It takes effort to forgive, says Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle

The Duchess of Sussex has spoken of the importance of forgiveness in a wide-ranging interview with a US magazine.

Meghan, 41,  told The Cut "it takes a lot of effort to forgive" when asked about her relationship with the Royal Family, and her own relatives.

"I've really made an active effort, especially knowing I can say anything," she said.

She also spoke about the Duke of Sussex's relationship with his father, the Prince of Wales.

Asked by journalist Alison P Davis about the impact of her privacy case against the Mail on Sunday, Meghan said: "Harry said to me, 'I lost my dad in this process.'

"It doesn't have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that's his decision."

A spokeswoman for the duchess later told BBC News that Meghan was referring to her own father, from whom she is estranged, and was saying she hoped the same would not happen to her husband.

Davis, a features writer who has previously interviewed celebrities such as Jada Pinkett Smith and Lena Dunham, asked Meghan if she thought there was room for forgiveness between her and her royal in-laws and her own family.

The duchess responded: "I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive.

"But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. I've really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything."

A source close to Prince Charles told the PA news agency he would be saddened if Harry felt their relationship was lost, adding: "The Prince of Wales loves both his sons".

In the 6,450-word interview, Meghan also:

    spoke of her fears that staying in the UK may have exposed her son, Archie, 3, to excessive media attention;
    criticised the lack of control she had over the release of family photographs when she was a senior royal;
    said she felt that "just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy" in the UK;
    revealed she was considering a return to Instagram.

Prince Harry told Davis he did not believe some members of the Royal Family could live and work together as closely as he and his wife do.

The article described the Sussexes running their company Archewell while sitting at a single desk in a shared home office.

"Most people that I know and many of my family, they aren't able to work and live together," Prince Harry said.

"It's actually really weird because it'd seem like a lot of pressure. But it just feels natural and normal."

Prince Harry, 37, has previously said his father, Prince Charles, "stopped taking my calls" after the  couple stepped back as senior working royals in 2020.

Under the arrangement, the couple gave up their Royal Highness titles, and became able to work to become financially independent. Harry retained the title of prince through birth.

Prior to stepping back, the Sussexes reportedly set out a vision for continuing to be working royals in the Commonwealth.

Meghan told The Cut she believed this proposal was not "reinventing the wheel".

She added: "That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing."

The Sussexes, who now live in Montecito, California, and also have a one-year-old daughter, Lilibet, have signed deals with media brands Spotify and Netflix since leaving the UK.

The Cut interview was part of a promotion effort for the duchess' Spotify podcast, Archetypes, which launched last week.