Posted on 03/08/2021 7:56:39 AM PST by Kaslin
The interview was loaded with apparent revelations. But there's absolutely no way around the he-said-she-said dynamic that characterizes this conflict.
Regardless of how many sit-down interviews they grant or how real their reality show gets, we’re destined to observe the royal family from afar. Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which aired Sunday night, ostensibly peeled back the curtain on their troubled relationship with the House of Windsor.
Of course, we don’t actually know that it did anything of the sort. The newly minted Californians coordinated the primetime special to tell their side of the story. That’s how this goes. According to Harry and Meghan, who left their roles as senior members of the royal family, they did “everything [they] could to make it work.” The queen may have a different take. (Although we likely won’t hear it in a splashy TV interview.)
Markle told Oprah she’d experienced “suicidal thoughts,” explaining, “I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help…and I was told that I couldn’t.”
“I went to one of the most senior people to get help. I was told I couldn’t because it wouldn’t be good for the institution,” said Markle.
Harry on his father Prince Charles:
There is a lot to work though there. I feel really let do. He’s been through something similar.
He knows what pain feels like.
And Archie is his grandson.
I will always love him but there is a lot of hurt that has happened#OprahMeghanHarry— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 8, 2021
Harry on Prince William: The relationship is one of "space at the moment" and time heals all things hopefully.
Meghan: I regret believing them (the Palace) when they said I would be protected.#OprahMeghanHarry— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 8, 2021
“I’m comfortable knowing we did everything we did to make it work.”
Both Harry and Meghan tell Oprah they did everything they could to make their roles work, but ultimately the institution and family let them down.#OprahMeghanHarry
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 8, 2021
Prince Harry says the Royal Family cut him off financially at the start of 2020 (after announcing plans to step back from royal roles) but says he was able to afford security for his family because of the money his mother, Princess Diana, left behind.#OprahMeghanHarry
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 8, 2021
Harry: If it were not for Meghan, I wouldn’t not have been able to leave. I felt trapped as well.
I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped.#OprahMeghanHarry— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 8, 2021
Harry says the royal family has an issue with race “For this union and the specifics around race there were opportunities for my family to show some public support. No one from my family ever said anything. That hurts.” #HarryandMeghanonOprah #MeghanAndHarry
— Roya Nikkhah (@RoyaNikkhah) March 8, 2021
Meghan: They took away Harry's security. I wrote letters to his family – I accept that I couldn't;t have it. But I said "please keep keep my husband safe. Please don’t pull his security. And they said it’s not just possible".#OprahMeghanHarry
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 8, 2021
The couple said they felt “trapped” as royals. Meghan said she begged unsuccessfully for Harry’s security to remain. Harry said his family “literally” cut him off, and he’s living on money left by his mother.
In reference to rumors swirling around her wedding, Markle claimed it was actually Kate Middleton who made her cry, despite reports to the contrary. Harry said his relationship with Prince William involves “space at the moment.”
They were married in a private ceremony three days before their public wedding. They’re now expecting a baby girl in the summer, but want only two children. Floating a huge allegation, Markle said before the birth of her son there were internal “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
The interview was loaded with apparent revelations. But there’s absolutely no way around the he-said-she-said dynamic that characterizes this conflict.
The crown wants to protect itself. Harry and Meghan want to protect themselves as well. Given the necessarily public nature of their spat, both sides must now manipulate the media in their favor to succeed. Whether you love Markle or hate her, what you’re seeing is a curated media character striving to achieve an illusion of authenticity.
I confess to being viscerally irritated by Americans’ palace intrigue over the royal family. Women project onto royals because their privilege makes it seem okay, so controversial royals are incredible gossip fodder, like homecoming queens and trust-fund princesses. British tabloids are a different beast, but it seems inevitable that Markle’s admitted struggles with fame-induced mental health problems will spark comparisons with Britney Spears.
For the public, it seems like a trade-off. Markle and Spears get fame and money, so we get to joke when they gain ten pounds or have an off day. We get to speculate about their family drama and they get to jet set. Is it fair? Tabloid culture is certainly a response to demand. Demand is not always or even often broadly moral.
Markle is notoriously sanctimonious. She lectures the world from her position of immense power and privilege. She has the vapid politics of a Zinn-chugging liberal arts graduate. Depending on which rumors you believe, she’s not very nice either. But who knows what’s real in a battle for the narrative? It’s not possible, so you might as well just stop investing in the fight.
At play here are deep international dynamics, the trading of literal royalty for America’s decadent version of it in Hollywood. Emotive millennials pointedly bucking their conservative family’s tradition of stoicism, swapping dignified roles and their inevitable constraints for self-indulgence.
