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Oprah With Meghan And Harry is available to watch on ITV Hub

Meghan Markle’s Royal Ordeal

The world was stunned by revelations made by Meghan and Harry during their two-hour interview with Oprah Winfrey early last month. There have been many scandals involving the royal family in the past, but never before have we been given access to so much detail.

Meghan opened up about the relentless media vilification she faced, the racial discrimination, restrictions on her freedom, and the effect this all had on her mental health.

She described a “clear directive” given by the Palace, or “The Firm” as she called them, to her and her friends and family. This directive was to always give a ‘no comment’ response to the media. “It was always through the lens of, and we’ll protect you”, she said.

“My friends would call me and say, ‘Meg, this is really bad.’ I’d say, ‘Don’t worry I’m being protected.’ That was really hard to reconcile because it was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband”.

Meghan reported how she felt trapped and totally isolated and that she felt a sense of loss in relation to her voice and identity. It all culminated in her reaching an all-time low. “It was all happening just because I was breathing. I just didn’t want to be alive any more”, she said. “That was a clear, real, frightening and constant thought.”

But when Meghan sought help from the Palace’s Human Resources department, she says she was told: “My heart is going out to you, but there’s nothing we can do because you’re not a paid member of the institution”. She went on to say that members of the royal family told her that she “couldn’t seek psychiatric help because it wouldn’t be good for the institution”.

Harry expressed that his biggest concern “was history repeating itself”, which was in reference to his mother who was killed when her chauffer-driven car crashed whilst being chased by paparazzi. “For me, I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you with my wife by my side”.

Meghan went on to say “There’s a loss of identity but I’m still standing”. “My hope for people in the takeaway from this, is to know that there’s another side, to know that life is worth living”.

The most shocking of all the revelations made during the interview was that the royal family were said to be worried about the skin colour of Meghan and Harry’s son, Archie. The couple revealed that someone within the family raised it as a concern, but they were unwilling to name and shame the person responsible.

“Were they worried that if he was too brown that would be a problem?”, asked Winfrey. “If that’s the assumption you are making I think that feels like a pretty safe one”, Meghan replied. “It’s really hard to understand right? The Commonwealth is a huge part of the monarchy”. “I know how important representation is. I know how you want to see someone who looks like you in certain positions. I could never understand how it wouldn’t be seen as an added benefit and a reflection of the world today”.

There are many, most famously Piers Morgan, who are angry with Meghan and Harry for bringing the royal family into disrepute. Oddly, for this exact offence, these same people tend not to express a great deal of anger towards Prince Andrew, who is linked to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and is wanted for questioning by the FBI following the alleged groping of a minor in the US.

These people seem to have fixed and peculiar ideas of who in society deserves admiration, respect and the benefit of the doubt, and who in society does not. Meghan Markle has very clearly found herself to be in the group who do not qualify for such offerings.

At the heart of this story lies a debate about racism; a debate that resonates with the experiences of many Black, Asian and ethnic minority people. This story is about the normalised insidious racist acts and expressions that have gone unquestioned for far too long. It is time to begin calling out not just overt racism, but hidden racism too.