WEBVTT
1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:13.679
Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to your special bonus
2
00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:17.160
episode and Palace Intrigue Game, your host Mark Francis. In
3
00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.239
the latest episode of a new podcast series, Confessions of
4
00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:25.120
a Female Founder, the Duchess of Sussex speaks candidly about grief, motherhood,
5
00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:29.399
and letting go. Meghan is joined by Reshma Sorjohnny, the
6
00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.920
American lawyer and founder of Girls Who Code and Mum's
7
00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.600
First for a raw and heartfelt conversation that touches on
8
00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:40.159
both women's experiences with miscarriage and the emotional toll of
9
00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.960
ambition under pressure. I'll bring this up if you are
10
00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.840
comfortable talking about it, Meghan says to her guest. I
11
00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.719
have spoken about the miscarriage we experienced, and I think
12
00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:51.640
in some parallel way, when you have to learn to
13
00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:54.200
detach from the thing that you have so much promise
14
00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.679
and hope for and to be able to be okay
15
00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.600
at a certain point of letting something go, something go
16
00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:02.600
that you plan to love for a long time. The
17
00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:05.480
Duchess first shared news of her miscarriage and a powerful
18
00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.680
New York Times essay published in November twenty twenty, where
19
00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.879
she recalled experiencing a sharp cramp while holding her son Archie.
20
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:16.480
I knew as I clutched my firstborn child that I
21
00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.239
was losing my second, she wrote at the time, So Johnny,
22
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:25.400
who has spoken previously about fertility challenges and autoimmune issues, replied, Yeah,
23
00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.599
I feel like you are reading my diaries, and that's
24
00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:29.920
really insightful. I don't think anyone has said it that
25
00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:32.239
way for me, but that's right. I would be in
26
00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.120
a doctor's office and they'd be like, you have no heartbeat,
27
00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:36.920
and I should have just gone home and gone to
28
00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.640
sleep and called up with my husband. But I would
29
00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.799
just take a breath, and I would just show up.
30
00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.840
Oftentimes I was just performing to see these children that
31
00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:48.120
I desperately wanted, but it was eating me up inside.
32
00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.120
The conversation turned to the intense demands placed on mothers,
33
00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:54.920
especially those juggling high profile roles, with Megan saying I
34
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.879
love being a mum. Oh my gosh. I love being
35
00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:59.120
a mom so much. It's my favorite thing. But then
36
00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.680
sometimes you're like, I just need a break. Let me
37
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.560
just scroll through pictures of them endlessly on my phone.
38
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.920
My husband's like, my love, can you just give yourself
39
00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.199
a minute? Why don't you go work out. Why don't
40
00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:12.159
you go take a bath. I'm like, I know, but
41
00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.039
I just want to cuddle, she said, laughing. It's the
42
00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.520
parenting paradigm where it's so full on and I wouldn't
43
00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:20.120
trade it for anything. But the pandemic may have been
44
00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.439
the thing that shifted this. When working from home and
45
00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:26.400
parenting from home completely converged, it can feel incredibly overwhelming.
46
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.479
The Duchess also revealed that both of her children, Prince
47
00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:32.960
Archie and Princess Lilibet, were recently ill. My kids, for example,
48
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:35.719
right now, one has RSV, the other has influenza A.
49
00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:38.759
I hear a little bit a patter of feet upstairs
50
00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.159
home from school, you know, cough cyrupal night and rubbing
51
00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:43.719
the back, and we still find a way to show
52
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.759
it for both. Reflecting on stepping back from the spotlighte
53
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.800
Megan shared her thoughts on identity and power. When you
54
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.639
don't have power, you're not important anymore. Being able to
55
00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:55.759
let it go and give somebody else that light, knowing
56
00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.520
it was actually going to diminish my power, but that
57
00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.039
was the point. You step out of the lights, who
58
00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.439
are actually stepping into your own light in a different
59
00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.919
way and creating space for someone else to be in
60
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.759
the light, which is probably the larger purpose of all
61
00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:11.840
of us being here. Meghan's podcast was sitting at number
62
00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.360
five on the US Apple podcast Chance this morning. When
63
00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:17.599
we checked, it was no longer featured in the promotional carousel.
