Table of Contents >> Show >> Hide
- The “Not Well” Moment: What Meghan Said and Why It Landed
- How Queen Elizabeth’s Passing Extended Their Time Away
- Meghan’s Earlier Reflections on the Queen: Gratitude, Warmth, and “Complicated” Feelings
- Why This Confession Resonates: The Messy Math of Public Grief
- What This Moment Doesand Doesn’tMean
- Extra: of Real-Life Experiences Connected to This Moment
Some celebrity moments come with fireworks. Others come with a quiet sentence that lands like a weight on your chest.
Meghan Markle’s latest “emotional confession” isn’t a scandalous plot twist or a headline-grabbing clapbackit’s a
very human admission tied to a time when the world stopped, the royal calendar went into overdrive, and a family
tried to hold itself together from opposite sides of an ocean.
The confession, in plain English: Meghan said the longest she’d been away from her children was almost three weeksand
she “was… not well.” If you’ve ever missed someone so much your body felt it before your brain could explain it,
you already understand why that line traveled fast.
The “Not Well” Moment: What Meghan Said and Why It Landed
The phrase “emotional confession” can sound like it belongs in a reality-TV trailer. But in this case, it fits because
it’s unexpectedly candidand because it points back to a specific, high-pressure chapter: the period around Queen
Elizabeth II’s death and funeral in September 2022.
A parenting conversation that suddenly turned heavy
Meghan’s remark came in the context of talking about parenthoodspecifically, the ache that can show up when you’re away
from your kids even briefly. The topic sounds simple until you remember what “away” can mean when your travel schedule
is complicated, your life is public, and an unexpected loss changes everything.
What makes the confession resonate is that it isn’t polished into a perfect quote about resilience. It’s slightly messy,
slightly unfinished, and therefore believable. “Not well” is what people say when “sad” feels too small and “devastated”
feels too dramaticand you’re too tired to audition for the right word.
Why this became “about the Queen,” even without naming her
The connection to Queen Elizabeth’s passing is less about formal wording and more about timing. Meghan and Prince Harry
were in Europe for engagements, and the Queen’s death set in motion days of mourning events leading up to the state
funeral. For any parent, “almost three weeks” is a long time to be away from young kids. For parents whose travel
plans get swallowed by history, it can feel like a different kind of helpless.
How Queen Elizabeth’s Passing Extended Their Time Away
Queen Elizabeth II’s death didn’t just reshape the British monarchy; it also changed the pace and pressure of everyone
in the immediate family orbit. Schedules shifted from “planned trip” to “national mourning,” and the logistics became
intensesecurity, protocol, public appearances, and a flood of global attention.
A simple timeline (because grief loves paperwork)
- September 8, 2022: Queen Elizabeth II dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
- Following days: The royal family enters an official mourning period with ceremonies and public events.
- September 19, 2022: The state funeral takes place in London, followed by burial events in Windsor.
During that stretch, Meghan and Harry remained in the U.K. for key events. Their children, Archie and Lilibet, stayed
at home in California. That parent-child distancealready hardwas amplified by grief, pressure, and the strange
unreality of watching the world mourn someone you knew personally.
The Windsor walkabout and the “public family” reality
One of the most widely discussed moments from that period was the Windsor walkabout, when Prince William and Catherine
(Princess of Wales) appeared with Harry and Meghan outside Windsor Castle to view tributes and greet mourners.
Even if you don’t follow royal news, you could feel what it represented: a public-facing show of unity during a
private family shock.
Add all of that together and you get the emotional math behind “I was… not well.” It’s not only sadness.
It’s separation, overstimulation, and responsibility stacked on top of loss.
Meghan’s Earlier Reflections on the Queen: Gratitude, Warmth, and “Complicated” Feelings
Meghan has previously spoken about Queen Elizabeth in a way that emphasized gratitude and respect. In a major interview
after the Queen’s death, she described the period as “complicated,” while also saying she felt “deep gratitude” for
having spent time with the Queen and getting to know her.
Those words matter because they provide context: Meghan’s “confession” isn’t a random emotional moment pulled from nowhere.
It sits alongside a longer storyone that includes genuine warmth, intense public scrutiny, and a family dynamic that has
been dissected like it’s a midterm exam.
That first solo engagement in 2018 (the origin of the “warmth” narrative)
If you rewind to 2018, Meghan’s first official engagement alone with Queen Elizabeth was widely covered. The two traveled
together, attended events, and were photographed laughingan early snapshot that helped shape the public perception of
their relationship.
In other words: Meghan’s later remarks about feeling fortunate to have shared time with the Queen aren’t invented out of
thin air. They connect to documented moments when the relationship appeared cordial, even affectionate in a
grandmotherly, professional way.
