The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has disclosed she had a miscarriage in July while she and her husband Harry were living in Los Angeles. In a moving article for the New York Times, the Duchess wrote that she “felt a sharp cramp” while changing the diaper of her first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
“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.
“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second,” she wrote. The former actress then recalled the pain she and her husband went through following the miscarriage.
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She wrote: “Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. “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.”
Describing the loss of a child as an “almost unbelievable grief”, the 39-year-old said she and her husband realized that many have suffered the same fate though not all have opened up about their experiences.
“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.
“Some have bravely shared their stories; they have opened the door, knowing that when one person speaks truth, it gives license for all of us to do the same,” she wrote.
Meghan and Harry stepped back from the royal family this January in a bid to become financially independent. Taking to their Instagram to make the unexpected announcement, the couple also affirmed their support for the queen, adding that they will be splitting their time and residency between the United Kingdom and North America.
“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity,” they explained.
The Duchess, in her opinion piece for the New York Times, also described 2020 as a difficult year, especially with the coronavirus outbreak and the death of George Floyd which sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world.
