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TL; DR: 

  • Prince Harry spoke to Oprah Winfrey during Apple TV’s The Me You Can’t See.
  • In it, he accused his family of “total neglect.” 
  • At that point, the royal family knew, according to Tom Bower in Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, “the Sussexes were beyond control.”

According to a royal biographer, Prince Harry’s interview on The Me You Can’t See marked a pivotal moment. In his book, Rsevenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, author Tom Bower said it made the royals realize he and Meghan Markle were “beyond control.” 

Prince Harry’s ‘The Me You Can’t See’ interview: ‘I thought my family would help’

After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in March 2021 another one was on the way. This time, however, Harry sat down with Oprah alone as part of The Me You Can’t See. 

The Apple TV docuseries, which Harry and Oprah created and produced together, centered on mental health. It premiered in May 2021, featuring interviews with Lady Gaga, Glenn Close, and Harry among others. 

Perhaps the most memorable moment in Harry’s The Me You Can’t See interview happened when he accused his family of “total neglect.” 

​​“I thought my family would help,” he told Oprah, referring to negative media coverage. “But every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, just got met with total silence, total neglect.” 

“We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job. But Meghan was struggling.” 

Meghan had previously revealed to Oprah there’d been a period during her time as a senior royal when she “didn’t want to be alive anymore.” 

Also in Harry’s The Me You Can’t See interview, he talked about his family, grieving Princess Diana, and how Meghan inspired him to begin therapy.

Tom Bower said the royal family knew ‘the Sussexes were beyond control’ after ‘The Me You Can’t See’

Prince Harry’s The Me You Can’t See interview sent a message of sorts to the royal family. In an excerpt of his book in The Times, which is due out July 21, Bower claimed it made one thing clear to Buckingham Palace. They “finally understood very precisely” the “Sussexes were beyond control,” he said. 

“In it Harry denounced William, whom he had previously praised as the only person he ‘could trust,’ and dishonored Charles, whom he had previously thanked for being so ‘kind,’ for causing a cycle of ‘genetic pain,’” Bower said. “He had even criticized the queen, despite saying she was “hugely admired.”

“All were cast as villains responsible for his ‘cycles of suffering’ and ‘unresolved anger,’” the author concluded.

Prince Harry reunited with the royal family during Platinum Jubilee weekend

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Harry and Meghan returned to the U.K. for Platinum Jubilee weekend in June 2022. They, along with their two children, kept a largely low profile. The couple wasn’t invited to stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the annual Trooping the Colour parade. Instead, they watched from a nearby office with other non-working royals. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s only official appearance happened on June 3, 2022. Meghan and Harry went to Westminster Abbey to honor Queen Elizabeth II. 

They sat in the second row with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Meanwhile, Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince William, and Kate Middleton sat on the other side of the church.

Later, Harry and Meghan threw a birthday party for their daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 1 on June 4, 2022. Finally, they left before the Platinum Jubilee pageant closed the official festivities. 

How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.

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