We’re all projecting a lot onto this couple. The comment that struck me most was Harry’s claim his family is “scared” of British tabloids and acts accordingly. Powerful people being scared of the free press? What an incredible concept.
Here in the states, where Harry and Meghan have chosen to make their home, reality star Bethenny Frankel deleted a critical tweet that read, “Cry me a river…the plight of being a game show host, fairly unknown actress, to suffering in a palace, w tiaras & 7 figure weddings for TWO WHOLE YEARS to being a household name w @Oprah on speed dial, fetching 7 m for interviews, hundreds of millions in media deals.” For a couple with the world at their fingertips, it’s true that Harry and Meghan do a lot of whining.
After blowback from users and outlets like TMZ, Frankel deleted the tweet and added, “I watched M & H sit down. Emotional distress & racism must feel suffocating & powerless. I’m a polarizing, unfiltered(often to a fault)flawed person w a voice. When I heard of the interview, during a pandemic, it felt like a surprising choice. I’m sorry if it hurt or offended you.”
American tabloids defend rich and powerful celebrities as long as they cloak themselves in vague wokeness. That makes California a much warmer home for Harry and Meghan for reasons beyond the weather. Here, they can have their cake and eat it too.
For all our personal and cultural projections onto the couple, “Harry and Meghan” is always just our interpretation of the family’s media tug-of-war. We have little access to the reality at hand, which is carefully clouded by the resources of enormously powerful people. Why bother squinting?
Don Draper said it best. Love her or hate her, the best approach to Meghan Markle is simply not to think about her at all.
The institution and the family predate these two self-centered pampered egomaniacs by ages and they gave it all of what, one year? Is Markle so stupid that she didn't realize what marrying into the royal family entailed? I believe she could be.... but giving a televised interview to Oprah shows she's a cunning little minx too. And Harry? He is going to greatly regret this, and very soon.
She sure did. She really could have done thing. It boggles my mind how badly she blew it..but then again..she is going to have 100s of millions of dollars..so there is that.
My, isn’t that nice!
....and that oprah and meghan are RACISTS.
They walked away from their royal duties but still wanted all the benefits. A classic case of wanting to have your cake and eat it too.
Well her father is white, so there.
I have not seen the interview and won’t. But how possible is it that there was a plan for her to marry into the royal family to bring it down? She could claim the royals are mean and spiteful to her because of her mixed race. It wouldn’t surprise me.
Notice he said he was living off his mother’s money and not a peep that the Queen Mother left him more money than William.
Where’s the half-frikken American been lately...Berrie O Bozo? Tied up by BIG MIKE? Not on TV praising his VEEP for winning POTATUS.
Fame induced mental health issues? Megan Markle? Are they daft. Infamy maybe.
Oftentimes a period of deranged behavior immediately follows an evil act committed against others who don’t deserve it. This explains her insane behavior. It explains the demonRATs too.
Hollywood actress complains to billionaire talk show host about becoming a royal princess.... Most ungrateful human to ever exist? We have a winner!
Somehow I suspect the new daughter will be born pitch black and cuk Harry and Megs can do another million dollar ground breaking “interview”.........../s
The good news about this is that Meghan and Harry Hewitt have shot their wad. There’s not much more that can be said without resorting to fantasies that would be completely transparent. I can’t imagine on the whole that this episode will be well-received by anyone — and I doubt she’s added any fans. From this point forward, they will fade into the background, which will be torture for Meghan. Over time, Harry’s resentment will grow and he’ll want back into the fold. They’ll divorce, and both will spend the rest of their lives bitter shells.
They do need to do something about the baby’s right eye. Like putting a patch on the left eye, so he has to use the right eye, and won’t become cross-eyed. (I think that’s the way to do it.
How does a not even two year old Archie just decide to say “drive safely” to people which in turn lights up twitter universe that Diana is overlooking him and feeding him those words.
He may be a genius since his first word was three syllables - crocodile
Yes, I think some people like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I didn’t watch the program but I’m reading the comments online. This chick had the chance of a lifetime to do some good, represent a country in a respectful manner, but she doesn’t want to follow any rules. Except when she demands them of others. I can’t see this marriage lasting the test of time. Both she and Harry are spoiled in an epic way and very entitled.
They’re going to name the daughter Diana, I bet..
it may be over. we havent see a full picture of him lately. One of the other kids has an eye problem. I think her name is Louise.
It’s not like they are actually paying their own way. They are on a grift.
They have wealthy Americans who are putting them up, helping them out & finding them no work/no show jobs so they can talk about how they know Royals.
You don’t actually believe that this was a FREE interview. I bet they got millions for this puff piece.
They could have been as active or inactive in the family as they wanted. She decided to air every grievance & thought in he head instead of smiling, waving while enjoying the literal ‘Royal Treatment’.
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