Harry & Megan's Interview

As you are all probably aware, recently, Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s Special with Oprah Winfrey was recently released. The release of the interview has brought on immense amounts of controversy. It brought controversy onto not only Harry and Megan, but mainly the royal family.

The interview came after years of speculation by the press and pressure on Harry and Megan to be perfect. As many of you probably remember, Megan was constantly making headlines for the smallest things and was facing controversies left and right.

Oprah, a close friend of Harry and Megan was able to get this interview because of the sense of trust between the two groups. It seems that Harry and Megan didn’t want to land in hot water after speaking out, so they chose to confide in someone close to them and whom they trusted. However, despite their best efforts to do this interview perfectly, they still are facing a lot of backlash for the topics discussed and things said. Of course, with any figure as big as them speaking out is going to create mixed reactions. It is quite literally impossible to please everyone in a situation like this and no matter how touching the story was to some, the majority of the public and the press are still ruthless towards the new parents. 

While interviewing HF student, Kelsi Smith, she explained, “For the past almost three years I’ve seen Megan being absolutely slandered in the media, criticized for every single thing she has done. They talk about what she wears, where she goes, her family’s personal past, her race. It is terrible the things they say and the way she is treated. I’m not sure if I could ever handle that.” And many people agree with this. While there is a hige presence of online hate towards Megan Markle, there is also outlets of love and apprecitaion for her.

An interview that was supposed to fully set the record straight and clean things up for Harry and Megan has still made them make headlines on a daily basis. They are still being criticized for topics of discussions they already cleared up. No matter what lengths they go to, this type of controversy follows them everywhere. As an American marrying into the british royal family, it is clear why Megan was such an outsider and had so much trouble adapting and being accepted. She is simply not british. The royal family is known to do things like this. Many compare Megan to the late Princess Diana who was British, but not by royal blood and she was alienated for it in the same way Megan continues to be. The press have and always will be very hard on anyone involved in the royal family.

The interview shed light on very traumatic events for Harry and Megan. Many compared it to a tell all expose on their experiences within the last few years. Considering how private and protective the royals are about their lives, this surely gave us the most insight we have seen in a few years. 

Megan went on to explain how hard the criticism she faced was through her pregnancies and explained her miscarriage. Megan explained, “"I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second," she wrote. "Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband's hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears.” This coming after the birth of her first child, Archie. Megan explained that her and Harry were eager to have more kids and she got pregnant and . It is speculated that all the stress from her royal duties and the press may have put her in this scary spot. That type of stress is not good on any person, let alone a woman carrying a child.

Megan and Harry also addressed a specific clash between the pair and the royal family during her first pregnancy. They explained that during her pregnancy, there were members of the royal family who were concerned about how dark their child would be. Megan, being biracial, was the reason why the skin color was brought up by this member of the family. During the interview, it was clear that Harry and Megan were very upset by what was said about their child. An article from Vos goes more into detail about this conversation on the show saying, “Meghan has a Black mother and white father, and has been subject to a storm of racist harassment from the British tabloid press ever since she became associated with the royal family. Similar racist harassments came publicly from the British royal family on at least one occasion as well: Infamously, Princess Michael of Kent wore a racist blackamoor brooch to be introduced to Meghan in 2017.” There are some more articles covering that if you wanted to look more into it.

Since this came out, there has been so much controversy on who the person saying this may have been. While Harry and Megan have said, “I think that would be very damaging to them,” and Harry saying, “That conversation I’m never going to share.” that doesn’t stop the whole world from speculating. 

Student, Kelsi Smith went on to explain, “Hearing Harry and Megan say this broke my heart. I know they confirmed it was not the queen who said this and that she supports them, but still how did none of them stand up to who said this?”

Megan has always been a victim of this type of racism. This dates back to even before her time in the royal family, it goes back to her childhood. And Megan has always been very vocal about this. Since even before her time in the royal family she has been an advocate for all people of the world: raising awareness for social issues, donating her money and time, traveling to other countries, educating others and herself. Even with all the good she has done, the world will always criticize her. In all honesty, I couldn’t see anyone else taking on the role that she has in any better of a way. She is gracious and kind towards all people and one might think that would pay off, but it hasn’t, people still tear her apart on a daily basis. Even after this tell all interview where she gave context to so many events that the media took and ran with people still finding reasons to bring her down.