with 4 out of 5 people liking her, according to the YouGov survey. William and his wife, Kate, also remain extremely popular – with about three-quarters of Britons giving them favorable reviews.
Londoner Adie Perkins said that after the actual revelations, he was sure the institution would “find a way to overcome this” as “there is so much love for the monarchy”, but added that he found the interview “very shocking” and was left with little sympathy for Meghan and Harry.
Not all Britons are monarchists.
THE #abolishthemonarchy The hashtag became a trend on Twitter after the interview, among those who support a republic.
For biographer Smith, little could or should change about the monarchy while Elizabeth II reigns, and attempts to pit members of the transatlantic family against each other are futile.
“In my opinion, nothing will change as long as the queen is on the throne … she deserves respect,” he said.
“For me, that respect includes the media not putting her as a weapon of a sweet grandma against Meghan. They are both important women and deserve to be treated accordingly.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, send the text message HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.