Meghan Markle’s Oprah Winfrey Interview: Why I believe her
I feel like I’ve watched Meghan and Harry’s divorce from the final chapter in their toxic relationship with Buckingham Palace, writes Holly Byrnes.
Opinion
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IT seems like only yesterday I was among the lucky throng watching Prince Harry and his dazzling bride Meghan live out their royal fairytale - complete with horse and carriage - on the streets of Windsor.
Now, after watching their explosive sit down with Oprah Winfrey, I feel like I’ve watched their divorce - not from each other, but the final chapter in their toxic relationship with the ‘grey suits’ of Buckingham Palace and the heinous, culpable UK press who peddled lie after lie about them.
And on International Women’s Day, let me be clear: I believe her.
Speaking her ‘truth’ for the first time in her marriage, Meghan Markle presented as an astoundingly articulate and brave witness to the same crimes her late mother-in-law Diana had testified to before her death two decades ago.
Of a ‘Firm’ more worried with itself than the care of its own.
About a company ‘comms department’ under instruction to save the reputation of one (Kate) at the cost of another (Meghan) by letting a piece of gossip fester until that wound burst open on international television.
By not telling the truth about that moment, five months into Harry and Meghan’s marriage, and failing to ‘protect’ her from such a simple falsehood, the Palace committed to the narrative the press and a large part of the UK public wanted to believe: Kate = good, Meghan = bad.
Caught between the love of his wife and his devotion to his “Colonel-in-Chief,” his grandmother, the Queen, Harry too was victimised by an institution that sought to devalue his role and feared the star power of his wife would overshadow the lead players in this story: his dad and heir, Prince Charles and his brother and king-to-be, Prince William.
That no one inside those royal walls took Harry’s pleas for mental health help for his suicidal pregnant wife makes a mockery of the very important work Diana’s sons have done in their mother’s name.
That someone Harry would not name raised questions about the colour of his son’s skin explains why he took his bi-racial family and fled.
Such a courageous stand was punished, of course, not with a stint in the Tower Of London, but by cutting him off financially and putting them all at risk by withdrawing his security; even though the threat to his wife Meghan and young son Archie had never been greater.
All this while providing a man accused of sex with a minor, Prince Andrew, diplomatic protection and a no-questions asked, ‘stay out of jail’ card.
There is no doubt in my mind the UK press, whose very existense relies so heavily on this daily soap opera, will side with the Palace and perpetuate the new War of the Waleses.
The pre-emptive strike last week, “investigating” Meghan as a bully should read for what it is: the desperate spin of an institution that has learned nothing since Diana died and may well die because of it.
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Originally published as Meghan Markle’s Oprah Winfrey Interview: Why I believe her
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