Mental health struggles, a lack of support, and two huge tell-all interviews. Meghan Markle and
Princess Diana may have had parallel experiences within the royal family,
but one big thing sets them apart. What is it? Keep watching to find out.
The similarities between Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex,
keep growing. While both Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan have
been compared to Princess Diana, it's Meghan who is seen to really embody Diana's spirit.
This became especially clear after Prince Harry and Meghan stepped down from their
royal duties and moved their growing family to California. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,
in a move out of Princess Diana's playbook, gave their side of the story
after the move in a tell-all interview with Oprah.
The similarities between what Diana said during her interview with Martin Bashir in
1995 and what Meghan said in 2021 were shocking. Diana told Bashir that she thought she knew
what she signed up for. Meghan, too, quote, "didn't fully understand what the job was."
But it's not just their experience inside the royal family or sense of
fashion that the two women share. Body language experts have been weighing in
on just how much Meghan embodies the mother-in-law she was never able to meet.
The interview Meghan and Prince Harry had with Oprah highlighted a number of these similarities.
The most shocking personal story Meghan shared was about her mental
health and how she and Harry were treated when they asked for help.
"I just didn't want to be alive anymore."
She admitted to Oprah that when she was joining the royal family, Meghan
was under the impression she was also gaining the support of the family. She said in the interview,
"I did anything they told me to do. Of course I did, because it was also through the lens of 'and
we'll protect you.' My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected."
For the Princess of Wales, the experience was no different.
Diana told biographer Andrew Morton that after she and Prince Charles became engaged, she cried
because she felt she had no support from Charles and no support from the Palace press office.
But when both women proved they could stand on their own, this also was met with disapproval.
For both women, the public response to their Australian tours was a watershed moment.
"But it really changed after the Australia tour."
Harry added,
"It was the first time the family got to see how incredible she was
at the job. And that brought back memories."
Here, Prince Harry is referring to the memory of the public's love of Princess Diana and how
apparent it was during her tour of Australia with Prince Charles. According to Vogue,
four weeks of Diana being in the spotlight brought out Charles' resentment and jealousy.
"We want Princess Diana!"
Diana, no stranger to feeling low, explained to Bashir that she felt like the first
person in the royal family to struggle with depression. It made her sympathetic to a point.
"When no one listens to you, or you feel no one's listening to you,
all sorts of things start to happen."
When Harry started to see Meghan struggle, he got scared of history repeating itself.
"When I'm talking about history repeating itself, I'm talking about my mother."
Meghan struggled with suicidal thoughts and self-harm, just as Diana had,
but when both she and Harry asked the family for help, The New York Times reports they were told,
"This is how it is. This is just how it is."
As similar as Princess Diana and Meghan Markle are, they have one major difference:
their marriage. Diana and Prince Charles had the antithesis of a fairy tale relationship,
full of jealousy, resentment, and infidelity. Meghan's relationship
with Harry, just based on body language alone, seems to be the exact opposite.
Harry and Meghan's appearance at the Invictus Games being held at The Hague
also drew comparisons. Body language expert Darren Stanton told Marie Claire that the
duchess' interaction with the public is extremely reminiscent of Diana, saying,
"As she stepped out with Harry, Meghan was seen wearing a true expression of happiness — again
holding hands with Harry, with the pair appearing incredibly tactile over the weekend."
For Santon, and many others, Meghan and Harry appear to be happy and in love.
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