64
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:22.639
Apple often swaps out there promoted podcasts on Mondays more
65
00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:29.000
Palace in just a moment while we have you, Things
66
00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.319
are heating up on the Meghan versus Kate front. In
67
00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:34.439
a move that has raised more than a few carefully
68
00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.919
arched eyebrows of the podcaster and fruit spread vendor has
69
00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:42.159
released a curated Easter edit on her shop My shopping
70
00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:45.159
page featuring a selection of children's clothes that appear to
71
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.400
pay homage to the wardrobe of sister in law's famously
72
00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:53.159
photogenic offspring. Yes, Megan Michael has perhaps unwittingly, perhaps very
73
00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:57.360
deliberately promoted clothing brands long associated with Princess Charlotte, Prince
74
00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.759
George and Prince Louis. Among the celest actions is a
75
00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.400
floral rabbit dress from British children's label Trotters, a brand
76
00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.680
closely linked with the Princess of Wales. Princess Charlotte wore
77
00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:11.280
a version of this very dress and birthday photos released
78
00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:14.159
by the Palace when she turned forth, a photograph credited
79
00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:17.480
to Kate herself, which promptly caused the dress to sell out.
80
00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.560
Meggan's list also includes a shell print baby dress from Boden,
81
00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.519
another label with undeniable royal tires. In fact, Boden launched
82
00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.680
a very British baby line in twenty eighteen to coincide
83
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:31.480
with the birth of Prince Louis. Princess Charlotte wore a
84
00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.240
Bowden jumper in her eighth birthday portrait, once again snapped
85
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.199
by the Princess of Wales. And perhaps most eye catching
86
00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.079
of all is Megan's inclusion of a set of pale
87
00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.920
blue checked pajamas from American brand Petite Plume, the very
88
00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.800
same pajamas Prince George was photographed wearing when he met
89
00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.720
President Obama in twenty sixteen, well past bedtime, in a
90
00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:54.959
photo that became instant royal law. While Meggan's edit also
91
00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.079
includes less regal items such as candy carrots of Peter Rabbitt,
92
00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:01.360
Easter egg hunt kit, and bunny baby booties, it's the
93
00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:05.040
Kate cor selections that have drawn attention. Whether the move
94
00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:08.600
is a quiet peace offering an active royal wardrobe diplomacy
95
00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.319
were simply the Sussexes aligning their esthetic with a proven
96
00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:15.000
crowd pleaser. Remains to be seen. But as Royal watchers
97
00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.279
know all too well, in the world of windsor wardrobes,
98
00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.079
nothing is ever just a coincidence, and that runs both ways.
99
00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:23.680
We found it odd that our news track has fired
100
00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:25.839
off on Monday night. Kate had fired off a new
101
00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:28.240
video late enough in the day that it wouldn't make
102
00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.519
the Monday papers, but surely would make the Tuesday news cycle,
103
00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.319
and Tuesday just happened to be the day Megan drops
104
00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:37.680
her podcast. The video, filmed during a visit to the
105
00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.800
Lake District last month and thus needed to be released
106
00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:44.839
on a Monday night, shows Catherine spending time with a
107
00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:47.160
group of Scouts as she reflected on the grounding and
108
00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.720
restorative role the outdoors has played in her life, particularly
109
00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.360
amid the challenges of the past year. I find it
110
00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:57.439
a very spiritual and very intense emotional reconnection. I suppose
111
00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.480
these environments, the princess said during a conversation with Chief
112
00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.759
Scout Dwayne Fields, not everyone has the same relationship, perhaps
113
00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.759
with nature, but it is so therefore meaning for me
114
00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.079
is a place to balance and find a sort of
115
00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.920
sense of peace and reconnection in what is otherwise a
116
00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.920
very busy world. During their time together, Fields and Princess
117
00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:19.279
joined a group of young Scouts aged ten to fifteen
118
00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:24.319
from Cumbria and Greater Manchester, helping them earn their Naturalists badge.
119
00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.959
The Royal was seen crouching down to examine a map
120
00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:30.240
and warmly greeting the children, saying hello everyone, how are
121
00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.519
you all doing good? What's so fantastic about Scouts, she continued,
122
00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:37.680
is it's the same foundations that have always been there
123
00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:40.319
and despite how different the modern day world is now,
124
00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.079
actually it still resonates with so many young people and
125
00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.120
it's making such a massive difference to them. We'll be
126
00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.480
back in the morning with our regular schedule. This has
127
00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:53.240
been a bonus episode. We listen to Megan's podcasts, so
128
00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.800
you don't have to. You'll find our regular episode for
129
00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:59.439
today earlier in the feed and they you have it.
130
00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.279
If you like to eat, email us addresses the Palace
131
00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.839
Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify,
132
00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.399
Apple or the Apple If you're choicing, leave us a
133
00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:09.279
nice review. If you were joined the show, my Francis,
134
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.839
and thanks to John mcnermott. This is Palets intrigue and
135
00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:12.800
good times.