Britain's Duchess of Sussex has said it takes “a lot of effort” to forgive and hinted that she can “say anything” as she sat down for a wide-ranging interview in the US.
Meghan (41) spoke about her estranged father Thomas Markle and reflected on the relationship between her husband, Harry, and his brother, Britain's Prince William during an interview with The Cut magazine at her California home.
In the interview, running to more than 6,000 words, Meghan said that “just by existing” she and Harry were “upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy” before they stepped down as senior working royals.
Harry’s relationship with his father is said to have been tense since the couple left the UK. He said during their televised interview with Oprah Winfrey last year that Charles had stopped taking his calls.
Meghan told The Cut: “Harry said to me, ‘I lost my dad in this process’.
“It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision.”
A spokeswoman for Meghan later made clear that she was referring to losing her own father and that she hopes this does not happen to Harry and his father.
A source close to Charles said he would be saddened if Harry felt their relationship was lost, adding: “The Prince of Wales loves both his sons.”
Journalist Allison P Davis asked Meghan if there was room for forgiveness between her, Britain's royal family and her own family.
Meghan said: “I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive.
“But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything.”
She added: “I have a lot to say until I don’t. Do you like that? Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song.”
Meghan told the publication: “It’s interesting, I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking.
“I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.”
Asked why she does not talk, Meghan replied: “Still healing.”
Since stepping down as senior royals, Meghan and Harry have agreed to interviews, including their sensational chat with Oprah in which they accused his family of racism and the institution of not helping Meghan when she had suicidal thoughts.
William's wife Kate was publicly singled out by Meghan for allegedly making her cry in the run-up to the wedding.
During The Cut interview, Meghan said she was told there was the same jubilation in South Africa when she married Harry as there was when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison.
Mandela, revered worldwide as a man of peace and forgiveness, was freed from prison in 1990 after 27 years and went on to become president of South Africa.
Meghan said the comparison between Mandela and her marrying into Britain's royal family was made at the 2019 premiere of The Lion King in London where she and Harry met Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
“I just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out,” she said, adding that a cast member from South Africa pulled her aside.
“He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison’.”
According to Davis, Meghan said she would not be able to do the school run with her eldest child Archie in the UK without a group of photographers snapping pictures.
“Sorry, I have a problem with that. That doesn’t make me obsessed with privacy. That makes me a strong and good parent protecting my child,” Meghan said.
In the UK, the Editors’ Code of Practice, which sets out rules newspapers and magazines regulated by IPSO have agreed to follow, prevents the photographing of children at school.
Photographs of William's children - Prince George and Princess Charlotte - on their first days at school were captured by the British press during an organised photo-call which had the consent of the family and the school.
Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan appeared to suggest her children had been referred to by the “N-word” by the media.
Discussing the royal rota, the long-established press system that covers official events involving the British monarchy, Meghan said: “Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?
“You tell me how that makes sense and then I’ll play that game.”
Meghan also said she will be returning to Instagram after deleting her account more than four years ago as part of becoming a senior royal, although later in the interview Davis said Meghan suggested she was no longer sure that she would.
Reflecting on what she and Harry were requesting before stepping down as senior royals, Meghan told The Cut that what they were asking for was not “reinventing the wheel” and according to Davis listed a handful of British princes, princesses and dukes who have the arrangement they wanted.
“That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing,” Meghan said.
Meanwhile, Harry said that working together with Meghan feels “natural and normal”.
He said: “Most people that I know and many of my family, they aren’t able to work and live together.
“It’s actually really weird because it’d seem like a lot of pressure. But it just feels natural and normal.”
Meghan and Harry have established a new life for themselves in the celebrity enclave of Montecito in California, buying a multimillion-pound home and launching a non-profit foundation.
The couple have also signed lucrative deals – thought to be worth well over £100 million – with Spotify and Netflix which have given them the capital to pursue their new lifestyle and public goals.
