THE interview by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Oprah Winfrey dominated the comment sections of the newspapers and divided opinions amongst columnists and contributors.
The Daily Mail
Jan Moir said the ‘pillared splendour’ of the setting of the interview told its own tale of the kind of sequestered luxury the Sussexes now call home.
“Yet in this sun-dappled paradise, all they wanted to talk about was paradise lost,” she said. “’I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name. I mean, there’s the loss of identity,’ said Meghan.”
She said that on top of allegations of racism in the Royal Family and Kate making Meghan cry, the entire UK was put in the dock and fond wanting.
“[Meghan] was poised, purposeful and delivered a strong performance full of dramatic pauses, deep breaths, Streep-like sideways glances and the occasional trembling lower lip,” she said.
“At the root of everything, if you ask me, is a husband who failed to grasp the bigger picture and a wife who confused being royal with being famous — and still can’t tell the difference, even now.”
The Daily Express
Ingrid Seward asked how a beautiful woman married to a handsome prince could think about ending her life.
“Meghan said she felt persecuted by what she called the palace system,” she said. “Why, I wonder, didn’t Harry help her more in the beginning and then when things started going wrong with finding professional help?”
She pointed out that he was no stranger to depression and pointed out the parallels to Meghan’s situation with Diana’s.
“It was when she was pregnant with William that Diana threw herself down the north end staircase at Sandringham, where the Royal Family with its new and utterly miserable member in tow had moved en masse for the New Year holiday,” she said. “However much they wanted to get out of the “toxic” environment Harry describes as the Royal Family, it is his family, his life and his children’s future. This is what Diana would have wanted for both William and Harry.”
The Guardian
David Olusoga said millions of people in the US and elsewhere were now discussing Britain’s ‘very real problems with race and racism.’
“Most black people who have worked in one of our big institutions, or in the public eye, are well aware of the fundamental law of racial physics that operates in modern Britain,” he said.
“Rather than use this moment to embark upon an honest national conversation about racism there will, I fear, be further demonisation of Meghan and Harry. Trapped in denial – about everyday racism, slavery and empire – there are parts of British society that appear incapable not just of change but even of its necessary precursor: honest self-reflection.”
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