Alison Hammond defended Meghan Markle against 'bullying' claims of Buckingham Palace staff as they discussed the latest episodes of her and Prince Harry's docuseries on This Morning. The presenter was back at the helm of the ITV daytime show on Thursday (December 15) when they kicked off with a chat about 'Volume 2' of the Netflix series, entitled Harry & Meghan.
In the second, and final, lot of episodes of their documentary series on the streaming platform, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, spoke at length about what happened when they decided to step back as senior members of the royal family before the official announcement in early 2020.
During episode five of the six-part series, Prince Harry detailed what happened in a meeting with his dad, then Prince Chalres, and his brother Princess William with the late Queen also present to discuss the pair stepping back from their role as senior royals.
"It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in," he revealed. On the meeting, he said it finished without any solidified action plan. "I think from their perspective they had to believe that it was more about us, and maybe the issues we had as opposed to their partner, the media and themselves and that relationship that was causing so much pain for us, they saw what they wanted to see," Harry said.
He added: "The saddest part of it was this wedge created between me and my brother so that he’s now on the institution’s side, and part of that I get, that’s his inheritance, so to some extent it's already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution."
Also during the final three episodes, Meghan claimed she was prevented from getting medical help while suffering suicidal thoughts during her time in the Royal Family. The Duke of Sussex admitted to hateing looking back on how he dealt with the Duchess of Sussex when she had thoughts of taking her own life.
He said in the fourth episode: "I was devastated. I knew that she was struggling. We were both struggling, but I never thought that it would get to that stage, and the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed. I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional Harry, as opposed to husband Harry. And what took over my feelings was my royal role.
"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’, and looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she needed from me was so much more than what I was able to give." Meanwhile, Meghan said: "I wanted to go somewhere to get help, but I wasn’t allowed to. They were concerned how that would look for the institution."
During the latest edition of This Morning, Alison asked Camilla Tominey who joined the show via video link while Ateh Jewel appeared in the studio. "Can I ask the question...I'm going to ask this to you, Camilla," Alison said.
"What do you think with regards to Meghan and the fact that it was really positive in the beginning." She continued: "It was so beautiful the wedding and everything, and the fact that it suddenly changed. Does the Royal Family...are they really bothered about what he said in the headlines?"
"Are they bothered about what is said?" Camilla repeated before adding: "Because obviously like any institution, be it the Royal Family or ITV, they don't want to be the subject of a load of negative publicity...
But interjecting, Alison commented: "Meghan can't control what is put in the papers, can she? It's not her fault that everyone...she's been bigged up and been the number one person." Camilla hit back: "I mean, look, I think there is a tendency for the media to big people up and then bring them down.
"But the couple don't seem to acknowledge any of their own responsibility for some of the negative headlines. You know, amidst all of this when all of this was going on, a bullying complaint was submitted against them, you know, people were unhappy with their behaviour behind Palace gates..."
Alison, however, defended the duchess and replied: "Obviously, all of this that happened, she was going through mental health issues. And I’m sure when you’re going through mental health issues you’re probably not going to be the nicest behind-the-scenes."
She added: "That could come across as bullying to some people." Meghan has previously refuted all of the claims made.
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