A resurfaced clip of Princess Diana’s infamous interview with Martin Bashir in which she discusses feeling ‘unsupported’ by the royal ‘establishment’ has sparked comparisons to Meghan Markle’s bombshell sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.
The Duchess of Sussex told the chat show host she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and confessed she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.
She claimed she was ‘silenced’ by Buckingham Palace officials, who told her to always answer ‘no comment’ because they would ‘protect’ her, adding: ‘It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’
Meghan told Oprah she later reached out to one of Dian’a’s best friends because she felt unsupported by the palace, and said Harry had ‘saved [her] life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.
After the two-hour Oprah interview aired in the US on CBS on Sunday, American filmmaker Ava DuVernay shared a clip from Diana’s 1995 interview with BBC Panorama to Twitter.
In it, the Princess of Wales explains why she felt ‘the establishment’ she married into had ‘decided that [she’s] a non-starter’ – because she did things ‘differently’.
A resurfaced clip of Princess Diana’s infamous interview with Martin Bashir in which she discusses feeling ‘unsupported’ by the royal ‘establishment’ has sparked comparisons to Meghan Markle’s bombshell sit-down with Oprah Winfrey
The Duchess of Sussex told the chat show host she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and confessed she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’
Prince Harry’s mother told journalist Martin Bashir: ‘Because I do things differently, because I don’t go by a rule book, because I lead from the heart, not the head, and albeit that’s got me into trouble in my work, I understand that. But someone’s got to go out there and love people and show it.’
She adds that she suspects she doesn’t have ‘as many supporters in that environment as I did’ because the Royal Family saw her as a ‘threat of some kind’, despite the fact she is ‘here to do good’ and is ‘not a destructive person’.
Diana said she believed ‘every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path’, explaining: ‘I think it’s the strength that causes the confusion and the fear. Why is she strong? Where does she get it from? Where is she taking it? Where is she going to use it? Why do the public still support her? When I say public, you go and do an engagement and there’s a great many people there.’
During the Panorama interview Diana also opened up about her mental health struggles, including her eating disorder, and the unhappiness she felt during her relationship with Charles, famously claiming there were ‘three people’ in her marriage.
After the two-hour Oprah interview aired in the US on CBS on Sunday, American filmmaker Ava DuVernay shared a clip from Diana’s 1995 interview with BBC Panorama to Twitter
The clip shared by Ms DuVernay has since been viewed more than 1.8million times, and notched up 64,400 likes – with several people claiming Meghan’s experience within the Firm echoed that of her late mother-in-law’s.
One person commented: ‘The parallels are astonishing. I have MAD respect for Harry for recognising the same cycle was about to repeat itself if he didn’t get out. And for Megan for being unbelievably strong and true to herself in all that madness.’
Another remarked: ‘I thought of this Diana interview the whole time Meghan was speaking, history was repeating itself.’
And one tweeted: ‘Unbelievable that some people still think Meghan may be lying after everything Diana went through. Literally history repeating itself.’
The clip shared by Ms DuVernay has since been viewed more than 1.8million times, and notched up 64,400 likes – with several people claiming Meghan’s experience within the Firm echoed that of her late mother-in-law’s
The tweets echoed remarks made by Harry during the Oprah interview; when discussing Megxit, he claimed his biggest fear was that ‘history would repeat itself’.
Speaking about his and Meghan’s experience in relation to his mother, who died in 1997, he told the chat show host: ‘For me, I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago.
‘It has been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we have each other.’
The tweets echoed remarks made by Harry during the Oprah interview; when discussing Megxit, he claimed his biggest fear was that ‘history would repeat itself’
Meghan also told Oprah a relative of Harry asked him ‘how dark’ their unborn child would be, and said Archie being mixed-race was a ‘problem’ for the royals after Oprah asked her if they were worried their son would be ‘too brown’.
The former Suits star said she would not name the person because it would be ‘too damaging’ for them. She then said Archie may have been denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race, but has never been told. Harry was also asked to identify the culprit but said he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ discussing it.
Yesterday Prince William defended the Firm, insisting it is ‘very much not’ a racist family – first senior Windsor to address directly the string of allegations made by his brother and his wife.
His firm rebuttal came after Buckingham Palace issued a statement on Tuesday on behalf of the Queen expressing the family’s sadness at learning the ‘full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan’.
The statement said the issues they raised, particularly that of race, were very ‘concerning’.
But it made clear that the Queen and other senior royals were keen to stand their ground, adding: ‘While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.’