Why Meghan and Harry’s Marriage Story is Resonating with People

Professional headshot of Sarah Gaitherr


By All Things Considered

December 18, 2022

NPR’s Michel Martin talks with psychologist Sarah Gaither about the outside pressures of being in an interracial marriage and why people are relating to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s story.

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Dodging paparazzi, learning when and how to curtsy, fabulous clothes, exotic travel and famous friends, along with shockingly ugly media coverage and a hyper-controlling PR machine – it’s all part of the world of Harry and Meghan, the once-royal couple who tell their story in the Netflix docuseries that dropped last week. In it, the couple give their version of the events that led them to move across the Atlantic, to relinquish their titles and leave their royal life behind.

But while most people will never experience what it means to be royalty, there is something deeply resonant for many families, and that is the couple’s experience with racism, both from outside observers and within the family itself. That’s something our next guest has thought about, both personally, as someone who is part of an interracial marriage, and professionally, as a researcher. Sarah Gaither is a professor of psychology at Duke University. She spoke with my colleague Michel Martin, and they began by discussing what it is about Harry and Meghan’s relationship that people connect with.

SARAH GAITHER: I think they have brought light to, in kind of our modern-day discussions of being biracial, being interracial, is this intersections of you can be extremely privileged and have access to everything in your life possible, and yet you still are going to face the same levels of racism as others without that same level of privilege. And to me, I think that’s what’s brought them into the spotlight.