Can Meghan's Honesty Break The Taboo?

When the Duchess of Sussex wrote a raw account about her heartbreaking miscarriage, she gave a much-needed voice to millions of grieving women

- Mishaal Khan

The image of a weeping Prince Harry clutching his grief-stricken wife’s hand as they experienced a loss like no other was simply heart-shattering. And, love or hate the Sussexes, thinking of Meghan putting on a brave face as she dealt with her intense pain was a stark lesson for us all.

‘I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second,’ Meghan wrote in an intensely personal essay titled The Losses We Share for The New York Times. ‘I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears.’

The truth is, an estimated one in four pregnancies end in loss or miscarriage, yet feelings of shame and failure leave women feeling unable to open up. The tradition to wait 12 weeks before announcing any pregnancy news enforces the idea that early miscarriage is a private matter. But as Meghan, 39, says, how can people heal if no one asks, ‘Are you OK?’ If they have no outlet for their pain?

Now, by blasting through the taboo, the duchess has started a loud and important conversation that needs to keep going. A woman speaks to one grieving mum who, like Meghan, doesn’t want anyone else suffering in silence…

‘OPENING UP SHOWED ME I WASN’T ALONE’

Saloni Anand, 36, lives in Gerrards Cross with her husband Amit, 36, and their son, Ryan, three.

My husband, Amit, and I had wanted a big family, so were thrilled in May this year to discover we were expecting our second child. Ryan, then three, was excited too, watching as my bump started to grow. An early test told us we were having a boy, due in February 2021.