LONDON – The explosive interview of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, has gripped millions of viewers in the United States and the United Kingdom this month.
In terms of the couple’s mental health, race, finances and family outings, the instant program has created a constant media frenzy of intrigue about what goes on behind palace walls.
But the reactions to the interview showed a different divide: clear cultural feelings on both sides of the Atlantic.
While the self-exiled royals in America have mostly received favorable press coverage and comments on social media, in Britain there is more than a glimmer of disapproval for the couple’s confessions.
Some tabloids in the UK described the couple as selfish, saying the interview was detrimental to the Queen because they mocked the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for opposing the traditional British ‘tight-lipped attitude’ to exposing personal family matters to American media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
By doing so, the argument goes, they have reduced the more than 1,000-year-old institution of the monarchy to celebrity-spread fodder.
“This interview removed all remaining sympathy for the couple,” Mark Graham, 52, an educational coach from Cambridgeshire in the east of England, told NBC News.
“I thought it was very staged and calculated. Definitely one-sided and focused.”
Graham did not harm the monarchy, but the ‘unfortunate case’ only strengthened the royal family’s position and popularity in Britain.
For Pauline Farren (50), originally from London but now living in Ireland, her sympathy also lies with Queen Elizabeth II and other royals.
“I was distant about them. I do not like Meghan very much and feel sorry for Harry,” she said. “It was extremely classless to air their dirty linen in public, after all the royal family had done for them.”
The timing was also challenging, she added.
“Prince Philip is very ill in hospital and the timing could not have been worse, we are in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “They look like spoiled, ungrateful millionaires.”
Philip, 99, was discharged from a London hospital on Tuesday and returned to Windsor Castle after a month of treatment for an unspecified infection and an existing heart condition.
A YouGov poll published after the interview found that it had harmed the popularity of the two royals. 48 percent of Britons now view Harry negatively – a 15-point drop since early March. It was also the first time the prince had dipped approval in the negative territory.
Meghan did worse: only 3 out of 10 people in the UK are positive about her, the poll found.
Across the pond it was apparently a different story.
“The first thought I had while watching Meghan Markle was that she was so genuine. I was immediately struck by her clarity and that she told the absolute truth about her experiences,” said Chris Pluto, 44, a line chef at a restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Pluto said Meghan showed “courage” to talk about her mental health, an approach that resonated with empathy among many Americans.
“It made me cry. I had the experience. I felt the honesty of what she said,” Pluto added.
The Duchess said during the interview that the pressures of royal life sometimes made her feel suicidal. “I just did not want to live anymore,” she told Winfrey.
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Former first lady Michelle Obama, singer Beyoncé and White House press secretary Jen Psaki were among the Americans to applaud Meghan for speaking openly about race and mental health.
“It seems to me that the US is much more open to discussing important issues regarding mental health and racism. Britain tends to look the other way,” said British author and biographer Meghan Sean Smith.
“Here in the UK, we have spent far too much time discussing the hurt feelings of TV presenter Piers Morgan,” he added.
Morgan said on air he doubts some of Meghan’s comments and later stops presenting a morning program to spend more time on my opinions. tweeted. The British broadcasting regulator Ofcom has so far received more than 57,000 complaints from the public about its comments.
For Brittney Watters, 31, a communications manager for the Fresno Unified School District in California, the royal interview was “so relatable.”
“What Meghan Markle was talking about happened to me. I’m not a celebrity. I’m an everyday middle class employee,” she said.
“I experienced racism, oppression. I experienced that I had thoughts of suicide, was exhausted and tired of my efforts as a black woman – to constantly try to fight against the system.”
Meghan said a royal insider had expressed Harry ‘concern’ about how dark the skin of their children could be. The couple did not want to name the individual, but Winfrey later said that Harry made it clear that it was not the Queen or Philip.
Reflecting the traditional Stoic attitude, Buckingham Palace issued a 61-word statement in response to the interview.
“The issues that are being raised in particular are concerned about,” he said. “While some memories may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed privately by the family.”
Harry’s brother, Prince William, dismissed the allegations about the race and told reporters in London on March 11: ‘We are very much not a racist family.’
But that only fueled the press and the public in both countries for more information on the family drama.
However, the Queen’s position among the British remains relatively unbound, and according to the YouGov poll, 4 out of 5 people like her. William and his wife, Kate, also remain hugely popular – with about three-quarters of Britons giving them favorable reviews.
London’s Adie Perkins said he was confident after the royal revelations that the institution would “find a way to overcome it” because there is too much love for the monarchy, but added that he was “reasonable” find ‘shocking’ and that he was left with little sympathy for Meghan and Harry.
Not all Britons are royalists.
‘A #abolishthemonarchy hashtag appeared on Twitter after the interview, among those who support a republic.
For biographer Smith, there may be little or no change to the monarchy while Elizabeth II reigns, and attempts to recruit transatlantic family members against each other are futile.
“In my opinion, nothing will change while the queen is on the throne … she deserves respect,” he said.
“For me, the respect includes that the media does not arm her as a sweet grandmother against Meghan. They are both women of substance and deserve to be treated accordingly.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Editor at 800-273-8255, text 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.