Harassed by the press and silenced by the monarchy, Lady Diana had given a sad nickname to the advisers of Queen Elizabeth II.
Upsetting, the truthful interview given by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on March 7 has awakened the painful memory of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales who died in 1997 as a result of a car accident under the Alma bridge in Paris. Facing the journalist Oprah Winfrey, the Duke of Sussex explained the reasons for his break with the monarchy, telling of having witnessed the descent into hell of his wife, harassed by the media as was his mother in her time. “I do not want history to repeat itself,” said the prince with emotion, ensuring that he preferred to leave rather than let his wife be silenced by the royal advisers.
“Reduced to silence” are the words Meghan Markle used in front of Oprah Winfrey to describe what she suffered following her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018. According to her words, the Duchess of Sussex would have suffered deeply morally, plagued by dark thoughts and a loss of will to live. But appealing for help to key members of the Court, the wife of Prince Harry would have obtained no support from the royal advisers.
The Princess of Wales facing the “men in gray
In her time, the Princess of Wales had nicknamed these same advisers the “men in gray”, a name that speaks much today to the Duchess of Sussex. After her marriage to Prince Charles, in 1981, Lady Diana also had to face the media pressure and the constant surveillance of the Queen’s advisors, who controlled her every move. It was just before her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1991 that she mentioned the famous “men in grey” for the first time. Shadows, “dark forces” often considered as the British equivalent of the CIA, which reminded Diana constantly that she was under surveillance.
