Truths, exaggerations and lies in Meghan and Harry's interview
We already knew the most famous statements of the interview with Meghan and Harry (that she had thought about suicide and that they had been asked what color of skin Archie was going to have), but this Saturday afternoon, when the program was broadcast entirely on Antena 3, we were finally able to know the details of your comments. And what they left has not left anyone indifferent. Here we highlight some of the more contentious issues and try to shed some light.
Did Meghan know nothing about the British monarchy?
Meghan begins the interview by acknowledging that she knew next to nothing about the British monarchy (not even singing the anthem). But it is hard to believe, if not impossible.
It is known - because some friends of her youth have recognized it - that Meghan closely followed the funeral of Diana of Wales on September 6, 1997. Meghan was then 16 years old and studied at the Sacred Heart School in Los Angeles . As revealed by Andrew Morton in the biography Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, not only was the funeral discussed in class but, from then on, Meghan became very interested in the figure of Diana, especially in the more humanitarian side of her.
In fact, she was so fascinated by it that a friend of hers from high school, Suzy Ardakani, commented that they spent afternoons watching a tape with the recording of Diana and Carlos' wedding in 1981. It is also known that Suzy's mother, Sonia, gave her to Meghan a copy of Diana: Her True Story, Andrew Morton's explosive book that explained for the first time, and in great detail, the hell that the Princess of Wales had lived in her marriage.
Didn't anyone tell you how to address the Queen?
Meghan explains in the Oprah interview that she met the Queen of England at the Royal Lodge (one of the Windsor pavilions). From what he explains, apart from Meghan and Harry, there were Duke Andrés of York (Carlos's brother), Fergie (divorced from Andrés but still living together), Princess Eugenia of York (daughter of Fergie and Andrés) and we understand that the Then boyfriend - and current husband of this one - Jack Brooksbank. According to Meghan, no one had told her that she had to bow to the Queen until minutes before she arrived and it was Fergie who had to teach her in a hurry to do it.
Harry is well aware of how badly his mother had it when he joined the royal family and has always tried not to make the same mistakes
Apart from the fact that bowing does not require any special skills beyond a certain agility in the knees (left leg behind, bends, lower the body as much as possible), it is hard to believe that Harry had not explained anything to his then girlfriend. Harry is well aware of how badly his mother had it when she joined the royal family and has always tried not to make the same mistakes that occurred then. So, surely, he must have given her some practical advice beforehand.
Didn't Meghan seek information on Harry?
Meghan has always insisted (she and she did it in the interview she gave after her engagement was announced) that she knew practically nothing about Harry and that, above all, she did not look for information about him on the Internet. No one knows for sure if it is true or not, but she is hard to believe. Basically, because who wouldn't? In an age when anyone is looking for information on a person he knows, could anyone seriously resist putting a prince's name on Google?
Harry has had a complicated life and a somewhat misguided youth where, among other crazy things, he appeared dressed as a Nazi at a costume party
Some suggest that repeatedly denying that she sought information from Harry is to: a) reinforce the idea that it really was a fairy tale, and especially b) not to have to answer uncomfortable questions about her husband's past. Harry, of course, has had a complicated life and a somewhat misguided youth where, among other crazy things, he appeared dressed as a Nazi at a costume party and there are photos of him naked in Las Vegas.
It is also known that he used drugs, it is no secret that he drank too much - and too often - he confronted several photographers in the wee hours of the morning and has collected girlfriends.
Is she the first biracial woman in the family?
No. That honor is held by Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of England by her marriage to George III of hers in 1761. Charlotte was related to the King of Portugal Alfonso III and her concubine, Ouruana, an African.
Was it really silenced?
Yes, they surely told her that she was not going to be able to open her mouth more in public except to say things that had been approved beforehand. But it is not because the palace likes censorship, but because the monarchy works that way.
"The monarchy is apolitical by definition, it cannot take sides and it has to measure every comment it makes to the millimeter"
No member can go on airing their opinions and, much less, their political sympathies. The monarchy is apolitical by definition, it cannot take sides and has to measure every comment it makes to the millimeter.
Hence it is better if no member says anything. In fact, the problems have come when someone has said more than necessary.
Couldn't Meghan leave the palace?
They surely told her to limit all her movements, but more to protect her than to try to make her life miserable. To begin with, the security risks with respect to an easily recognizable and public figure are very high. There may be an attack or, simply, an insane person may recognize her on the street and try to commit a crime. Besides, Buckingham has taken good note of what happened to Diana (he could not even take two steps without being harassed by the press) and he does not want the harassment of the paparazzi to be repeated.
Did they take away her passport?
Meghan said in the interview that once you marry a member of the royal family, they take away your passport, driver's license and keys. It's false. All members of the royal family, except the Queen, need their passports to go abroad. Even the Prince of Wales has to present it to be able to go to Australia, for example, a country of which he will be officially king when he accedes to the throne.
