Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have given their first broadcast interview since their tell-all conversation with Oprah Winfrey in 2021. Talking to Jane Pauley on CBS News on Sunday morning, this time their intention was ostensibly not to reopen old wounds or rehash previous grievances with the British Royal Family, but to launch the latest offshoot of their Archewell Foundation, The Parent Network. A support group for parents who have either lost or come close to losing a child to suicide after engaging with harmful content on the internet.

Unfortunately, online trolls were quick to divert as much attention from the charitable endeavour as possible and are instead using the interview as an opportunity to, once again, pit Meghan and Kate Middleton against each other. One X user even shared the interview and wrote, ‘Somehow, it’s about Meghan. She needs control. How to beat Kate’s cancer diagnosis & be in the spotlight.’ Another suggested that Meghan and Harry’s fanbase are ‘bullies’ writing, ‘The Sussex squad are horrible trolls, yet Meghan Markle says nothing but kind words about them even thanks them for bullying @KensingtonRoyal.’

Of course, relations between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of the Royals are notoriously fraught. Recent reports even suggest Meghan has been officially ‘frozen out’ of the family after senior royals failed to publicly wish her a happy 43rd birthday on 4 August. The Royals stopped posting official birthday messages for Meghan in 2023, following the release of the couple’s explosive Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare.

In both the six-part Netflix series and Prince Harry’s memoir, the former senior royals discussed their experiences of being part of the Royal Family, their mistreatment by the British press and the relentless comparisons made between Meghan and Kate over the years – all of which allegedly contributed towards their decision to step down as senior royals and move to California in 2020.

However, in the recent CBS interview, Meghan reveals that she hasn’t ‘scraped the surface’ of her experience – something that has riled up those who have interpreted her comments as a dig at the Royal Family.

Meghan briefly referenced her own ‘pain and trauma’ as well as the suicidal ideation she experienced while she was living in the UK and a working member of the Royal Family. Jane Pauley asked Meghan about her suicidal thoughts – which she first discussed during her sit-down interview with Oprah – to suggest she must have a special degree of empathy for the grieving parents in The Parent Network. The broadcaster says, ‘You had an experience that connects you to these families […] and the connection that you have with people is they know you had suffered too and personally contemplated killing yourself.’

The Duchess of Sussex replied, ‘I’d never want someone else to be making those sorts of plans. And I would never want someone else not to be believed. So, if me voicing what I have overcome will save someone or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them and not assume that appearance is good, so everything’s okay, then that’s worth it.’

Unsurprisingly, this has become one of the main takeaways from the interview, with Meghan being accused of ‘playing the victim’ and ‘spotlighting her struggles’ – inviting unnecessary comparison with Kate Middleton who is currently undergoing cancer treatment.

It has also been reported that Prince Harry looked ‘uneasy’ as Meghan recalled her past confession. While GB News reported that Prince Harry seemed ‘disengaged’ and ‘gazed off into the distance’ during the interview, The Sun has taken it as confirmation that the couple ‘don’t want to mend the rift’ with the Royal Family, despite the fact they don’t mention the royals directly at any point.

It is not only the infamous ‘rift’ that has dominated the headlines. Like clockwork, in suggesting that all parents have a duty to be ‘first responders’ and look out for signs that their children are in danger of harm online, the Duke of Duchess of Sussex have also been called ‘hypocrites’ and have been accused of being less hands-on than the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Express, for one, reported that the couple ‘talk about their work trying to tackle online abuse, and how they wish to protect their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet from what they have experienced’ during the interview. Before adding, ‘Meanwhile back at home, Prince William and Princess Kate might be one of the most famous couples on the planet, but according to an inside source their life at home is very ordinary.’

The article goes on to compare the parenting styles of both couples, suggesting Harry and Meghan have more ‘daytime staff’ to help raise their children while Kate and William ‘prefer to raise their children themselves’.

These comments and articles do not exist in isolation, they are part of an established, repetitive and harmful discourse that make progress or reconciliation feel near impossible.
Despite one ‘side’ having left the UK and stepped back from the Royal Family entirely, and the other being preoccupied with cancer recovery, Meghan and Kate cannot escape comparison. The alleged rift between Prince Harry and Meghan and the Royals continues to overshadow all that they do – even when, as is the case with their CBS broadcast, it is not the focus or reason for the interview.

Sadly, the Duke and Duchess’ attempt to launch The Parent Network and connect adults who are directly affected or increasingly concerned about child safety online has been wilfully misconstrued. Let’s hope for the sake of the children at the heart of this endeavour that it doesn’t stay that way.