Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, detailed the breakdown of their relationship with the British royal family in the final episodes of the controversial Netflix documentary “Harry & Meghan,” released this Thursday, December 15.
Harry said it was “terrifying” to have his brother, Prince William, shouting at him during his bitter separation from the clan in early 2020, a period that set the couple on a drastically different course from the institution and opened wounds between the couple and the royal family.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes of “Harry & Meghan” address the couple’s challenges since their marriage in 2018, Meghan’s deteriorating mental health, her miscarriage in 2020, and ultimately their decision to stop working as members of the royal family.
Harry said he initially suggested an arrangement where he and Meghan would have their own jobs but still work to support the queen: “but it became very clear very quickly that this idea was not up for discussion or debate,” Harry said.
“It was scary to have my brother shouting and yelling at me, and my father saying things that simply weren’t true, and my grandmother sitting in silence and absorbing it all,” he recalled conversations with Prince William, then-Prince Charles, and Queen Elizabeth II.
“But you have to understand that from the family’s perspective, especially hers (the queen’s), there are ways of doing things. And your mission and ultimate goal is the institution,” Harry said.
The couple describes throughout the new episodes how, in their opinion, their position within the royal family became untenable after constant media harassment and repeated disrespect for the couple’s well-being within the palace.
Harry implied that there was jealousy from other royal members towards Meghan, given the media attention she was initially receiving. “The issue is when someone who is getting married, who should have a secondary role, is stealing the spotlight or doing the job better than the people who were born to do it,” he said.
“That bothers people. It disrupts the balance. Because you were led to believe that the only way for your charities to succeed and your mission to grow is if you are on the front pages of those newspapers.
The series also addresses Meghan’s deteriorating mental health and her miscarriage in July 2020. “I was pregnant. I really wasn’t sleeping. The first morning we woke up in our new home was when I miscarried,” Meghan said.
She commented on having suicidal thoughts. She said she believed that “all of this will stop if I’m not here. And that was the most frightening thing about it, it was such a clear thought.”
“The lies, that’s one thing. You kind of get used to it when you live with this family,” Harry added. “But what they were doing to her, and the effect it was having on her… was enough. Enough pain, enough suffering.”
“I did everything I could to make them proud and really be a part of the family,” Meghan said in the fifth episode, speaking about her relationship with other royal members. “And then the bubble burst.”
“I realized I wasn’t just being thrown to the wolves, but being eaten by the wolves,” she said.
Source: CNN