Additionally, Meghan traveled quite a bit in the short time she was an active member of the royal family. Apart from her official trips, she was on vacation in Italy, France, Ibiza and the United States. It's hard to think that she would be allowed in without all of her documentation.
Wasn't Archie going to be a prince because of his race?
No, it is because he is the great-grandson of the Queen of England. From 1917, in the time of the current monarch's grandfather, it was made clear that only the children and grandchildren of sovereigns would receive the title of prince and the corresponding royal highness treatment. In fact, not even all the grandchildren of Elizabeth II are princes: Princess Anne's children (Zara and Peter) have no treatment because their parents did not want to and Prince Edward's children are not either (the daughter is Lady Louise and the son is Jaime, Viscount of Severn).
In reality, the controversy comes because the children of William and Kate Middleton are all princes. This is because, when George, the first-born, was born, Elizabeth II changed the rules and decreed that, since he was to be king in the future, it was better that he be granted the treatment of prince and Royal Highness from the beginning. Incidentally, it was established that his siblings also had it.
"As soon as Carlos ascends the throne, if he does, Archie could be given the title of prince."
Archie is too far down the line of succession to think that he could one day ascend to the throne. Also, as soon as his grandfather Carlos comes to the throne (if he ever does), he can be quickly given the title of prince. Not to mention that Meghan and Harry were offered aristocratic titles for their son, specifically that of Earl of Dumbarton. It was also suggested that he was Lord Archie, his due treatment for being the son of a duke, but his parents refused, claiming - or so they said at the time - that "they wanted to give him the most normal life possible."
Is the British royal family racist?
One of Queen Elizabeth II's best friends was Nelson Mandela, with that all said. But what is more, the queen's father, King George VI, made a famous official trip to South Africa to try to avoid apartheid and the only time that the current queen has faced the government (which, in principle, she cannot do ) was to defend the rights of blacks in South Africa.
Did they lie about Meghan to protect others?
This could be. Unfortunately, it has been a common palace practice for several generations. The monarchy works in a strictly hierarchical way and only those who will occupy the throne really matter. The rest are treated with unfair condescension and then quietly pushed aside. The sister of the current sovereign, Princess Margaret, suffered the unspeakable for it. Also Andrés, Duke of York, and second son of Isabel II. In fact, they had been playing tricks on Harry for a long time: for his brother Guillermo to really shine, they have come to say atrocities about him. There is no doubt that the press has protected the heir and instead used Harry numerous times as bait.
"Diana went to various psychologists from the beginning of her marriage ... Harry has acknowledged that he has needed therapy"
Diana, without going any further, went to various psychologists from the beginning of her marriage (in fact, it was Carlos who forced her). It is also known, because he himself has recognized it, that Harry has needed therapy. Not to mention that Harry, his brother and his sister-in-law have for years led a pioneering initiative, Heads Together, to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and seek synergies between the institutions and organizations that are dedicated to it.
Harry not only knows firsthand the work of a lot of NGOs', clinics and specialists that could have helped his wife, but he knows them personally and has his phone number.
Was there an intimate wedding before the public wedding?
As Harry and Meghan have revealed in the interview, they were actually married in a secret ceremony "three days before" before the big television event with Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was just the three of them in the backyard of their house. "Nobody knows," Meghan said. "But we called the archbishop and said: 'Look, all this, this whole show is for the public, but we want something private between us.'
The archbishop may have given them a blessing and lent themselves to an impromptu ceremony, but it was not a wedding in the legal sense of the term, because English law requires there to be two witnesses for a bond to be valid. In addition, the marriage license they were given was explicitly for the ceremony that was organized in the Chapel of St. George, in Windsor. Not to mention that the archbishopric has already said that what happened in the courtyard was a "rehearsal for the ceremony."
Who made who cry before the wedding?
Six months after Harry and Meghan's wedding, rumors began to emerge - even articles were written in the press - accusing Meghan of having made Kate Middleton cry before the wedding over a row about the girls' outfits who would accompany the wedding. girlfriend (little princess Charlotte, daughter of Kate and William, was one of the young ladies).
However, Meghan says it was the other way around, that it was she who ended up crying. “Kate was worried about something,” Meghan explained, “but she acknowledged what happened and she apologized to me. She sent me flowers and a note of apology.
No one knows for sure what really happened. The book Finding Freedom, by journalist Omid Scobie, written with the collaboration of Harry and Meghan - or, at least, with his approval - claimed that there was a small row, but that no one had cried.
However, the prestigious newspaper The Times has learned that, indeed, Kate Middleton went in person with a bouquet of flowers to Nottingham Cottage, the house where Harry and Meghan lived inside Kensington Palace, with which the anger had to be important. The Daily Mail tabloid claims that Meghan "slammed the door in Kate's face."
