Meghan and Harry Interview: Royal Confessionals Have Always Threatened the Monarchy
Why do so many people, and the British media, have a problem with holding one of the most powerful state institutions to account?
Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in this undated handout photo. Photo: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese/Handout via Reuters
Society10/Mar/2021
The Sussexesâ interview with Oprah Winfrey is shaping up to be the most published critique of the British monarchy in years. In it, Meghan confessed her suicidal feelings while pregnant as well as claims that someone in the royal family questioned how dark Archie â her son with Prince Harry â would be. In much of the commentary, the interview has been framed as an attack on the royal family. But royalist demands that Meghan and Harry should âjust stay quietâ speak to longer histories of the politics of the âroyal confessionalâ, and how people who speak out are maligned to protect the institution.