NewIdea
  • Royals
  • Celebrity
  • News
  • Beauty & Style
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Food
  • Win
  • Recipes
  • Video
NewIdea
  • Royals
  • Celebrity
  • News
  • Beauty & Style
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Food
  • Win
  • Recipes
  • Video
Subscribe
  1. Home
  2. Royals

The hidden similarities between Meghan and Diana's bombshell interviews

Both women took the "never complain, never explain" royal ethos and threw it out the palace window. - by Catie Powers
  • 11 Mar 2021

Trigger warning: This story touches on topics concerning mental health and suicide. If you, or someone you know, would like to have a free, confidential chat with someone they can trust, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website here.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah may be making headlines this week, but the couple were not the first to bare all to the public.

WATCH: Princess Diana discusses Camilla and Charles' affair in 1995 Panorama interview

Harry’s late mother Prince Diana was in fact the first royal to go rogue back in 1995 with her own tell-all interview. And fans are noticing some striking similarities between the two events.

Twenty-six years ago, Princess Diana shook the world by sitting down with the BBC's Martin Bashir for her iconic Panorama interview. The in-depth chat completely ignored royal protocol and revealed some shocking truths about the monarchy – sound familiar?

During the conversation, the People’s Princess opened up about everything from how challenging her royal role was, to her harrowing mental health struggles, to the pressure put on her by the media – three things that Meghan certainly spoke about during her own tell-all interview.

Meghan Oprah

Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah has everyone talking.

CBS

While speaking with the BBC about what it was like being the Princess of Wales, Diana explained that her role was a "challenge".

While the royal didn't delve too far into the specific "challenges" involved with her duties, Meghan laid it all out on the table.

"My understanding and my experience of the past four years is, it’s nothing like what it looks like." the former duchess told Oprah. "And I . . . and I remember so often people within The Firm would say, ‘Well, you can’t do this because it’ll look like that. You can’t’."

The former actress also revealed she was "silenced" by the royal family and felt very "isolated" - a sentiment which Diana certainly expressed in her own interview.

After Bashir asked the princess whether she though she was "left largely to cope with (her) new status on (her) own", Diana replied, "Yes I do, on reflection.... It was isolating, but it was also a situation where you couldn't indulge in feeling sorry for yourself: you had to either sink or swim. And you had to learn that very fast." 

Meghan herself dived into the more harrowing aspects of her own feelings of isolation, claiming The Firm didn't help her when she needed it most. 

Diana Panorama interview

Diana's Panorama interview broke royal precedent in every way.

BBC

The former duchess opened up to the TV presenter about her darkest times in the public eye, explaining there was a time when she "didn't want to be alive any more". After Meghan told the Palace about her mental struggle, she claimed the institution did nothing to help her.

"This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically, ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare’. And people going, ‘Oh, yes, yes, it’s disproportionately terrible what we see out there to anyone else’. But nothing was ever done, so we had to find a solution." Meghan revealed. 

Similarly, Princess Diana also spoke about her own mental health battles, revealing she had dealt with post-natal depression and self-harmed in the past. 

Unlike Meghan, when it came to The Firm, Diana kept her internal battle just that - internal. But the princess did explain how her position in the monarchy prevented her from getting any better.

Indeed, when Bashir asked the royal if she felt she "had to maintain the public image of a successful Princess of Wales" through her mental struggles, the princess replied with "Yes I did, yes I did."

This connection to Diana was also not lost on Meghan, who revealed that it was one of her late mother-in-law's friends who eventually gave her the help she so desperately needed.

"One of the people that I reached out to, who’s continued to be a friend and confidant, was one of my husband’s mum’s best friends, one of Diana’s best friends. Because it’s, like, who else could understand what’s . . .what it’s actually like on the inside?" the former Suits actress explained. 

And speaking of understanding what it's like, both Diana and Meghan were, and are, the subject of intense media coverage - a topic that both of the former royals spoke about in their respective interviews. 

Meghan Harry Oprah

Harry joined Meghan later in the interview.

CBS

In the years leading up to her interview, Diana was still the wife to the next heir Charles; this position, the royal explained, made the media extremely obsessed with everything the future Queen Consort was doing.

"We had the media, who were completely fascinated by everything we (herself and Charles) did." Diana told Bashir.

"And it was difficult to share that load, because I was the one who was always pitched out front, whether it was my clothes, what I said, what my hair was doing, everything - which was a pretty dull subject, actually, and it's been exhausted over the years." 