The “complicated time” phraseand why it’s honest
“Complicated” can sound like a PR dodge until you remember what was happening around that time: the monarchy was shifting,
grief was public, and the Sussexes’ relationship with parts of the institution was already strained.
A person can respect someone, mourn them, and still feel the situation around their death is emotionally complicated.
That’s not contradiction; it’s adulthood.
Why This Confession Resonates: The Messy Math of Public Grief
When the whole world mourns one person, it’s easy to forget that the people closest to the loss still have to be human
on schedule. They still have to eat, sleep, keep appointments, andif they’re parentsmanage the ache of missing their kids.
Grief has logistics (and logistics can feel cruel)
In regular life, death already comes with paperwork and practical decisions. In royal life, grief comes with protocol,
ceremonies, processions, and a camera lens that doesn’t blink.
The result is a strange pressure: you’re supposed to show up, show respect, and look composedwhile your nervous system
is quietly setting off every alarm it owns.
Motherhood is the emotional amplifier nobody warned you about
Meghan’s confession also resonates because it’s rooted in a universal parenting truth: your kids can be the place you
go to feel normal.
When you’re away from them during a crisis, the separation can make everything feel worse. It’s not just “I miss them.”
It’s “I can’t touch my home base.”
That’s why the line doesn’t require you to be Team Anyone. You don’t have to agree with the Sussexes, the palace, the tabloids,
or your group chat’s favorite hot take. You only have to understand what it feels like to be far from your kids when you
wish you weren’t.
What This Moment Doesand Doesn’tMean
Let’s separate two things that often get mashed together online:
emotion and agenda.
Meghan describing a difficult separation from her children is an emotional statement. People will interpret it through
their own biasessome will see sincerity, others will see strategybut the statement itself points to a very basic reality:
the experience was hard.
It also reframes the Queen’s passing as more than a historical event the Sussexes “attended.” It was a family death.
And family deaths don’t respect brand narratives. They are, by definition, disruptive.
A quieter takeaway: grief isn’t one-size-fits-all
The most useful way to read Meghan’s confession is not as a verdict on the royal family, but as a reminder that grief
can carry multiple emotions at once: sadness, love, regret, gratitude, anxiety, even relief that a loved one is no longer
suffering.
That’s not messy character. That’s messy life.
Extra: of Real-Life Experiences Connected to This Moment
You don’t need a crown, a title, or a camera crew to relate to what Meghan described. Many people have lived a version of
“I was not well” during a major lossespecially when the loss collides with distance and family responsibilities.
Consider a few common experiences that echo the emotional shape of her confession:
1) The “I can’t get home fast enough” parent.
A parent travels for work thinking it’ll be a quick triptwo meetings, one hotel, back by Friday. Then a family emergency
happens: a grandparent dies, a relative becomes ill, a funeral date is set, flights change, and suddenly the calendar
becomes a maze. The parent is stuck in limbo, refreshing airline apps, trying to stay present at events while their mind
is already back home. When they finally return, they hug their kids like they’re trying to make up for time itself.
People often describe this kind of separation as physical: a tight chest, a stomach that won’t cooperate, sleep that
doesn’t feel like rest.
2) The “grief in public” worker.
Most of us have had to show up somewhere while we’re falling apart insidework, school, a wedding, a holiday dinner.
You learn to perform “fine” because the world keeps moving. When the loss is highly visiblemaybe your family is known
in a community, maybe everyone expects you to be composedthe pressure intensifies. You become the person who receives
condolences while also managing your own emotions. It can feel like living in two rooms at once: the outer room where you
smile politely, and the inner room where you’re trying not to cry in the bathroom.
3) The “home base is missing” moment.
For many parents, kids are grounding. They’re the reason you get out of bed, the reason you eat, the reason you step
outside and keep going. Being separated from them during a loss can make grief feel uncontainedlike there’s nowhere to
set it down. That’s why small coping rituals matter: calling home at the same time each day, keeping a bedtime routine
over video when possible, carrying a photo or a tiny object that reminds you of them. It doesn’t fix the distance, but
it gives your brain a thread to hold.
4) The “after” nobody prepares you for.
After the ceremonies endafter the funeral, after the travel, after the public moment passespeople often report a
delayed emotional crash. That’s when “not well” shows up: exhaustion, irritability, tears that don’t have a clear trigger.
The body finally realizes it’s safe to feel everything it postponed. The healthiest response is usually the least dramatic:
rest, support, honest conversations, and patience with yourself while your nervous system re-learns normal.
Meghan’s confession resonates because it points to something bigger than royal headlines: grief is disruptive, parenting
is vulnerable, and distance can turn a hard season into a brutal one. If you’ve ever felt “not well” for reasons you
couldn’t fully explain in one neat sentence, you’re in very crowded company.
