Callie Crossley On Megxit: ‘You Can Understand That She Couldn’t Take It Anymore’

Britain Royals Prince Harry — Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex cardboard cut outs are displayed in the window of the Prince Harry pub in Windsor, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said they are planning "to step back" as senior members of the royal family and "work to become financially independent."

Aidan Connelly is a production assistant on Boston Public Radio. A graduate of Emerson College with a B.A in journalism, his work has appeared on WBUR, KCRW, and The Marketplace Morning Report.

January 10, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

On Friday, Under the Radar host Callie Crossley joined Jim and Margery at the WGBH studios at the Boston Public Library to offer her thoughts on the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from British royal life.

Harry and Meghan's decision to step down as senior royals, which was announced Wednesday, was attributed in large part to frustrations over intense criticism from British tabloids. A large part of that criticism, Crossley noted, was the racist prejudice aimed at Markle.

"It’s been going on since the beginning,” Crossley said, "which is why Harry came out at some point and said ‘Okay, I’m sick of this, and now we’re gonna sue the tabloids and stop it, we’re just not gonna have it… I’m not going to let you."

Crossley went on to quote Boston Globe columnist Jenné Osterheldt, who wrote in a recent piece that "there is no highness high enough to transcend racism and supremacy.”

“That pretty much says it all,” Crossley said.

"They just never stopped. At every point, there was something to be said about her that was negative. And it just built and built and built, and so you can understand that she couldn’t take it anymore.”

Aidan Connelly is a production assistant on Boston Public Radio. A graduate of Emerson College with a B.A in journalism, his work has appeared on WBUR, KCRW, and The Marketplace Morning Report.