Like her late mother-in-law, Meghan Markle remains a constant fascination of the media's - a topic that Oprah was hell-bent on discussing with her friend.

"Soon after your marriage, the tabloids started offering stories that painted a not-so-flattering picture of you in your new world. There were rumours about you being ‘Hurricane Meghan’." Oprah said to the former actress. 

The pair went on to discuss the "hero and villain" narrative painted around Meghan and her sister-in-law Kate Middleton. When Oprah asked why Meghan was held to a different standard than Kate, the former duchess replied "I can see now what layers were at play".

Princess Diana Panorama

Diana's Panorama interview was groundbreaking at the time and, now, so is Meghan's.

BBC

The "layers" Meghan was speaking of were admittedly very different to Diana's experience, as they pertain to race.

Meghan Markle is the first mixed-race person to marry into the monarchy and both herself and Oprah discussed how this fact influenced the media's coverage of her, as well as, according to Meghan, some comments made by the royal family themselves.

While both Diana and Meghan have had their own specific battles as members of the royal family, similarities between their experiences can be drawn, not only from their interviews, but from the way they acted throughout their time in the public eye.

From breaking protocol to being overwhelmingly candid about their personal lives, these two royal-in-laws have proven that the age-old "never complain, never explain" ethos is not for them; they'd much prefer to draw back that Buckingham Palace curtain and let people know what it's really like on the inside. 

  • Royals
  • Meghan Markle
  • Princess Diana
Catie Powers
Catie Powers
As a digital writer for New Idea, Catie Powers covers all things entertainment, lifestyle, and royals.

Subscribe to New Idea & save!-+ save!

Subscribe to New Idea today

Subscribe Now
Subscribe to New Idea & save!

Subscribe to New Idea & save!-+ save!

Subscribe to New Idea today

Subscribe Now
Subscribe to New Idea & save!

Recommended to you

Home and Away opening title
Watch 1:09

Home and Away opening title

{headline}

{headline}

Prince Harry reveals the moment he knew Meghan was his 'soulmate'

Prince Harry reveals the moment he knew Meghan was his 'soulmate'

Spooky! Princess Diana’s psychic 'predicted' Harry’s marriage to Meghan

Spooky! Princess Diana’s psychic 'predicted' Harry’s marriage to Meghan

How Meghan and Harry's Aussie tour triggered Megxit

How Meghan and Harry's Aussie tour triggered Megxit

Behind Prince Harry's heartbreak

Behind Prince Harry's heartbreak

{headline}

{headline}

Royal Rebel: Every time Diana broke protocol

Royal Rebel: Every time Diana broke protocol

Prince Harry prepares to return to the UK

Prince Harry prepares to return to the UK

Meghan Markle's big Princess Diana snub REVEALED

Meghan Markle's big Princess Diana snub REVEALED

{headline}

{headline}

Princess Diana would NOT approve of Harry & Meghan's Oprah interview

Princess Diana would NOT approve of Harry & Meghan's Oprah interview

Princess Diana is helping Meghan with motherhood, says psychic

Princess Diana is helping Meghan with motherhood, says psychic

Princess Diana's LEAKED letter reveals details of Harry & Will's relationship

Princess Diana's LEAKED letter reveals details of Harry & Will's relationship

Prince William and Prince Harry set to reunite amid long-running feud

Prince William and Prince Harry set to reunite amid long-running feud

How Meghan Markle's baby will honour Diana

How Meghan Markle's baby will honour Diana

Diana’s psychic's shock claims: "The rift will deepen"

Diana’s psychic's shock claims: "The rift will deepen"

Princess Diana’s hope for a “modern Crown” crushed by Prince Harry

Princess Diana’s hope for a “modern Crown” crushed by Prince Harry

NewIdea
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Competitions
NewIdea Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Competitions

Brands

  • Girlfriend
  • New Idea food
  • Practical Parenting
  • That’s Life
  • Who

Our Network

  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • BHG Shop
  • marie claire
  • Beauty Crew
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • Home Beautiful
  • All Recipes
  • Perth Now
  • The West Australian
  • 7Plus
  • 7mate
  • 7NEWS
  • 7Sport
  • Sunrise
  • Starts at 60
  • Hard to Find
© 2022 Are Media PTY LTD
All products are independently selected, tested or recommended by our team of experts.If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Get more from New Idea

Magazine Subscription Offer

Subscribe to New Idea & save!-+ save!

Shop This Offer
Subscribe to New Idea & save!