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The allegations that Meghan and Harry make the royal family weigh heavily.
Shortly after the interview with presenter Oprah Winfrey, it was criticized that both provided little or no evidence to support the allegations.
A look at fact and fiction - and the attempt to separate the two even in an emotionally heated climate.
Racism allegations:
Meghan accuses the Royals of having concerns during pregnancy with Archie about "how dark his skin could be when he is born".
Whoever talked to Prince Harry about it did not want to reveal the couple - because this would be "very harmful" for some people.
The allegations should not be directed against Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip.
However, it was clear that a baby with dark skin would have been a problem for the palace, Meghan affirmed.
The mother of the 39-year-old American is black and her father is white.
Racism "contributed a large part" to the decision for the tough cut from the royal family, Harry noted.
Fact check:
understandable - but
just difficult to prove.
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Explanation:
As long as Meghan and Harry do not give specific names, this accusation will hardly be clear.
The fact is that there have always been discussions about how questionable the press and family members have behaved towards Meghan because of the color of her skin.
In October 2019, for example, 72 British, mostly female MPs criticized the “outdated colonial undertones” of newspaper coverage of Meghan in an open letter.
The tasteless headline of the "Daily Mail" at the beginning of the relationship, which said: "Harry's Girl Is (Almost) Straight Outta Compton." Angeles is impoverished and has a high crime rate.) And then there was Princess Michael of Kent, who appeared for a Christmas lunch with the Queen, which Meghan and Harry also attended, with the so-called Blackmoor jewelry, a brooch with a Moor's head in slaves - and servants' robes.
The encounter with the princess is said to have hit Meghan very much.
The finances:
With the “Megxit”, the couple had announced that they wanted to earn money themselves.
Harry complained that the royal family had already turned off the money in the first quarter of 2020.
Fact check:
contradicting itself.
In its declaration at the time (January 2019) it already said literally: We want to become financially independent.
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Explanation:
This is where things get a little complicated.
As soon as Meghan and Harry announced their withdrawal, the question of the financial future was asked.
At the time, the couple's personal fortune was estimated at around £ 34 million - including the fortune Markle had made through her acting career ("Suits") and the fortune Harry inherited after his mother's death.
Diana left around £ 20 million on her death in 1997.
In the end, the amount after tax was split between the brothers.
In addition, the Queen is said to have already given the brothers 14 million pounds.
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The couple also received money from the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, which amounts to £ 82.4 million and is financed, among other things, from the family's multi-billion dollar real estate holdings, such as the Ascot Racecourse or half of Regent Street.
The share of Meghan and Harry's income from this was five percent at the time.
They wanted to forego this portion.
The rest of her income comes from the Duchy of Cornwall, which belonged to Harry's father.
According to the BBC, Meghan and Harry were paid five million pounds from this in 2018/19 for taking on representative tasks and as an allowance for expenses.
Her desire to become financially more independent from the royal family was explained by experts with a view to the entrepreneurial activities of Meghan and Harry.
Because it quickly became clear that her departure had been planned for a long time;
the couple had previously registered the brand “Sussex Royal The Foundation Of The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex”, which also included magazines, books, posters, workshops and lectures, as well as fashion (from clothes to pajamas to shoes).
Meghan had also run a very good blog "The Tig" before the relationship with Harry, so she was very good at assessing the options such a strong brand would offer.
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In fact, an expert estimated the brand's potential revenue at 450 million euros.
The Queen was amused by everything else and stepped in.
Negotiations broke out, and Meghan and Harry eventually changed “Sussex Royal” to “Archewell”.
The royals
Secret wedding:
Meghan said she and Harry got married three days before the official ceremony, in private with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Because the official wedding was a day "for the world".
Fact check:
unlikely.
Explanation:
After their engagement on November 27, 2017, the couple were officially married on May 19, 2018 in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Almost 600 guests were invited.
The cost of the wedding for the taxpayer amounted to 34 million euros due to the security measures.
However, according to the Church of England, there must be at least two witnesses for marriages to be valid.
In addition, according to the regulations, a couple who are already married cannot decide to marry again.
So if the ceremony actually took place, it was more likely an exchange of promises or a blessing, but not a real marriage.
Statement:
Meghan hardly knew the royal family before marrying in.
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Fact check:
unlikely.
Explanation:
Meghan said in an interview with Oprah that she neither "googled" her husband before the start of the relationship, nor did much research into his family.
An assertion that is not very credible, but also cannot be refuted.
The following details speak against this: Private photos, which are said to be from 1996, show the future Duchess in London as a tourist in front of Buckingham Palace.
When the Princess of Wales, Harry's mother, was killed in an accident, Meghan was 16 years old.
It is unbelievable that the young American schoolgirl, who is enthusiastic about acting, did not even follow the reporting back then.
And in the biography "Finding Freedom", for which US author Omid Scobie also spoke to people around the Sussexes, a friend is also quoted who warned Meghan about a relationship with Harry: "That could be crazy ... you will be the most wanted woman. "
Suicidal thoughts
: "I just didn't want to be alive anymore," said Meghan about her time in the royal family, when she was pregnant with son Archie.
