Meghan Markle appeared to lead a ‘normal life’ during her time as a royal – despite the bombshell revelations she made during the tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview, Princess Diana‘s biographer claimed.
Andrew Morton, who famously penned Princess Diana’s blockbuster biography in 1992, claimed friends told him they saw the Duchess of Sussex, 39, out and about with friends during her time in the Royal Family.
In the extraordinary interview watched by tens of millions of people around the world, Meghan claimed she only left the house twice in four months when she was living at the palace and alleged that officials took her ‘passport, my driving licence, my keys.’
Speaking on Royally Obsessed podcast, the royal biographer was asked whether Meghan’s situation was similar to that experienced by Princess Diana.
‘When I was watching the interview, I was ticking off ‘yes, sense of isolation’, ‘yes, sense of desperation’ exactly what Diana was saying to me,’ he explained.
‘But then again, well, friends of mine said they’ve seen Meghan walking from Whole Foods supermarket on Kensington High Street with bags of foods back to Kensington Palace.
Princess Diana ‘s biographer claimed that Meghan Markle appeared to lead a ‘normal life’ during her time as a royal – despite the bombshell revelations she made during the tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview. Pictured, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during their interview with Oprah Winfrey which was broadcast in the US on March 7
Andrew Morton (pictured) also pointed out that Meghan flew to New York on a private jet when celebrating her baby shower when pregnant with Archie
He continued: ‘It didn’t seem too much like a prison. Other friends have seen her out and about with friends at restaurants, so she seems, to me, to have led a normal life.’
Following the interview last month, The Royal Family was left reeling after Meghan Markle tearfully revealed that the stress of royal life made her suicidal when she was five months pregnant, claimed Archie was denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race and said Kate Middleton made her cry before she married Harry in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
But several claims made in the interview have been questioned – one of which being the Duchess of Sussex’s allegation that she had to give up her passport and driver’s licence.
‘You couldn’t just go,’ Meghan explained. ‘You couldn’t. I mean, you have to understand, as well, when I joined that family, that was the last time, until we came here, that I saw my passport, my driver’s licence, my keys.’
Idris Elba, who was a guest at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in May 2018 (pictured), defended Meghan Markle and said she was right to ‘speak truth’ as her voice was ‘taken away’
Oprah went on to question whether she felt ‘trapped,’ to which the Duchess of Sussex replied: ‘That’s the truth.’
She claimed that she was told by ‘people within The Firm’ that she was ‘everywhere’, and was advised she should consider laying low for a bit.
Meghan told the presenter: ‘I said: ‘I have left the house twice in four months, I am everywhere but I am nowhere.”
‘I continued to say to people: ‘I know there is an obsession with how things look, but has anyone talked about how it feels? Because right now I could not feel lonelier’.’
Andrew Morton also pointed out that Meghan flew to New York on a private jet when celebrating her baby shower when pregnant with Archie in February 2019.
He went on to add that the royal made many overseas trip ‘without wearing handcuffs’.
The royal biographer continued: ‘So there’s some inconsistency but also there’s similarity with Diana as well. It was a complex interview and it has left us with lots of questions.’
It comes as Idris Elba, who was a guest at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in May 2018, defended Meghan and said she was right to ‘speak truth’ as her voice was ‘taken away.’
The two-hour Oprah Winfrey interview was the biggest royal tell-all since Harry’s mother princess Diana detailed her crumbling marriage to Prince Charles in 1995.
Speaking to ET, Idris was asked: ‘We have seen in real life your friend Meghan Markle telling her story of the black experience – what do you think about her courage, just stepping out and saying ‘I need to speak my truth’?’
He responded: ‘I will say that everyone has to have their opportunity to speak up about what they feel.’
‘You cannot take someone’s voice away, that’s what we have to communicate.’
Meghan Markle used her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview to accuse the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.
The Duke of Cambridge was the first royal to personally respond to the racism allegations days after the interview aired when he spoke about mental health during a visit the School21 in east London.
At the time, he revealed that he had not spoken to his brother since it came out, but added that he ‘will do’.
It was also the first engagement for Kate since she was accused by Meghan of making her cry in the bombshell tell-all chat.
Meghan said: ‘She (Kate) was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers’.
During the Oprah interview, Meghan also revealed details about their strained relationship, saying of pictures of them laughing at Wimbledon, ‘Nothing is what it looks like.’
She added that Kate being called ‘waity Katie’ in the press couldn’t compare to the alleged racism she faced.
Meghan also made allegations that she felt suicidal and turned to the palace for help.
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and told her husband she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.
Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said:
‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.
‘And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help.
‘I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’.
She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night ‘haunt me’.
She told Oprah she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported by the palace.
She said: ‘When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over’.
Meghan said Harry had ‘saved my life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.
During the broadcast, Prince Harry hinted at the extent of the alleged rift between the two brothers, claiming that their relationship was now ‘space,’ but added he hoped time would be a healer.
He went on to claim he was ‘on different paths’ to William and spoke about his brother was ‘trapped’ in the Royal Family.
Harry also said he felt ‘very let down’ by his father Prince Charles, accusing him of refusing to take his calls and and then ‘cut him off’ financially when they emigrated.
He said: ‘My father and brother. They’re both trapped’ and added that his mother Diana would be ‘angry and sad’ that he felt he had to leave the royal family, but ‘she saw it coming’.
Harry said: ‘All she’d ever want for us is to be happy’, adding that his wife had ‘saved me’, declaring:
‘I myself was trapped, as well. I didn’t see a way out’.
The Queen broke her silence on the interview, voicing her ‘concern’ over the issues raised, ‘particularly that of race’, although the statement added that ‘some recollections may vary’.
There has been much speculation about which member of the royal family they were accusing of racism. But during the interview the couple would not be drawn on who had deeply offended them.
Harry said: ‘That conversation, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked.’