Kate ‘thrown under a bus!’ The burden of our silent Duchess
In the course of Oprah’s explosive interview, Meghan Markle said Kate was ‘a good person’ and she had ‘forgiven her’. But Kate is now suffering the fallout…
Royal interviews have a history of making waves – think Diana on Panorama and Prince Andrew on Newsnight. But there is no doubt that Harry and Meghan’s sit-down with Oprah Winfrey is one of the most sensational pieces of television ever broadcast.
Over 100 million watched in the US and around 11 million people in the UK, gaping in amazement as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have quit Royal life for a fresh start in California, dished out revelation after revelation about life inside ‘The Firm’.
Seizing the opportunity to speak for herself, Meghan Markle pulled no punches recounting how her relatively brief time as a Royal played out in public.
One bombshell revelation followed another. Most controversial of all is that an unnamed member of the Royal Family had asked how dark the then-unborn Archie’s skin was likely to be.
Asked by Oprah whether there were concerns that her child would be ‘too brown’ and that would be a problem, Meghan said: ‘If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.’
She also said the conversations had been conducted ‘in tandem’ with discussions about why he would not be given a Royal title and, therefore, police protection.
Meghan declined to name which member of the family it was, saying that it would be ‘very damaging to them’.
Other shocking revelations were that Meghan had experienced suicidal feelings – and her request for help had been denied.
Eyebrows were also raised at the revelation that Charles had refused to return Harry’s calls while he was in Canada and that the 36-year-old had been ‘cut off’ financially, left with only the millions in the bank that Diana had bequeathed him in her will.
Yet another hot potato was the much-discussed story of a row between the sisters-inlaw Kate and Meghan – said to be over a flower girl’s dress that Princess Charlotte was to wear for the wedding. It
was widely reported that the dispute had left Kate in tears, yet Meghan revealed it was the other way around.
Although she did add that Kate had apologised, with flowers and a note, and added that she was ‘a good person’ and Meghan had forgiven her.
‘If you love me you don’t have to hate her, and if you love her you don’t need to hate me,’ she suggested.
But it remains to be seen whether Kate will be feeling quite so magnanimous – after the mauling interview provoked derogatory comments about the Duchess of Cambridge. One possibly fake account telling Kate to ‘count your days’ was swiftly reported to Twitter. Other so-called Meghan supporters called Kate a ‘ b****’, ‘ boring’ and accused her of ‘ lying’ about the pre-wedding row, as well as saying she was ‘ugly’.
According to one Royal watcher, the interview was so bad she likened it to ‘throwing Kate under a bus’, and others have spoken of ‘ betrayal’ – branding it ‘vengeful’, ‘damning’ and ‘poisonous’.
The events of last week have left commentators speculating that this story could bring down the monarchy. That seems unlikely, but Harry’s comments about his troubled relationship with both Charles and his brother William must have made for painful listening at the Palace.
‘I feel really let down by my father,’ he said.
‘There’s a lot to work through there. I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson.
‘At the same time, I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened.
‘I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try to heal that relationship, but they only know what they know.’
On the subject of William, the brother with whom he once shared the closest of bonds, he said: ‘I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But we… you know, we’re on different paths.’
At Oprah’s pressing, Harry added, ‘The relationship [with William] is space at the moment. Time heals all things.’
When asked about the interview at a public apperance, William, accompanied by his wife, kept his reply short, saying he had not spoken to Harry but that the Royals were ‘very much not a racist family’.
The one person who Harry and Meghan lauded with praise was the Queen. Meghan described her as ‘wonderful’ and fondly recalled their joint engagement where Her Majesty gave Meghan a gift of a pearl necklace and earrings and let her share her blanket.
Harry said he was in regular contact with his grandmother, calling her ‘my colonel-in-chief’.
But while the 94-year-old monarch may have escaped criticism – and, along with her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, has been excluded from the speculation about which Royal was speculating about Archie’s skin colour before his birth – she has certainly been left to deal with the fallout.
After a few days, the Palace issued a short response.
‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.
‘Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members.’
But after the hammer blows that have been delivered – it seems unlikely that the repercussions from this bombshell interview will be smoothed over any time soon .
‘Kate was thrown under a bus’