Fury as ‘unhelpful’ Hillary Clinton attacks UK over treatment of Harry and Meghan

Failed US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was blasted today after wading into the Harry and Meghan royal spat with a blast at the UK establishment and press. 

The ex-senator and former First Lady claimed the ‘cruelty’ showed to the Duchess of Sussex was ‘outrageous’ and has slammed the Royals for failing to support a ‘young woman who was just trying to live her life’.

Ms Clinton, who lost the US presidential race to Donald Trump in 2016, made the comments during a live event with the Washington Post last night, the day after  the Sussex’s explosive interview with Oprah  was first broadcast.

‘I found it so heart-rending to watch,’ Clinton said, adding that she had met the pair before, as well as Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana. 

Clinton then said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to watch the ‘incredibly accomplished’  Markle ‘not be fully embraced’ by both the ‘permanent bureaucracy that surrounds the Royal family’ and the UK press. 

The former presidential hopeful said she too is no stranger to facing off with the British press, adding: ‘I’ve had my time in the box with the British tabloids, as anybody who is in the public eye has had, and their cruelty in going after Meghan was just outrageous.

‘The fact she did not get more support that the reaction was, you know, ‘let’s just paper it over and pretend it didn’t happen or it will go away, just keep your head down’—well, this young woman was not going to keep her head down.

‘You know, this is 2021 and she wanted to live her life, she wanted to be fully engaged and she had every right to hope for that,’ Clinton added.

But Tory MP Lee Anderson branded the US politician ‘unhelpful’ after she followed president Joe Biden in wading into the furore.

‘There are always two sides to every story. It is just sad that our most famous family are fighting it out in the media,’ the Ashfield MP told MailOnline.

‘Hillary Clinton is a fine one to talk about scandals if you want to dig back into their past. This is something that probably goes down a lot better in America than it does in our country.

‘I think our country has got a lot of affection even for Harry still, but the affection is mostly for our Queen and it is terrible what she is going through.’

And former minister Steve Brine suggested Joe Biden should also not have weighed in to the enormous row. The Winchester MP told Times Radio: ‘I’m not a government minister. I don’t blame government ministers for one moment for staying out of this. This is not their battle. 

‘I think President Biden should take a leaf out of that book as well, for the record. This is not their battle. Why on earth should they weigh into it?’

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During their two hour sit-down with Oprah on Sunday, Harry and Meghan lifted the lid on life inside the British Monarchy, claiming they were isolated from vital support structures while being vilified in the press.

Meghan said she found Royal life so difficult that she suffered mental health issues and even struggled with suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant with baby Archie.

‘I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,’ she told Winfrey. ‘And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought.’

Meghan said she tried to seek help including inpatient care, but was rebuffed by a senior royal because ‘wouldn’t be good for the institution.’

The Duchess of Sussex also revealed that someone in the royal orbit had a conversation with Harry about the color of Archie’s skin before he was born.

There were ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born,’ Meghan told Oprah. ‘There are several conversations … Potentially and what that would mean or look like.’  

When pressed by Oprah, Meghan refused to identify specifically who had raised the concern, insisting doing so would be ‘incredibly damaging’ for the Windsors. 

Mr Anderson said: ‘Our Royal Family is respected the world over. They are the envy of the world.

‘When you become a Royal, you become a member of that family. And with all those extra rights you get there are extra responsibilities.

‘One of those is you become a public servant and you live the way of a Royal.’

He said the couple should have dealt with any grievances in public rather than a high-profile TV interview.

‘Here is a classic family dispute – a family at war with each other. It is very sad to see part of the family airing their grievances in public. It should be done in private,’ he said.

‘That is disappointing. And I speak as a big fan of Prince Harry. I think he is great, he has been great for the Royal Family, he has brought that human touch…

‘But that aside whatever family you are… if you have a dispute with members of your family you should do it in private.’

Mr Anderson said the ‘brilliant’ Queen had a husband in hospital and it must have ‘taken her hard’.

‘Leave our Queen alone,’ he said.  

Speaking to the couple’s experience, Clinton said: ‘I just think that every institution … has got to make more space and acceptance for young people coming up, particularly young women, who should not be forced into a mold that is no longer relevant, not only for them but for our society.’ 

The 73-year-old continued that she found in incredibly difficult to watch Prince Harry and Meghan recount the hardships they claim to have endured.

‘It was heartbreaking to see the two of them sitting there having to describe how difficult it was to be accepted, to be integrated, not just into the royal family as they described, but more painfully into the larger society’s whose narrative is driven by tabloids that are living in the past,’ she said.

‘I just hope that there will be some serious, thoughtful consideration in all of the institutions, not just in response to what Meghan and Harry were talking about, but literally across all of our societies,’ Clinton added. ‘Why do we make it so hard to incorporate diversity, to celebrate it, to be proud of it?’

In summation, Clinton commended the Sussexs for ‘standing up for themselves and their young children’, and reiterated her calls for the Royal family to ‘be more dynamic and forward-looking than they currently are.’

Clinton wasn’t the only government figure to comment on Meghan Markle’s purported struggles, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also wading in on the matter Monday.

‘For anyone to come forward and speak about their own struggles with mental health and tell their own personal story — that takes courage,’ Psaki said during a daily press briefing.

She went on to explain that President Joe Biden supports speaking openly about mental health and investing in such ‘areas,’ which he is ‘committed to [doing] in the future.’

Psaki then said that she wouldn’t further comment on Meghan and Harry’s interview. 

‘We aren’t going to provide additional commentary from here on behalf of the president or others, given these are private citizens sharing their own story and their own struggles,’ she said.  

‘Let me just reiterate that we have a strong and abiding relationship with the British people and a special partnership with the government of the United Kingdom on a range of issues, and that will continue.’ 

The Biden White House’s response was far friendlier than President Donald Trump’s previous assessments of the Duchess of Sussex. 

In late September, Trump had been asked by DailyMail.com about the royal couple’s unprecedented decision to weigh into the U.S. election, interpreted by many as an endorsement of his rival, Biden.  

‘I’m not a fan of hers,’ he said of Meghan. 

‘I would say this – and she has probably has heard that – I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he’s going to need it,’ Trump said.