Prince Harry Says He Didn't Handle Meghan Markle's Depression Well, Reveals What Dad King Charles Told Him
Prince Harry is owning up to his mistakes in volume II of his and wife Meghan Markle's Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. In episode four of the look into the couple's life, Harry and Meghan open up about the devastating toll the negative press attention took on the then-pregnant duchess' mental health.
"It was like, 'All of this will stop if I'm not here.' And that was the scariest thing about it. Was it was such clear thinking," Meghan recalls, having previously shared during her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that she had considered taking her own life while pregnant with her and Harry's son, Archie.
In the docuseries, Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, says that hearing her daughter express those thoughts to her "really broke my heart."
"I knew that it was bad, but to just constantly be picked at by these vultures just picking away at her spirit, that she would actually think of not wanting to be here. That's not an easy one for a mom to hear," Doria says. "And I can't protect her. H can't protect her."
Harry says that he too was "devastated" by the understanding of just how low Meghan had gotten.
"We were both struggling, but I never thought it would get to that stage. The fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed," he admits. "I didn't deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as 'Institutional Harry' as opposed to 'husband Harry.'"
Harry goes on to explain that his focus remained on how it would look if some of Meghan's struggles became outwardly apparent.
"What took over my feelings was my royal role," he continues. "I had been trained to worry more about what are people going to think if we don't go to this event? We're going to be late. Looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give."
Harry claims that no one in his family offered to step in and speak to the media, to tell them "enough."
"My dad would say to me, 'Darling boy, you can't take on the media. The media will always be the media.' I said, 'I fundamentally disagree,'" Harry says, referencing now-King Charles III.
The couple later went on to sue Associated Newspapers and the Mail on Sunday after the publication leaked a handwritten letter between Meghan and her estranged father, Thomas Markle. Around the same time, they went on a royal tour of South Africa where Meghan spoke on camera about how she'd been struggling.
Harry notes no one in the family "speaks that openly" except for one person -- his mother, Princess Diana.
He adds that they expected support from the people closest to them, but "we got the opposite."
In the first three episodes of the docuseries, which were released last week, a disclaimer was put on the series that reads, "Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series."
"That is incorrect. Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace nor any members of the royal family were approached for comment on the content of the series," a source close to the royal family previously told ET in regard to the disclaimer. "[The Palace] is not aware of any such approach for comment."
ET has reached out to Netflix for comment on the claims. Meanwhile, a Netflix source previously told ET that communications offices for King Charles and Prince William were contacted in advance and given the right to reply to claims within the series.
Additionally, ET has learned that Kensington Palace did receive an email from a third-party production company about the Netflix docuseries. The email originated from an unknown organization's email address. The office contacted Archewell Productions and Netflix to attempt to verify the authenticity of the email and that it was genuine but received no reply. The email did not contain the substance of the allegations made in the Netflix program or address the entire series. In the absence of any verification or reply from Archewell or Netflix, there was not any reply.
Volumes I and II of Harry & Meghan are currently streaming on Netflix.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
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