MEGHAN: MY MISCARRIAGE HEARTBREAK
MEGHAN PRAISED FOR ‘BREAKING A TABOO’ AFTER SPEAKING ABOUT HER MISCARRIAGE
THE Duchess of Sussex has revealed how she suffered a miscarriage during the summer, with heartbroken husband Prince Harry by her side.
And yesterday charity workers praised Meghan for her honesty in describing the ‘unbearable grief’.
She made the revelation in an article for The New York Times, admitting her heart was ‘shattered’ by the loss – but she wanted to help break down the taboo of losing a child.
Meghan, 3 , and Harry, 36, have been living in Los Angeles with 18-monthold son Archie since renouncing their front-line royal roles at the beginning of the year.
The duchess began her article by describing how she was looking after Archie one morning in July when she felt ‘a sharp cramp’.
She wrote: ‘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. 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 described seeing Harry’s ‘heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine’.
She added: ‘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, ten 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.’
Prince Harry’s uncle Earl Spencer was among many people expressing sympathy yesterday. He said during an appearance on the ITV show Lorraine: ‘I can’t imagine the agony for any couple of losing a child in this way.’
Midwife Sophie King, from miscarriage research charity Tommy’s, hailed Meghan’s ‘powerful message’, adding: ‘One in four pregnancies ends in loss but it’s a real taboo, so mothers like Meghan sharing their stories is a vital step in breaking down that stigma.’
Zoe Clark-Coates, of baby loss charity The Mariposa Trust, said: ‘When anybody with a platform shares so eloquently about something so heartbreaking, you know it’s going to have a dramatic effect.’
And Clea Harmer, of stillbirth charity Sands, added: ‘It helps enormously when someone in the public eye speaks out as it lets everyone affected know they are not alone.’