LONDON (AP) – The British royal family was absorbing the tremors on Monday from a sensational television interview by Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, in which the couple said they encountered racist attitudes and a lack of support that led Meghan to thoughts suicidal.
The couple gave a deeply unfavorable description of life inside the royal house, portraying a cold and indifferent institution from which they had to flee for their lives.
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that at one point “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore” and had uncontrollable suicidal thoughts. She said she sought help through the palace’s human resources department, but was told that there was nothing they could do.
While the majority in Britain have yet to see the interview, which airs on Monday night, the anti-monarchy group Republic said Winfrey’s interview gives a clearer picture of what the royal family is like – and not it’s beautiful.
“Whether for the sake of Britain or for the sake of younger royalty, this rotten institution needs to be extinguished,” said Graham Smith, of the campaign group.
“Some people will say ‘well, you would say that’, but this interview only served to highlight what many people have known for years: the monarchy is rotten to the core and does not reflect British values. ″
In the soul-telling interview, Meghan, 39, admitted that she was naive at the beginning of her relationship with Harry and unprepared for the constraints of real life.
Meghan, who identifies herself as biracial, described that when she was pregnant with their son Archie, there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might look when he is born”.
Harry confirmed the conversation, saying, “I was a little shocked.” He said he would not reveal who made the comment.
Harry, born a royal prince, described how his wife’s experience helped him realize how he and the rest of the family were trapped in an oppressive institution.
“I was under arrest, but I didn’t know I was under arrest,” said Harry. “My father and brother are under arrest.”
Meghan, he said, “saved me”.
Young royals – including Harry, Meghan, Prince William and William’s wife, Catherine – have made mental health support and awareness campaigns one of their top priorities. But Harry described a royal family completely unable to offer such support to its own members.
“For the family, they have this ‘This is the way it is, this is the way it should be, you can’t change, we have all been there’ mentality,” said Harry.
The sympathy for the couple came from the United States, where the two-hour interview was broadcast on Sunday night. It will air on Monday in Britain, where some view Meghan and Harry as a couple who place personal happiness above public duty.
Tennis star Serena Williams, a friend who attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding, said on Twitter that the Duchess’s words “illustrate the pain and cruelty she experienced.
“The consequences of systemic oppression and victimization for mental health are devastating, isolating and often lethal,” added Williams.
American actress Meghan Markle, a star in the American TV legal drama “Suits”, married Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Her son, Archie, was born the following year.
In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced that they were leaving real duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the British media’s unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes. They settled in Santa Barbara, California, and spoke to Winfrey from his home in the upscale Montecito area.
Harry said he lived in fear of a repeat of his mother’s fate, Princess Diana, who was constantly reported in the press and died in a car accident in Paris in 1997, while being chased by paparazzi.
“What I was seeing was history repeating itself, but definitely a lot more dangerous – because then you add race and social media,” said Harry.
Both Meghan and Harry praised the support they received from Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother.
“The queen has always been wonderful to me,” said Meghan.
But Harry revealed that he currently has a bad relationship with his brother William, and said that things got so bad with his father that at one point Prince Charles stopped taking his calls.
“There is a lot to work out there,” said Harry of his relationship with his father. “I feel very disappointed. He went through something similar. He knows what the pain is like. And Archie is your grandson. I will always love him, but many hurts have happened. “
In a rare positive moment of the interview, Harry and Meghan revealed that their second child, scheduled for the summer, would be a girl.