The Duchess spoke candidly of her struggles with the 'British stiff upper lip'. Photo / ITV
The Duchess spoke candidly of her struggles with the 'British stiff upper lip'. Photo / ITV
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has opened up about her struggle with the "British sensibility of a stiff upper lip" and the trouble with burying your emotions.
In the ITV documentary about the royal couple's tour of Africa, "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey", the Duchess described how she and Prince Harry have decided to push back against scrutiny, abandoning their initial strategy of just ignoring it and brushing it off.
"I've said for a long time to H – that's what I call him – it is not enough to just survive something. That's not the point of life," she told presenter Tom Bradby.
"You've got to thrive and feel happy. I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried.
"But I think what that does internally is probably really damaging," she added.
She also said that, while American friends were excited about her relationship with the prince when they started going out, her British friends did warn her that the tabloid scrutiny would "destroy her life".
The Duchess spoke candidly of her struggles with the 'British stiff upper lip'. Photo / ITV
"It's hard...When I first met my now husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy.
"But my British friends said to me 'I'm sure he is great but you should not do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life'.
"And I very naively...[said] 'What the hell are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense, I'm not in tabloids'. I didn't get it. It's been complicated."
Visibly emotional, Meghan admitted feeling "vulnerable" during her pregnancy.
She says she accepts being scrutinised but refuses to accept "untrue" comments.
Prince Harry said his wife faces "relentless propaganda".
"My mum taught me a certain set of values that I will always try to uphold, despite the role and the job that sometimes that entails.
"I will always protect my family and now I have a family to protect," he said in the documentary.
"So everything that she went through, and what happened to her, is incredibly important every single day, and that is not me being paranoid, that is just me not wanting a repeat of the past.
"If anybody else knew what I knew, be it a father or be it a husband, be it anyone, you would probably be doing exactly what I am doing as well.
"Everything that she went through and what happened to her is still incredibly raw every single day. That is not me being paranoid, that is me not wanting a repeat of the past."
He added: "I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum."
The Duchess admitted in the documentary that she was "not really okay" and has since received an outpouring of support on social media for opening up about her struggle.
Meghan spoke candidly about how she feels she is "existing, not living" and struggling with the pressures of royal life and media scrutiny.
"It's hard. I don't think anybody can understand that."
"I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair and that's the part that's really hard to reconcile."
