This essay will describe Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which aired on CBS on March 8, 2021. The two-hour interview aired on Sunday night (CBS News, 2021). Since stepping down from official duties and leaving the UK, Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, gave their first in-depth interview. During the conversation, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spoke to the host about the baby’s future, the wedding, and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family and the press. This interview included a discussion about Meghan’s plight – the press is tearing her apart (CBS News, 2021).
Meghan feels completely alone and abandoned as she is deprived of the chance to see her friends. This is blamed on the palace bureaucracy, which has been preoccupied with her constant flickering in the press and pushing other royal family members off the front pages.
The interplay of the social and political spheres of human life can be discussed in this context. On the one hand, Meghan is a media person and is obliged to adhere to strict rules in her behavior with the press. In addition, she could expect that joining the royal family would impose some restrictions on her life. On the other hand, it is clear that because of her active involvement in the political sphere, Meghan’s social life suffers far more than anyone could have expected (Fleig & Scheve, 2019). Meghan has stated that she has even had suicidal thoughts because of this situation. This example shows that the spheres of human life must interact in balance without overlapping one another. Otherwise, this can lead to personal suffering and even destruction.
One can also talk here about the interaction of the biological and social origins in man. The biological element represents the primary needs of man. In contrast, the social element represents the acquired needs as a result of being in society. The need for communication can be considered both a social and a biological need. This is caused by several factors. On the one hand, communication is a need acquired as a result of human interaction with society. On the other hand, a lack of fulfillment of this need can lead to mental health problems. Thus, this need engages both social and biological factors.
In the interview, Harry described his family as cold and callous, incapable of empathy, and preoccupied only with the question of who should pay for what. It is clear that relationships in the family have been, and in some cases still are, quite cold. Most damaging of all are the accusations that there have been discussions in the palace about how dark-skinned Meghan’s first child might be (CBS News, 2021). However, it is worth remembering that this is only part of her story, and Meghan does not reveal precisely who told Prince Harry about it. At the start of the interview, Meghan admitted that she never tried to look up Prince Harry on the internet before the wedding. She added that she was, of course, aware of the royal family but never interested in the details of their lives.
This example nicely illustrates the system of social stratification. Being a person from a lower social class than the royal family, Megan was not interested in her life. This shows that although social classes are connected, there is still an enormous gulf between them (CBS News, 2021). In addition, people from different classes, especially those of higher and lower status, only learn about each other the information they are allowed to learn. The royal family, for example, gives a limited amount of information about themselves in the newspapers and withholds most of the news.
In more good news, during the broadcast, Prince Harry revealed that their second child, which Meghan is now pregnant with, will be a girl. Meghan told Oprah that when she was pregnant with her son, she was told that he would not be given the title of prince, so he would not get security like the rest of the royal family. In Meghan’s opinion, this was a blatant violation of tradition. The interview, which aired on US Sunday prime time, was perhaps the most anticipated UK sensation in recent weeks.
Here it is necessary to recall the processes of social development and its forms. Obviously, at the moment, society is evolving through natural evolution, as well as a revolution in some cases. One can say that this interview has produced a so-called revolution by adding information about the royal family in the readers’ eyes. Such dignitaries need to make such additions in order to keep in touch with their people.
The dissemination of information about the royal family is also related to globalization because it facilitates the spread of information (Eriksen, 2020). This is one of the most important benefits of globalization. Extracts of the conversation that appeared in advance were discussed on the front pages of newspapers, with experts on the royal family looking for clandestine meanings in them. Shortly after the interview was announced, it was also revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not be returning to royal duties. However, they remain much-loved family members, according to the palace. Harry and Meghan continue to work with several charities. Last year they signed contracts with Netflix and Spotify to produce documentaries and podcasts. They now live in California and are expecting their second child.
References
Eriksen, T.H. (2020). Globalization: The key concepts (2nd Ed.). Routledge. Web.
CBS News. (2021). Harry and Meghan detail royal struggles, from discussions of baby’s skin tone to suicidal thoughts. CBS News. Web.
Fleig, A., & Scheve, C.V. (Eds.). (2019). Public spheres of resonance: Constellations of affect and language. Routledge. Web.