Meghan Markle was pregnant with her second child earlier this year, but suffered a devastating miscarriage in July. Prince Harry’s wife shared her story by writing an op-ed for the New York Times, which was published on Nov. 25. She revealed that was changing her son, Archie’s, diaper when she lost her second baby.
“I dropped to the floor,” she recalled. “[I] sensed that something was not right. I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.” Meghan and Harry rushed to the hospital. While “[staring] at the cold white walls,” Meghan remembered “[trying] to imagine how [they’d] heal. She added, “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.”
Meghan wrote the op-ed to encourage readers to check in on others, and make sure they are simply ‘doing ok.’ She recalled one of her first times in New York City when she saw a woman crying on the sidewalk and asked her cab driver if they should check on her. He assured her that someone would stop and ask the woman if she was alright.
“Now, all these years later, in isolation and lockdown, grieving the loss of a child, the loss of my country’s shared belief in what’s true, I think of that woman in New York,” Meghan admitted. “What if no one stopped? What if no one saw her suffering? What if no one helped? I wish I could go back and ask my cab driver to pull over. This, I realize, is the danger of siloed living — where moments sad, scary or sacrosanct are all lived out alone. There is no one stopping to ask, ‘Are you okay?'”
She also opened up about the topic of miscarriage being ‘taboo’ and why not talking about it does not help with healing. “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,” Meghan continued. “We have learned that when people ask how any of us are doing, and when they really listen to the answer, with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter — for all of us. In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
Meghan and Harry got married in May 2018 and welcomed their son Archie one year later. At the beginning of 2020, they announced that they would be leaving their royal duties to move to North America. After spending several months in Canada, they relocated to California, where they have been living ever since. Meghan and Harry have kept an extremely low profile since their move to the United States.