Ever since it aired, viewers have been eager to hear the royal family’s response to Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview. The couple made some bombshell revelations during their tell-all—including allegations of racism within the royal household, the palace’s “invisible” contract with the press, and Harry’s strained relationships with other members of the royal family; just to name a few. But now that so much has been said by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, what was The Firm’s reaction?
At first, when Meghan, 39, and Harry, 36, announced their tell-interview for CBS, Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special on Sunday, March 7, Buckingham Palace expressed little concern ahead of the interview. “The Duke and Duchess are no longer working members of the royal family and therefore any decisions they take with regard to media commitments are matters for them,” the palace wrote in a statement at the time. “As non-working MRF they are under no obligation to inform the Royal Household of such plans.”
Despite their casual statement, however, multiple reports pointed to a growing concern among members of the royal family and palace staffers over the couple’s sit-down with Oprah. The New York Post’s Page Six previously reported that royal officials worried about the interview’s “potential to turn explosive”—much like Princess Diana’s infamous interview with Martin Bashir on the BBC in 1995, in which she disclosed that there were “three of us” in her marriage to Prince Charles, alluding to his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
And turn “explosive,” it did. From Meghan’s allegation that a royal family member was concerned about the color of Archie’s skin before his birth, to Harry’s assertion that he was “let down” when his family failed to protect him and his wife from media scrutiny, the Sussexes’ interview has turned out to be “as major as Diana’s Panorama interview definitely,” royal author Sarah Gristwood told Vanity Fair on March 8.
The site also reported that various royal households were “locked in crisis meetings” for most of the day following Meghan and Harry’s interview. As for how each member of the royal family is handling it all, keep on reading to find out.
Prince Charles
The Prince of Wales is said to be “in a state of despair” after Harry revealed that his father had stopped taking his calls following his decision to step back from his role as a senior working member of the royal family with Meghan. The Duke of Sussex noted during his interview with Oprah that he felt “let down” by Charles as “he’s been through something similar, he knows what the pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson,” he said, alluding to the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
“For Prince Harry to say that he felt let down by his father must have been a difficult thing to say and hard for Charles to hear,” Gristwood told Vanity Fair. “Now, just at a time when by and large Charles had started to look like a more popular King than one would have guessed, here’s a major blow to his reputation. That his son felt let down by him.”
Gristwood added, “It’s hard to know if Harry is aware of the damage this has done. Did he actually intend to cast this damaging light on his father and his family? We don’t know.”
Harry, for his part, promised to continue working to “heal” his relationship with his father. “At the same time, of course, I will always love him,” he told Oprah. “But there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened, and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”
Queen Elizabeth II
Her Majesty’s reaction was to reportedly skip watching the interview entirely, a source confirmed to Vanity Fair on March 8. Instead, the site reports that the Queen, 94, was “briefed by aides over breakfast Monday morning.”
Prince William & Kate Middleton
Ahead of Meghan and Harry’s interview, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were already feeling “appalled,” Us Weekly reported. The insider told the magazine, “It’s just beyond the pale for William and Kate, especially in light of the dreadful timing with [Prince] Philip in the hospital. They are utterly aghast.”
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