Harry and Meghan say 'love wins' in first podcast from Spotify deal

 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released their first podcast, in which they reflect on 2020 with a string of celebrities and activists.

Singer Sir Elton John, presenter James Corden, author Matt Haig, tennis player Naomi Osaka and others feature on the first episode of Archewell Audio.

It is the first fruit of Prince Harry and Meghan's podcast deal with Spotify.

"No matter what life throws at you guys, trust us when we say, love wins," Meghan tells listeners.

The couple do not directly discuss their personal experiences of 2020, which started with them announcing they would step back as "senior" royals, before moving to the US.

Instead, Meghan explains that they decided to enlist "a few friends and a lot of other folks" who "we admire, and get their thoughts on what they learned from 2020".

First is Sir Elton, who describes 2020 as "the worst year I've ever known", but who says he hopes when the pandemic passes "that we have become better people - and I hope for healing".

US actor Tyler Perry talks about laying on food for 5,000 underprivileged families at his studio in Atlanta, Georgia, while chef Jose Andres also discusses distributing meals in the US during the pandemic.

The other guests include 17-year-old activist Christina Adane, alternative health guru Deepak Chopra, US politician Stacey Abrams and British spoken word artist George the Poet.

'The power of connection'

Prince Harry and Meghan did not interview them, instead asking the guests to record themselves to avoid what the duke describes as "the awkward dance of a video chat".

Meghan says their responses "all came back to one thing - to the power of connection".

She adds: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that."

Prince Harry says he wants to pass on a lesson from 2020 "about how important it is to take care of one another and how meaningful our connections are, even when they're physically impossible

Archie's accent

The couple's one-year-old son Archie also appears, ending the half-hour episode by wishing listeners a happy new year with a hint of an American accent.

When the couple announced their intention to step back as senior royals, they said they would work to become "financially independent".

The Spotify deal followed a separate deal to make a range of documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children's programming for Netflix.

For the Sussexes, 2020 was also the year that Meghan suffered a miscarriage, and of legal action against the Mail on Sunday and the Splash News and Picture Agency.

Source: BBC.com

Meghan: Duchess of Sussex tells of miscarriage 'pain and grief'

 "I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second," Meghan said in a piece for the New York Times.

She went on to describe how she watched "my husband's heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine".

Meghan wrote that "loss and pain have plagued every one of us in 2020".

The 39-year-old shared her experience to urge people to "commit to asking others, 'are you OK?'" over the Thanksgiving holiday in the US

A source close to the duchess confirmed to the BBC that the duchess is currently in good health and the couple wanted to talk about what happened in July, having come to appreciate how common miscarriage is.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "It's a deeply personal matter we would not comment on."

The duchess and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, moved to California to live away from the media spotlight, after stepping back as senior royals in January.

Their first child, Archie, was born on 6 May 2019.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionThe duke and duchess visited southern Africa in 2019 with their son Archie

The duchess began her article by describing a "sharp cramp" she felt while looking after Archie.

"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," 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."

Meghan made it clear from the first event that she spoke at as Harry's bride-to-be that she wanted women's voices and women's experiences to be heard more clearly.

Now she has written of her loss, and her heartbreak. She has set it in the context of a year of breathtaking turbulence. And she has made a plea for tolerance and compassion.

She weaves in the struggles of so many with Covid-19, the battles over truth and lies in our divided age, the killing of black Americans by the police.

And on an experience that so many women have lived through, she has made her grief a way of bringing miscarriage closer to the everyday conversation.

The duchess continued: "Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.

"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."

The duchess also referenced a TV interview in which she was asked by a journalist if she was ok, during her tour of South Africa last year.

She said she was asked the question during a time in which she was "trying to keep a brave face in the very public eye".

"I answered him honestly, not knowing that what I said would resonate with so many - new moms and older ones, and anyone who had, in their own way, been silently suffering," she said.

The duchess is the second member of the Royal Family to open up about having a miscarriage.

In 2018 the Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall spoke about suffering two miscarriages before having her second child.

The duchess's miscarriage happened at a time when she was involved in legal action against the Mail on Sunday over the publication of a letter she wrote to her father. Last month she was granted a postponement of her privacy trial until autumn next year.

'Breaking down stigma'

An estimated one in four pregnancies ends in a miscarriage, according to the charity Tommy's.

Tommy's midwife Sophie King said talking about baby loss in pregnancy is "a real taboo in society" so "mothers like Meghan sharing their stories is a vital step in breaking down that stigma and shame".

She said the duchess's "honesty and openness" sends a "powerful message to anyone who loses a baby: this may feel incredibly lonely, but you are not alone".

Source:BBC.com/ UK