Media Mostly Sympathic To Harry, Meghan

It's been said that the United Kingdom and the United States are two nations divided by the same language. That applies equally to the media's responses to Oprah Winfrey's Sunday blockbuster interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, reports USAToday..

With a few exceptions, U.S. TV networks and other news outlets appeared sympathetic to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who now live in California. They focused especially on a bombshell allegation of racism and Meghan's revelation that she had contemplated suicide when she felt unprotected by royal institutions during attacks by the British tabloid press.

Winfrey, widely praised for the interviewing skill she displayed on CBS Sunday with a couple she considers friends, had a debriefing Monday with her close friend, Gayle King, on "CBS This Morning." King called it the "best interview" Winfrey had ever done and said the duchess was brave for acknowledging her suicidal thoughts.

Many U.K. outlets, which serve a voracious British appetite for every microscopic element of palace intrigue, were more skeptical. The harshest assessments came from the British tabloids, the target of blame from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for much of the mistreatment that led to their retreat from royal life.

British TV news personality Piers Morgan, known to Americans for his CNN talk show and "America's Got Talent," was having none of it. He lambasted the pair in a column in the Daily Mail under the scathing summary: "Meghan and Harry's nauseating two-hour Oprah whine-athon was a disgraceful diatribe of cynical race-baiting propaganda designed to damage the Queen as her husband lies in hospital – and destroy the Monarchy." 

Many U.S. publications, including USAToday, focused on the experience of Meghan and Harry, including allegations that, while pregnant with their nearly 2-year-old son, Archie, an unnamed palace official expressed "concerns" about the skin color of their offspring. Another bombshell: At one point, Meghan said she "didn't want to be alive anymore" and that "the institution" of the monarchy didn't provide help. 

Major American networks featured the story prominently on their websites, if not to the degree of CBS, which had exclusive access to Winfrey. By late afternoon, a story saying the royal family was "in crisis" headlined CNN's home page, but the story was less prominent on  ABC News' site. 

Meghan, Samantha Markle

By late Monday, The Washington Post's coverage featured  one column praising Winfrey as "the best celebrity interviewer of all time." The story had dropped down the homepage of The New York Times, which examined the response of Black U.K. citizens to racism "in the royal family and in British society at large."

Meanwhile, Markle’s half-sister said Monday that her estranged sibling suffers from “narcissistic personality disorder” — while Markle’s hubby Prince Harry is the victim of Stockholm syndrome.

“I definitely see a narcissistic personality disorder. I’m not diagnosing her. She needs to see a counselor,’’ Samantha Markle told the Australian radio show “Fifi, Fev and Nick’’ the day after Meghan and Harry’s bombshell TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.

“I feel sorry for Harry,’’ Samantha said. “She pulled him away from his family, all of his friends, the life that he knew.

“He reminds me of one of those kidnap victims who eventually starts to believe that their life was so horrible and they’re in love with their captor.”