Harry and Megan

History Repeats Itself

The Duchess of Sussex sat down with Oprah Winfrey in March to share her story, which has many similarities with Princess Diana’s.

Twenty-six years after Princess Diana’s bombshell interview, Meghan Markle, who was later joined by Prince Harry (who is Princess Diana’s son), sat down with Oprah Winfrey and shared her experience in the Royal world. These two interviews were both categorized as ‘tell-all,’ where no questions were off limits, and the interviewees were not aware of the questions that were going to be asked. Markle’s interview caused a media frenzy, and it was quickly noted that the two interviews were uncomfortably similar. In an article published in Vogue (www. vogue.com), the similarities in the two interviews are laid out. Among these are their shared feelings of alienation, and overall lack of preparedness. In the 1995 interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir, Princess Diana said, “You think you have knowledge of what’s coming ahead.” Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, recounts a similar experience in her Winfrey interview. “I didn’t fully understand what the job was,” Markle said. These feelings are not the extent of the similarities. The two share a very specific experience with Australia as well. “It all changed after the Australia tour. It was the first time the family got to see how incredible she [Markle] was at the job, and that brought back memories,” Prince Harry said. For those born after 1983, the term ‘Australia tour’ may not bring a connection. The ‘memories’ that Prince Harry is referring to in this situation were those of his mother on her Australian tour in 1983. Princess Diana and her then husband, Prince Charles embarked on a six week trip as their first tour as a married couple. Similarly to Markle, the Princess quickly won over the continent with her charm. This was the time where the Princess was showing how incredible she was at the job. It is later insinuated in the Markle interview that this caused jealousy within the monarchy. In the Princess Diana interview, it was blatantly stated. “With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that,” Princess Diana said. The most shocking and sad similarity was the shared experience of depression and self-harm. Both women admitted to struggling with their mental health, and both stated that they were not offered the help they needed. This was particularly shocking, as mental health awareness has significantly increased in recent years. Markle’s interview comes nearly three decades after Princess Diana’s, and it is obvious that these women, despite their differences in background, shared uncannily similar experiences in the Royal Family. Though time continues to move forward and progress is made, the ‘institution’ as Markle called it, seems to be stuck in the past, at least twenty-six years in the past. We have seen history repeat itself, which begs to question, will the next generation witness the same tale twenty years from now? Or will the ‘institution’ finally arrive in the 21st century?

Maya Castleberry, Editor-in-Chief