There were mixed responses to last night’s ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened up about the struggles they have faced in the past few years, which many found endearing but others claimed it was attention seeking.
However, the documentary proved something that many people have failed to realise; the Sussex’s are real people with real emotions and their royal titles change nothing about that.
Meghan has been ridiculed by the British tabloid press and public in recent months. Lies and accusations have been thrown her way, even during her pregnancy, and it has most certainly taken its toll on the new mum.
The former actress fell head over heels for Prince Harry, but her friends warned her about marrying into the royal family.
She said, “It’s hard. I don’t think anybody could understand that, but in all fairness I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand … but when I first met my now-husband my friends were really happy because I was so happy, but my British friends said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life’."
Meghan said she always tells Harry that it’s not enough to just survive something, that’s not the point of life.
“You have got to thrive. You have got to feel happy, and I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried, but I think what that does internally is probably really damaging, and the biggest thing that I know is that I never thought this would be easy but I thought it would be fair, and that is the part that is hard to reconcile but (I) just take each day as it comes,” the Duchess said.
Meghan added, “When people are saying things that are just untrue, and they are being told they are untrue but they are allowed to still say them, I don’t know anybody in the world who would feel that’s OK and that is different from just scrutiny.
This is devastating to watch. The relentless media scrutiny Meghan Markle is placed under simply for existing as a woman with Black heritage. https://t.co/aMDS1syR3W
— Spectre Outrider (@ClaireShrugged) October 18, 2019
“I think the grass is always greener. You have no idea. It is really hard to understand what it’s like. ‘The good thing is that I have got my baby and I have got my husband and they are the best.”
The documentary may not have won everyone over, but Harry and Meghan’s honesty was a breath of fresh air.
The couple have given the public a new perspective on Britain’s most famous family.
