LONDON (AP) – Britain and its royal family absorbed the tremors on Monday in a sensational television interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, in which the couple said they faced racist attitudes and a lack of support that led the duchess to suicidal thoughts.
In a two-hour interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple painted a deeply flattering image of life in the royal household, depicting a cold, indifferent institution that they had to flee to save their lives.
Meghan told Winfrey that at one point “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore” and that she had uncontrollable suicidal thoughts. She said she sought help through the palace’s human resources department, but was told there was nothing she could do.
Meghan, 39, admitted that she was naive at the beginning of her relationship with Harry and unprepared for the rigors of royal life.
The former television star, who identifies herself as biracial, described that when she was pregnant with her son Archie, there were “worries and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born”.
Harry confirmed the conversation, saying, “I was a little shocked.” He said he would not reveal who made the comment.
The two, known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced their resignation last year, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British press. This split became official earlier this year, and the interview was widely seen as their first opportunity to explain their decision.
The implications for the interview – which aired Sunday night in the United States and will air in the UK on Monday night – are just beginning to be understood. Emily Nash, gift editor at Hello! Magazine said the revelations left her and many other spectators “shocked.”
“I don’t see how the palace can ignore these accusations, they are incredibly serious,” she said. “You have accusations of racism. Then you have the statement that Megan was not supported and sought help from the human resources team in the household and was told that she could not seek help. ”
The anti-monarchy group Republic said the interview provided a clearer picture of what the royal family is like – and it’s not beautiful.
“Whether it’s for the sake of Britain or for the sake of young royalty, this rotten institution must work,” 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.”
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 a stressful institution.
“I was caught, but I didn’t know I was caught,” Harry said. “My father and my brother are trapped.”
Meghan, he said, “saved me.”
Younger royalty – including Harry, Meghan, Harry’s brother, Prince William and William’s wife, Catherine – have made mental health support and awareness campaigns a priority. But Harry described a royal family completely incapable of providing that support to its own members.
“For the family, they have a lot of this mentality of ‘That’s right, that’s the way it should be, you can’t change it, we’re all gone,'” Harry said.
The couple faced severe criticism in the UK in the run-up to the interview. Prince Philip, Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, is in a London hospital after recovering from a heart procedure, and critics say the decision to move on is a burden for the queen. – even if CBS, rather than Harry and Meghan, dictated the timing of the broadcast.
In the United States, sympathy for the couple overflowed after the interview. It will be presented later Monday in the UK, where some see Meghan and Harry as a couple who put personal happiness before public debt.
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 oppression and systemic victimization on mental health are devastating, isolating and too often lethal,” Williams added.
Meghan – then known as Meghan Markle, who starred in the American TV drama “Suits” – married Harry, a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son, Archie, born the following year.
Holding hands, Harry and Meghan sat across from Winfrey as she asked him questions in a lush garden setting. The couple lives in Montecito, California, where Winfrey’s neighbors live.
Harry said he lived in fear of repeating the fate of his mother, Princess Diana, who was constantly covered by 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 certainly more dangerous – because then you add the race and you add social media,” Harry said.
Both Meghan and Harry praised the support they received from Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother.
“The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.
But Harry revealed that he currently has a weak relationship with his brother, William, and said that things got worse with his father, so that at one point Prince Charles stopped calling him.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Harry said of his relationship with his father. “I am just really disappointed. He went through something similar. He knows how he feels the pain. And Archie is his nephew. I will always love him, but it has been very bad. ”
In a rare positive moment in the interview, Harry and Meghan revealed that their second child, who should be in the summer, will be a girl.