Meghan, Harry & Oprah – A Tragedy or Triumph for the Monarchy???

By: Fern Sidman

And so it began on the first Sunday evening of March. The Queen of the Interview and the woman who has the canny ability to captivate audiences by luring in the most fascinating of guests was on our television screens.

Yes, we have not seen Oprah Winfrey in this role as interlocutor for a while but here she was in a totally bucolic setting in California. And this time she was chewing the fat with the UK Royal Family renegades.

Having recently purchased a $15 million mansion just down the road from Oprah in tony Santa Barbara, Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex were on the red carpet, if you will, and dishing the dirt about the vicissitudes of royal life in the most revelatory of terms.

Pregnant Meghan, 39, has revealed that she is due in the summer and that she is having a girl!! Great news for big brother Archie who will have a sibling to help share special moments and to create cherished memories with.

Next, Meghan explicated that while navigating the challenges of royal life as well as the slings and arrows of the ruthless British tabloids (who, by the way, were the leading cause for the reason they bolted England for California) she became increasingly depressed about the lies that were written about her on an incessant basis.

She spoke about the betrayal of the royal family whom she said has promised to protect her from the nefarious agenda of the UK tabloid machine. I would imagine that she had no idea about the extent of the power and influence of the loathsome courtiers who pull the strings in the background of all royal family decisions.  Meghan admits that not only was she not protected but that certain unnamed members of the royal family were actually out to get her as they continued to “perpetuating falsehoods” about she and Harry.

If that were not enough to swallow in one soap-opera dose, Meghan then gave us a collective shock when she revealed that her lingering depression had morphed into suicidal ideations. At that juncture, she told Harry what was going on inside of her and she sought professional help from the human resources department at the royal family headquarters. She was told that nothing could be done for her because if word got out that the Duchess of Sussex was seeking psychiatric help, it would tarnish the reputation of the “institution” known as the royal family. So, one would guess that she was told to suck it up and carry on. We are all tragically cognizant of how that worked out for Princess Diana, so why in the world would the courtiers think that sweeping such an onerous problem under the rug would yield favorable results.

One cannot help but feel badly for the internal pain that Meghan went through and how she must have felt so incredibly isolated in a sea of royals who did not draw her near and assist her by teaching her survival skills while immersed in the cauldron of contemporary royalty.

Things only go south from here, if that can be believed. Meghan then hits us with a sucker punch when she lays it on us that the royal family is essentially comprised of a bunch of venal racists as she constructs a narrative that serves as a stark reminder of the Jim Crow south.

With palpable emotion reverberating in her voice, Meghan tells us that husband Harry admitted to her that earnest conversations were taking place behind the scenes with unnamed members of the royal family about how dark the skin color of her  unborn first child (at that time) would possibly be. Moreover, while the public was originally informed that the Sussexes chose not to give their son Archie a royal title, Meghan said they she and Harry could not even entertain the notion of doing so even if they had wanted to because the surreptitious powers that be in the monarchy told her that her child would not be granted the opportunity to hold a royal title such as prince or princess and that her child would not receive any royal security. In essence, Meghan had set the stage to allow us to draw our own conclusions. And believe me, they are not pretty.

Meghan clearly inferred that because she is a woman of color, the royal family did not want any black blood floating around and that because the child she was bearing might be noticeably black, that would mean the royals wanted as far from him as they could possibly get. If this sounds like a scene out of a gruesome horror film or the underbelly of a gritty reality show, one is not far from wrong.

While Harry confessed to Oprah off screen that the culprits of this kind of chilling talk were not the Queen or Prince Phillip, he kept mum on who committed the evil tongue wagging.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace finally released a statement in response to Meghan and Harry’s allegations on the Oprah show and reportedly held a series of crisis meetings to try and hold the image of the monarchy together before more oil was poured on the raging inferno.

In the statement, Queen Elizabeth said, “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.  The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning,” the statement continued. “Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”

While the interview aired in the U.S. on Sunday, it was not broadcast until Monday night in Britain.

Now, it appears, people are weighing in with their opinions and we Americans can learn from them all. British columnist and astute commentator Melanie Phillips said the following in an op-ed piece entitled, “The Contemptible Oprah/Sussex Circus.”

She wrote:  “From the reported reaction, it seems America is overwhelmingly on the side of Meghan and unquestioningly believes the preposterous story she has told of her own alleged persecution and suffering at the hands of the royals (other than the Queen herself, who by Meghan’s own account treated her with nothing but kindness and has now had her whole family smeared and trashed for her pains).

In America, there seems precious little desire or ability to subject the Sussexes’ denunciation to anything like the scepticism it requires. For the whole thing was not only an attempt to besmirch the Royal Family by spraying a poisonous miasma of unspecific smears and unsubstantiated assertions. It was also riddled with astonishing ignorance and contradictions.”                

Feminist scholar, social critic, royal watcher and author of over 20 monographs on a variety of subjects, Dr. Phyllis Chesler opined on the thorny matter by saying in a written statement, “We are living at a time in which everything is All About Race, mainly Black and Brown Skins. Also, Americans valorize sensational, tell-all stories of abuse. Hence—Oprah interviews the Sussexes and the entire world watches. Ironically, we only watch because they ARE royals, the life they’ve left and are now criticizing.”

She observed that, “It is a sad and shabby spectacle, really heartbreaking for all involved.”  Writers note: My thoughts exactly.

Dr. Chesler continues and reveals that Prince Harry’s welfare is something that has been on her mind as of late. She says: “I have been worried about Prince Harry for a long time. He has been groomed for life as a royal, not as a Hollywood wheeler-dealer. In a sense, he has both followed in his mother Diana’s footsteps in breaking with the “Firm;” perhaps, psychologically, in “protecting” Meghan he is also protecting his mother. But, can he thrive in the New World, without his family and friends?

As for Meghan: She should have studied the royal role she chose to star in. Perhaps she expected to be treated even more favorably as a Duchess than she was as an actress—and when that was not the case, when that was far from the case, she felt slighted, even persecuted.

There are rules about who gets dubbed Prince or Princess and they have nothing to do with skin-color. But the point about having the “Firm” stop paying for their security —that is a serious matter. Will we ever learn the truth?”

Dr. Chesler concluded by ruefully noting: “If only Shakespeare were alive to portray this royal tragedy— but all we have is the British & American media; not good enough.”

Indeed, the truth may never prevail in this royal scenario that is replete with flagrant mendacity and plenteous drama. Something tells me, however, that while the monarchy is battling yet another PR crisis, in the end, they will survive the firestorm of controversy that grips them. It is an “institution” that taken ruthless beatings before and has summoned up the moral strength to “carry on” and this time it will be no different.