A common observation some royal commentators have made about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry is that don’t seem fully content despite their wealth and comfort. A royal family biographer weighed in, saying the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won’t have a “happy” life if they focus too much on themselves.
Prince Philip told his children not to talk about themselves says a biographer
During an interview with Spectator, royal biographer Gyles Brandreth, author of Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, says Meghan and Harry won’t be happy if they continue to focus on themselves and whatever problems they believe they have. According to him, they would be content if they didn’t think about themselves so much. Brandreth says Prince Philip encouraged his children to focus their attention on others instead of themselves.
Gyles Brandreth says Meghan and Harry will be ‘unhappier’ if they don’t stop focusing on themselves
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Brandreth questions whether it’s good for Meghan and Harry to continue analyzing their lives. He doesn’t see the benefit of rehashing the past through all of these media pushes.
“Is this introspection a good thing?” asks Brandreth, referring to their Netflix documentary, book, and interviews. “[Prince Philip] was very keen on ‘Don’t talk about yourself,’ says Brandreth. “People aren’t interested. They really aren’t interested. And I know he told each of his children, ‘Don’t talk about yourself.’”
Brandreth says Philip told his children that engaging reporters would lead to a series of endless questions. “If you answer one question for a journalist, they’ll always ask another. It never ends,” adds Brandreth. “But more, in life, don’t think about yourself. Ask the other person what they’re doing. People aren’t interested in you; you should be interested in them. And his philosophy was look up, look out, don’t think about yourself, don’t talk about yourself, get on with the job.”
Freddy Gray, deputy editor at The Spectator, chimed in, saying, “I think it’s fair to say that’s a lesson that Harry and Meghan have not learned.” Brandreth thinks they won’t be as happy as they could be because they focus on themselves.
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“I think they will be the unhappier because of it,” says Brandreth. “Because the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh lived long lives. He lived to 99, she lived to 96. And the queen was a happy person, driven by duty, sustained by faith, but made happy by her passions for her dogs and her horses. That’s what kept her going. She had interests outside of herself. Same as the Duke of Edinburgh. He had so many interests. Same actually with the king, who is a workaholic. He has a variety of real passions. That’s what makes people happy, doing other things that are outside of yourself.”
Brandreth says he thinks Meghan and Harry’s “problem” is that they spend so much time thinking about how they’ve been wronged that they aren’t able to enjoy life. He doesn’t think this is a healthy way to live. “I think the problem for [Meghan and Harry] will be looking at yourself,” Brandreth continues. “In the long run I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
Brandreth mentioned something Prince Philip said to him. He said Philip was interested in the work of psychiatrist Charles Jung. He told Brandreth about research Jung did on former patients. He found that patients who were happiest had interests beyond themselves.
“The most unhappy were the people who were introspective, who were brooding about themselves,” says Brandreth. He says Jung’s work is what inspired Prince Philip’s projects. He wanted to focus on others.
Some royal commentators say Meghan Markle and Prince Harry complain a lot
Some commentators say Meghan and Harry don’t seem appreciative of the comforts they enjoy. During an interview with GB News, biographer Angela Levin said she didn’t hear “one word of gratitude” from Meghan or Harry during the first part of the documentary.
Megyn Kelly points out that many people are struggling with their own issues, such as keeping food on the table, putting kids through college, and simply keeping the lights on. In her opinion, Meghan and Harry’s story isn’t as important as what most people experience on a daily basis.
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