Meghan Markle claimed on Sunday that the bullying she faced after dating and marrying Prince Harry was much worse than that of Kate Middleton before she married Prince William.
Markle made the comparison in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on Sunday evening. Markle was justifying her and Harry’s split with the Royal Family, claiming that the scrutiny and abuse she took was unlike what any other member of the Royal Family has had to deal with before.
“This was different,” Markle said when Winfrey asked the couple why they could not “make peace” with their lives as royals. A combination of race and social media created a “wild, wild West” of online bullying and criticism, Markle said.
“It was spread like wildfire. Plus my being American, it translated in a different way across the pond. So you had a noise level that was very different,” Markle said. “I think the volume of what was coming in and the interest was greater because of social media, because of the fact that I was not just British.”
Markle and Harry both accused the Royal Family and the institution of the British monarchy of not supporting them. Markle accused the Royal Family of not standing up to allegedly racist press coverage of the couple by British tabloids. Markle also said, and Harry backed up her claim, that a member of the Royal Family voiced concern over the skin color of their son, Archie, while Markle was pregnant.
“Unfortunately, if members of [Harry’s] family say, ‘well, this is what’s happened to all of us,’ if they can compare what the experience that I went through is similar to what has been shared with us,” Markle said. “Kate was called ‘Waity Katie’ waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was really hard – and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like – this is not the same, and if a member of his family will comfortably say, ‘we’ve all had to deal with things that are rude,’ rude and racist are not the same.”
"Kate was called Waity Katie, waiting to marry William, while I imagine that was really hard & I do… this is not the same & if a member of his family will comfortably say we've all had to deal with things that are rude. Rude & racist are not the same." —Meghan #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/2QWtDh24ef
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 8, 2021
The couple has received blowback for taking the interview and using the platform to air their grievances with the Royal Family, especially for casting themselves as victims of oppression when both fled lives as British royalty to come to the United States and sign corporate deals with companies such as Netflix.
“In which M & H pretend that no royal has had it worse in the press than they have. Give me a break. Have you ever seen such privileged people wallowing in their own (perceived) victimhood like this?” independent journalist Megyn Kelly said.
During the interview, Markle compared herself to the Disney princess Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”
“I was sitting in Nottingham Cottage and ‘The Little Mermaid’ came on. And who as an adult really watches ‘The Little Mermaid’? But it came on, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just here all the time so may as well watch this.’ And I went, ‘Oh, my God, she falls in love with a prince, and because of that she has to lose her voice.’”