Piers Morgan, a vocal critic of the couple for years, called the series a “whine-a-thon” and a “coldhearted betrayal” of the royal family in a column for The Sun, mocking Meghan’s proclamation in her wedding speech that “love wins”:
‘Above all, LOVE WINS!’ she coos, as schmaltzy ‘Downton Abbey’-style music plays out.
But what these two are doing isn’t promoting either love or winning.
They’re spewing endless toxic hate at their families and causing huge anger and pain in the process to people, in the case of Harry’s family, who they know can’t and won’t publicly respond.
They’re also causing mounting damage to an institution that they happily trade off while they berate, smear and diminish it.
Despite a general distaste for the documentary that has united both the left and right in Britain, there was sympathy for Meghan’s account of having suicidal thoughts after the couple’s wedding, in 2018, which she said were fueled partly by a barrage of negative press coverage.
“What’s clear is there really was (and still is) a smear campaign,” Nina Metz wrote in The Chicago Tribune. “They really were under siege. They really did fear for their safety.”
Writing for The Times of London, Carol Midgley acknowledged a level of unfairness from the news media and Buckingham Palace:
Because when Harry and Meghan aren’t preening and whinging and documenting their private pain in staged, arty black-and-white stills photography, they give a persuasive account of how they felt attacked and bullied by sections of the media and certain palace aides. There was indeed a period of time when for the Mail Meghan couldn’t seem to do anything right, whether it was touching her baby bump too often or wearing an off-the-shoulder dress, and Kate couldn’t do anything wrong. It was sobering to see Meghan’s mother become distressed after Meghan said she felt so overwhelmed by the constant attacks she wanted to take her own life, which is horrendous.
Louis Staples writes in Slate that even though he considers the Duchess of Sussex the victim of “plainly racist and misogynistic bullying” in the British press, he still finds the couple’s documentary, well, “annoying,” noting that the couple comes off as “out-of-touch, self-absorbed and cornier than a Hallmark movie.” But, Staples argues, that doesn’t negate their legitimate grievances.
“As the couple continue to share their story,” Staples writes, “those of us who think they’re in the right here should just let them be both: aggrieved and annoying. They’re not perfect. They don’t have to be.”
Apart from the family drama, there was another tidbit that drew the American media’s attention because it involved the country’s own royalty of sorts. Few publications failed to take note of a text message from the pop star Beyoncé that Meghan said she received after the Winfrey interview; in it, Meghan said, Beyoncé expressed support and said she believed Meghan was “selected to break generational curses that need to be healed.”
That assessment drew Prince Harry’s approval: “That’s well said,” he replied.
Julia Jacobs
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