She described her life there as a kind of golden cage in which she could hardly make her own decisions.
She shared her worries with Harry and sought help from one of Princess Diana's best friends.
However, the palace refused to allow her to seek professional help in this difficult phase.
Fact check:
Can be rated badly.
Explanation:
If this is true, it is of course hardly acceptable.
Still, questions arise.
For example, why Meghan wanted help in the “Human Resources” department.
There, help was then denied, with the note that she was not officially employed by the royal family.
That should have been clear to her, after all, she wasn't an employee with a contract.
So why didn't Meghan speak to her attending doctor, because medical care is unlikely to have been denied to the pregnant woman?
Harry, in turn, said he was ashamed to admit to the family that his wife needed help and therefore did not speak to them.
The (relative) emotional coldness of the Windsors has been known since Diana's time.
The British themselves call this "ostriching" - like the ostrich (ostrich), which prefers to stick its head in the sand.
Or as Harry said himself in the interview: "The family mentality is: that's the way it is."
Nevertheless, Harry's reaction is astonishing, because after all, he launched a mental health campaign himself: "Heads Together".
In the past he also made public that he had been in therapy for years even after his mother's accidental death.
But now he had "no idea what to do" with his wife?
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Missing prince title for Archie:
Meghan indicated that there could be reservations about a colored child in the line of succession and that the title might also be withheld from their son Archie.
Literally she said: "You have no right to take that away from him."
Fact check:
wrong.
Explanation:
There is or has not been a conscious decision to withhold the title from Archie.
The current title in the British royal family goes back to a letter from King George V (officially "Letter Patent"), who in 1917 decreed that only the royal descendants who are directly related to the monarch should be named prince or princess .
According to this rule, the title Prince would, strictly speaking, only belong to Prince William and his son Prince George.
However, it can be supplemented by new orders, for example in 2013, before the birth of Prince George.
At that time, Elizabeth II issued a decree that his future siblings can also call themselves "HRH" ("His / Her Royal Highness").
In addition, the rule is flexible - when Prince Charles ascends the throne, his grandson Archie automatically moves up and could lead the title of prince.
The grandchildren of Princess Anne are not princes or princesses either, any more than the children from Prince Edward's marriage or the future grandchildren of Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson.
Security allegation:
Meghan said that she was told during her pregnancy that there would be no extra security for her son later.
She found this to be stressful and a relegation.
Harry and Meghan had, among other things, completed the multi-million dollar deals with Netflix ($ 150 million) and Spotify to cover the costs of security.
Fact check:
wrong.
Explanation:
A separate security is not automatically granted for all members of the royal family.
For example, the daughters of Prince Andrew, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice are no longer protected by the British police, although they have civil professions and have been seen a lot in public.
The official guarding of Harry and Meghan has long been a hot topic - after the two declared they would step back from their official duties, leave the UK and lead a "financially independent life", there was widespread debate in the UK press that this probably also means that both - as is usual for many celebrities - have to pay for their own security guards.
According to British media reports, the round-the-clock security of both devoured a double-digit million sum per year.
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Kate vs. Meghan: did
Kate make Meghan cry?
Fact check:
Not to be clarified.
Explanation:
Since November 2018, reports have been circulating in the British press (including "The Sun") that there had been a clash between the bride and her sister-in-law before the splendid wedding of Harry and Meghan.
What sparked the argument remained vague - it was probably either about the dresses or the tights of the flower girls (Princess Charlotte, Prince William's daughter, was also among them).
Meghan is said to have wished for children without tights, Kate - according to the protocol - insisted on the legwear.
The Duchess of Cambridge, who had just given birth to her third child, is said to have burst into tears during the argument, reported the tabloids at the time.
In the interview Meghan said: "No, no.
The opposite happened. ”She was the one who was made to cry, and she was expecting an official correction.
Kate herself later apologized to her and sent her flowers.
Side detail: Kensington Palace even denied the press reports about the dispute (“That never happened”) - but that was probably not enough for the Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan's family:
In the interview, Meghan said about her half-sister Samantha, who recently published a book about her prominent relatives, that she hardly knows them at all.
“The last time I saw her must be 18 or 19 years ago, and the time before it was ten years before.
She changed her last name back to Markle, I think she was in her early 50s, right when I started my relationship with Harry, so I think that says enough. "
Fact check:
controversial.
Explanation:
Meghan's family on the father's side has always made headlines.
She has several half-siblings from her father's first marriage who, after the relationship became known, became publicly different.
One of them was Samantha.
Samantha defended herself after the broadcast of the Oprah interview with her own interview on "Insideedition" and published a photo that she and Meghan showed at graduation.
So the last meeting should have been 13 years ago.
Samantha also defends herself against the accusation of changing her name: “I was a Markle before she became one.
It's strange that she should say I didn't change my name until she was dating Harry.
Markle has always been my name, ”she said and published court documents from 1997 as evidence. At that time, she requested that her first name be changed from Yvonne Marie Markle to Samantha Marie Markle.