In a new documentary, Meghan Markle talks about the struggles of being a new mom under intense media scrutiny and Prince Harry finally addresses an issue bugging a lot of royal fans: What is up with his relationship with his brother, Prince William?
Over the past year, there have been reports of rift between the royal siblings and their wives, fueled by Harry and Meghan’s physical move from the Kensington Palace complex they shared with William and Kate Middleton and their formation of a separate royal household. On the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which aired in the U.K. on Sunday, interviewer Tom Bradby asked Harry if press reports of a rift between him and William were true.
“Inevitably stuff happens,” Harry said. “But we’re brothers, we’ll always be brothers. We’re certainly on different paths at the moment. I’ll always be there for him and as I know, he’ll always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we’re so busy but I love him dearly.”
“The majority of stuff is created out of nothing,” he said on the program. “As brothers, we have good days and we have bad days.”
The ITV documentary follows Harry and Meghan on their recent visit to southern Africa with 5-month-old son Archie Harrison, the baby’s first royal tour.
Find out more things we learned from the program, which will air on ABC in the U.S. on Wednesday at 10 p.m.
Meghan Markle Is Struggling: An emotional Duchess of Sussex opened up about her struggles and life as a new mom amid massive scrutiny by the British tabloids, who Harry called out for what he has called a “ruthless” campaign against his wife.
“Any woman, especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable and so that was made really challenging,” she said in the documentary. “And then when you have a newborn, you know…especially as a woman, it’s really, it’s a lot, so you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed its, yeah, well I guess.”
“And also thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m OK,” she continued. “But it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
“And the answer is? Would it be fair to say, ‘Not really OK,’ as in, it’s really been a struggle?” the interviewer asked.
“Yes,” Meghan replied.
“I would hope that the world would get to a point where you just see us as a couple who is in love,” she said. “I don’t wake up every day and identify as anything other than who I have always been. I am Meghan and I married this incredible man. This to me is just part of our love story.”
Meghan Markle Has a Cool Nickname for Prince Harry: “I have said for a long time to H—that’s what I call him—it’s not enough to just survive something, right? That’s not the point of life.” she said in the documentary. “You’ve got to thrive, you’ve 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 that what that does internally is probably really damaging and the biggest thing that I know is that I never thought this would be easy.”
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Meghan Markle Was Warned About Dating Harry Amid Media Scrutiny: The two started dating in 2016, announced their engagement a year later and wed in May 2018. The Suits actress-turned-duchess was not prepared for the level of media scrutiny she ultimately ended up facing.
“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 and hear,” she said in the documetnary. “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…And I very naively—I’m American. We don’t have that there—[I said], ‘What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not in any tabloids.'”
“I didn’t get it,” she said. “So it’s been, yeah, it’s been complicated.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Move to Africa With Archie? While the region holds a special place in their heart, and there have been rumblings that a move might happen, Harry said in the documentary, ‘I don’t know where we could live in Africa at the moment. We’ve just come from Cape Town, that would be an amazing place for us to be able to base ourselves, of course it would.”
“But with all the problems that are going on there I just don’t see how we would be able to make as much difference as we want to without the issues and the judgment of how we would be with those surroundings,” he added.
…Because Archie Loved Africa: The continent holds a special place in Harry’s heart. Both he and late mother Princess Diana have done a lot of charity work there.
Harry said on the documentary that Archie “clearly loves Africa as well.”
“He was looking out the window,” he said. “He has found his voice now and he was bouncing up and down. He was making more noise than he has ever made before and he is smiling the whole time.”
During their trip, Meghan and the baby spent all of their time in South Africa the country, while Harry went on solo tours of other parts of the southern part of the continent. During their time there, the baby was introduced to Nobel Peace Prize-winning anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“It is not lost on us. I think Archie will look back at that in so many years and understand that right at the beginning of his life he was fortunate enough to have this moment with one of the best and most impactful leaders of our time. It is really special,” Meghan said in the documentary.
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Prince Harry Describes Princess Diana’s 1997 Death as a “Wound That Festers”: “I think [of] being part of this family, in this role, in this job every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash. It takes me straight back,” said Harry, whose mother died in a car crash in Paris after being chased by the paparazzi. “So in that respect it’s the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best.”
“Being here now 22 years later, trying to finish what she started will be incredibly emotional, but everything I do reminds me of her,” he continued. “But as I said, the role and the job and the pressures that come with that, I get reminded of the bad stuff, unfortunately.”
He also said, “My mum clearly taught me a certain set of values of which I will always try and uphold despite the role and the job, and sometimes what that entails, if you know what I mean. I think I will always protect my family, and now I have a family to protect. So everything that she went through, and what happened to her is incredibly raw every single day, and that’s not me being paranoid, that’s me not wanting a repeat of the past…if anybody else knew what I knew, you’d probably be doing exactly what I’m doing as well.”
Prince Harry “Won’t Be Bullied” into “Playing a Game That Killed” Diana: The duke, a longtime advocate for mental health awareness, said the pressures of his life are a matter of “constant management”,
“It’s management, it’s constant management. I thought I was out of the woods and then suddenly it all came back and I thought this is something I have to manage. Part of this job, and a part of any job means putting on a brave face and turning a cheek to a lot of the stuff, but again for me and for my wife, of course there’s a lot of stuff that hurts, especially when a lot of that stuff is untrue.”
“I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum,” he added.
—Reporting by Spencer Lubitz
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