The Duke and Duchess of Sussex authorized Tom Bradby’s ITV cameras to follow them to the African continent for a reason last fall. They had a message, and it was as much a cry for help as anything. Both Harry and Meghan were visibly raw and emotional as Bradby interviewed them separately at different stages of the tour. Meghan blinked back tears as she showed gratitude for Bradby for simply showing empathy and asking how she was doing. Harry was particularly emotional when discussing his mother, and how everything that’s happened with Meghan’s treatment has brought back all of those old feelings and old traumas. Now one of Meghan’s friends – or is she?? – has said that her vibe is that Harry is still traumatized and Meghan felt isolated all of last year.

A media friend who visited the Sussexes at their Frogmore Cottage home towards the end of last year fears Prince Harry is still ‘living out the trauma’ he experienced after his mother’s death. Journalist Bryony Gordon, 39, also revealed she asked Meghan: ‘Why don’t you just jack it all in?’ Writing in The Telegraph, Ms Gordon said she felt Prince Harry was ‘living out the trauma’ he experienced as a 12-year-old, when he walked behind Princess Diana’s coffin on television.

Comparing her interview with Harry from 2017 to that in October 2019, she wrote: ‘He had spoken candidly of the panic attacks that he had long experienced whenever he appeared at a public engagement. But if he thought then that he had beaten this mental torture, he now seemed to be realising that he had spoken too soon.’

Referring to the Duchess of Sussex, Ms Gordon revealed: ‘”Why don’t you just jack it all in?” I said to Meghan, after she had told me about the unexpected issues she had experienced in her new position: the loneliness; the sudden muting of her voice; the giving up of everything she knew for love, only to be, as she saw it, hounded and pilloried.’

Ms Gordon, founder of the support group Mental Health Mates, did not receive a reply to her question but could tell from Meghan’s facial expression the possibility had been considered, so was not surprised by the couple’s recent announcement. Her visit took place just after Harry and Meghan had come back from South Africa, where they filmed emotional interviews with ITV documentary maker Tom Bradby. Harry and Meghan, dressed in casual jumpers, offered Ms Gordon tea on her arrival at Frogmore Cottage, a home which she detailed as being less luxurious than many would imagine, with dogs running around and a candle in the downstairs toilet. She described the couple as less energetic than before, with Prince Harry showing less optimism in regards to his mental health.

[From The Daily Mail]

Diana spoke about the loneliness too, and the feeling of not being supported. And imagine that Harry witnessed that when he was a child, and now that he’s newly married and his wife was pregnant, the press was working in conjunction with his family to create a toxic stew where nothing they did would ever be “right.” Harry and Meghan were of course VERY raw. And I think we should start thinking of the Sussexit as less dramatic/royal-shenanigans/media trash and more like they’re doing what’s best for their mental health. Remember that, William? It’s supposed to be one of your “causes.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.