Harry and Meghan ‘miserable’ after African tour, claims royal biographer

The royal couple are reportedly “unhappy” and unable “to help each other” amid the drama surrounding their bombshell documentary.

British journalist Angela Levin believes Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not coping well with the stresses of the spotlight after their recent tour of southern Africa, where they candidly spoke out about the pressures of royal life in a shocking documentary.

“I think (Harry) feels and looks incredibly miserable and unhappy,” Levin told Sky News on Thursday.

“Meghan is unhappy, too, and it seems incredibly sad that they can’t seem to help each other at the moment,” she added.

Meghan and Harry in Johannesburg earlier this month. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga - Pool/Getty Images

Levin, a veteran reporter on royal affairs, published a biography in 2018 titled Harry: A Biography of a Prince, which is based on her exclusive conversation with the 35-year-old before he married the former American actress in May 2018. Levin had accompanied Harry on his many engagements and shadowed him for more than a year.

Most recently, Levin released a paperback version of her book, which takes a closer look at Harry’s marriage to the 38-year-old. For her newest release, Levin had access to numerous sources who had insider knowledge of the couple.

Levin says Harry’s distress stems from retracing his beloved mother’s steps in Angola earlier this month. Princess Diana of Wales died in 1997 at age 36 from injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris.

During her lifetime, Diana was ruthlessly hounded by the paparazzi.

“It seems unfortunate now,” Levin explained. “He is having another wave of agony over his mother, Princess Diana. The trip was going to be very difficult as he was retracing his mother’s steps.”

Levin also suggested there is more to the couple’s “unhappiness,” as it was witnessed in their documentary.

The pair participated in the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which debuted in the UK on Sunday and Monday in Australia. They both spoke out about how the negative press attention has hurt them as a family.

In the documentary, Harry told British journalist Tom Bradby that Diana was on his mind while embarking on his royal tour of southern Africa alongside the Duchess of Sussex and their son Archie.

“Look, part of this job and part of any job, like anybody, means putting on a brave face and turning a cheek to a lot of the stuff,” he explained. “But again, for me and for my wife, of course, there’s a lot of stuff that hurts — especially when the majority of it is untrue.”

Harry spoke surprisingly candidly in the documentary. Picture: ITV

“But all we need to do is focus on being real, focus on being the people we are and standing up for what we believe in,” continued Harry. “I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum.”

Markle also told Bradby she hopes the public will one day just focus on the positive: the love the couple has for each other.

“I would hope that people, the world, will get to the point where they just see us as a couple who’s in love because I don’t wake up every day and identify as being anything other than who I’ve always been,” said the former Suits star.

“It’s just, I’m Meghan and I’ve married this incredible man and this to me is just part of our love story,” she noted.

In the documentary, Bradby asked the Duchess of Sussex how she’s coping with the lack of privacy and ruthless tabloid rumours as a new parent, to which the former American actress replied she takes “each day as it comes.”

“I think the grass is always greener,” said Markle. “You have no idea. It’s really hard to understand what it’s like. I know what it seems like it should be, but it’s a very different thing.”

Meghan admitted that she’s “not ok”. Picture: ITV

Markle said she and Harry have had conversations about being in the spotlight and all the negativity that comes with it.

“I have said for a long time to H, that’s what I call him, ‘It’s not enough to just survive something,’” said Markle. “‘That’s not the point of life. You have to thrive. You have got to feel happy.’ I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper life.’ I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging.”

The royal went on to tell Bradby she would be more understanding about the scrutiny if it were fair.

“I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair,” said Markle. “And that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile.”

In August of this year, Levin told Fox News that Markle’s journey of being the newest member of the British royal family has been far from smooth sailing.

“I think it’s very hard for her,” said Levin at the time. “I think she’s done brilliantly at some things. She’s marvellous when they are out and about. She’s very good at talking to people. It’s an awful lot to learn and she’s very energetic and keen. But it might be good for her if she took a little bit more advice. Before in her life, she was very used to making her own decisions. I do think it’s very difficult for her. This is a very strict, traditional path. It takes a while to get used to it.”

“In the early stages, I don’t think the duchess really understood the difference between being a show business person and being a member of the royal family,” Levin explained. “Prince Harry was very anxious when we spoke originally and said he didn’t want to be thought of like a show business person. His feeling about being royal was that it was about duty, it was about helping the queen and that it was a very serious job. But the line has been a very narrow one, I think.”

This article originally appeared in Fox News and was reproduced with permission.