Meghan Markle receives outpouring of support after writing ‘brave’ essay about her miscarriage

Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has written an essay explaining her experience of suffering a miscarriage last summer.

Writing in The New York Times, Markle said that, after feeling a “sharp cramp" while changing her son Archie’s nappy, she dropped to the floor and sensed that “something was not right”.

She wrote:

“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”

She said that she was soon taken to hospital, where prince Harry waited with her.

"Sitting in a hospital bed, watching my husband’s heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine, I realised that the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, 'Are you OK?'"

Markle also mentioned the “loss and pain" that has dominated 2020 due to the pandemic and racist police brutality.

This isn’t the only recent occasion that a woman in the public eye has written about losing a baby. Chrissy Teigen wrote a heart-wrenching essay on Medium about her pregnancy loss.

On social media, people praised Markle for sharing her story. 

The essay was described as ‘brave’, ‘heartbreaking’ and ’emotional’ online.

After the drama of joining the royal family and then stepping back from her role earlier this year, the near unanimous praise of Markle’s essay makes a change from how she’s normally perceived.  And given the sensitivity and importance of the topic, that’s a welcome development.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands on 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@sands.org.uk. The helpline is open from 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, and until 9.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

You can contact the Miscarriage Association helpline on 01924 200799 or email the charity at info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk. The helpline is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

You can also find bereavement support at The Lullaby Trust by calling 0808 802 6868 or emailing support@lullabytrust.org.uk.

To contact Petals to enquire about the charity’s counselling services, you can call 0300 688 0068 or email counselling@petalscharity.org.