Meghan Markle has revealed she suffered a miscarriage in July this year.
In an opinion piece penned for the New York Times, Meghan opened up about the deep grief and loss she endured with her husband Prince Harry.
The Duchess of Sussex, who married the British prince in 2018, had the couple’s first child, Archie, the following year.
In the piece titled The Losses We Share, Meghan wrote that she had just changed her son’s diaper when she felt a sharp cramp and fell to the ground.
“After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right,” wrote Markle.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second,” she added.
Meghan described how she and her husband were both in tears as she lay in a hospital bed later.
“Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand,” wrote the Duchess. “I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” she continued. “In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage. Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”
The intimate details shared in the article are at odds with the usual policy of senior members of the British royal family, who reveal almost nothing about their personal lives.
Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, has never discussed her private life in any media article or interview in her 68-year reign. However, reports have stated that Harry had discussed the article with the royal family beforehand.
Meghan and Harry married in May 2018 in a glittering ceremony televised around the world. In January this year, the couple shocked the British establishment when they announced they were retiring from royal life. Their withdrawal came after reports she was deeply unhappy with life inside the royal family and fed up with media intrusion.
The couple, who live with their young son, in California, signed an exclusive deal with the streaming giant Netflix for an undisclosed fee earlier this year. They have set up a non-profit organisation to promote education, mental health and well-being.
