Harry and Meghan interview: This is not just a crisis for the royal family – but for Britain itself | David Olusoga

At the couple's wedding the nation looked confident, modern and at ease with multiculturalism. Was living up to that image really so difficult?

• Shola Mos-Shogbamimu: Meghan has been mistreated for years
• Zoe Williams: Now there's no doubt Meghan and Harry had to leave

In my mind, the wedding of Harry and Meghan is for ever linked to another event from the recent past: the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in 2012. Just like the royal wedding on that sunny day in Windsor, the opening ceremony in the Olympic stadium was a moment in which Britain projected to the world an image of itself as a confident, modern country; one that was effortlessly global and at ease with its multiculturalism, with its ancient institutions adapting to changing times.

Take a look at the headlines from across the world today to see how others see us now. Then contrast the shock and the sympathy being expressed for Meghan and her family beyond our shores, with the simmering contempt still being incubated and transmitted by the toxic parts of our tabloid press.