In one of the opening scenes of tonight’s ABC documentary “Harry and Meghan: An African Journey,” the Duchess of Sussex addresses young girls in Nyanga, a township in Cape Town known as one of the most dangerous places in South Africa.
The teens take boxing lessons to fend off men who rape them without fear of punishment.
“While I’m here as a member of the royal family, I stand here before you as a mother, a wife, a woman, as a woman of color and as your sister,” Meghan Markle tells the group.
Later in the film, her husband, Prince Harry, repeats the famous minefield walk his mother, Princess Diana, completed in Angola. He meets kids whose legs have been blown off by the cruel explosives.
It’s against the wretched backdrop of this war-torn continent that Markle tells sympathetic British interviewer Tom Bradby that she’s: “existing, not living.” She thanks him for asking how she is, because “not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
Few viewers would fail to be moved by Meghan’s struggles as a new mom in the spotlight, but did the Sussexes ever stop and think that their tour might not be the right time or place to whine about their plight?
Something’s a bit off when you’re bemoaning your lot as a member of the royal family while championing worthy causes such as the rights of poverty-stricken women and children.
After touching footage of Harry reading stories to underprivileged students, Markle fights back tears. She opens up that she “had no idea” the depth of scrutiny she would face after becoming his wife.
She says: “When I first met my now-husband, my friends were really happy because I was happy, but my British friends said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great, but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life.’”
The 38-year-old reveals it didn’t make “any sense” and that she “didn’t get it.” She blames naivety.
Well, I’m with her there. For someone who spent her entire life wanting to be famous, and got famous, and then REALLY famous, Markle seems naïve about what fame means.
Any fifth grader who has ever Googled Princess Diana, Princess Margaret or Wallis Simpson seems to know what she doesn’t.
Whether Harry and Meghan decide the pressure is too much and retire from public life remains to be seen. In the meantime, they are about to enjoy a six-week hiatus from their royal duties – a period which one British TV correspondent in the UK has termed “medical leave.”
Some of it will be spent in LA. Better Harry and Meghan get the private therapy they need among the California palms than the banyans of South Africa.
Harry & Meghan: An African Journey airs tonight, at 10 p.m. EST, on ABC.
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