Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Palace nerves over Meghan’s ‘intimate’ chat with TV Oprah
Royals ‘blindsided’ by couple’s shock announcement
These things never end up with a wholly positive experience for any party ROYAL SOURCE
FREE from the constraints of royal obligations, Harry and Meghan will have an open floor to lift the lid on a range of issues in their tell-all chat to Oprah Winfrey.
And sources admit the bombshell candid interview is bound to spark “a great deal of nervousness” among the Queen and her family.
It comes as Harry told of his and Meghan’s joy over the news they are expecting their second child.
But the high-profile TV appearance also sparked accusations of hypocrisy after the couple have insisted they wish to maintain complete privacy in their role outside the Royal Family.
The interview with America’s chat show queen Oprah, which is said to have blindsided Buckingham Palace, is one of the most sought after interviews in the world.
It will be the first time the couple have spoken on TV about their decision to quit royal life last year.
A source said last night: “One only has to look at the previous instalments of the tell-all interview to know these things never end up with a wholly positive experience for any party.
“Everyone will be watching with intense interest.” The Palace once
HAPPY NEWS Couple’s photo announcing baby No.2
again claimed to be oblivious to the couple’s decision.
A senior source said: “The Duke and Duchess are no longer working members of the Royal Family.
“Therefore any decisions they make with regard to media commitments are matters for them. As non-working members of the royal family, they are under no obligation to inform the Royal Household of such plans.”
The couple will meet Oprah on CBS. The US channel said yesterday: “Winfrey will speak with Meghan in a wide-ranging interview, covering everything from life as a royal, marriage, motherhood, philanthropic work to how she is handling life under intense public pressure.
“Later, the two are joined by Prince
Harry as they speak about their move to the United States and their future hopes and dreams for their expanding family.” The couple will appear in a 90-minute primetime special airing on Sunday, March 7.
It is not known if their one-year-old son Archie will appear.
The chat will be seen in some quarters as a further snub to the UK by Harry and Meghan, who quit to set up home in America.
There has been no confirmation of a fee or if they will be paid at all, but the appearance comes after they signed a reported £108million deal with Netflix and £32million agreement with Spotify late last year.
Meghan, 39, and 36-year-old Harry could donate any cash to their
Archwell Foundation – an organisation they say “drives systemic cultural change across communities”.
News of the TV appearance sparked comparisons to Princess Diana’s 1995 chat with Martin Bashir during which Harry’s mother, away from the control of the Royal Family, spoke openly about her treatment.
A year earlier, Prince Charles spoke about his own infidelity.
And the Oprah chat comes on the heels of Prince Andrew’s car-crash Newsnight interview over his friendship with pervert Jeffrey Epstein.
Oprah, 67, is known to put stars at ease in discussing personal issues.
The American’s ability to draw such detail could lead to Meghan speaking of her feelings about her previous
miscarriage. She has spoken candidly about the “unbearable grief” she endured in a piece written for the New York Times, but she has never discussed it in a televised interview.
She recalled feeling a sharp pain in her stomach as she changed Archie’s nappy, writing: “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second. The conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”
The announcement of Harry and Meghan’s appearance came a day after the couple revealed they are expecting their second child in the summer.
The Prince was yesterday said to be “delighted the secret is finally out”. One source said: “Harry excitedly messaged a whole host of his friends a few weeks ago saying Meghan was pregnant and that the two of them were thrilled to bits.
“He had them all sworn to secrecy though so he’s absolutely overjoyed to finally share the news with the world.
“This was quite some time before the announcement at the weekend. Harry was on cloud nine. He was happy at letting them all know and sharing in their happiness.”
The choice of Oprah, whose chat show ran between 1986 and 2011 and made her a global star, comes as little surprise to Hollywood insiders. Since Meghan met Harry, the Duchess and her mother, Doria Ragland, have formed a close bond with the TV star, who at the height of her ratings once had 17.3 million tuning in.
In addition to attending the couple’s May 2018 wedding at Windsor Castle, she is also one of their neighbours in Montecito, California, where they have moved into an £11million mansion.
In December, Oprah, who is said to be worth £1.8billion, shared an Instagram video in which she unpacks a “basket of deliciousness” of Clevr Blends goodies from “my neighbour M”.
A 94-YEAR-OLD man who died earlier this month has been barred from his own family grave by a council who says it’s too small by half an inch.
Campbell Mulholland from Bangor, Co Down, passed away on February 2, and having paid for his funeral nine years earlier, he expected to be buried with his wife and infant son.
But his niece Donna Cole was told 24 hours before the funeral he was not allowed to be placed in the family plot in Clandeboye Cemetery.
She said: “At 9.30am on the day before my uncle’s burial, the funeral home called to say the council had barred him from the grave.
“We’ve had no contact from the council, they abandoned the funeral home to that conversation.
“I couldn’t believe what we were hearing. My uncle was a man of absolute integrity, he looked after his friends and family, worked as a milkman all his days and asked nothing of anyone.
“He was devoted to his wife Peggy and together they bought a family plot when their son Kenneth tragically died aged just five months in 1967. It must just have broken their hearts
“When Peggy died in 2003, she was buried in the family plot with Kenneth, and Campbell expected to be with them one day. So to think of him now separated from them is indescribable.
“Campbell kept Peggy’s slippers by their bed from the day she died, her perfumes and all her little bits and bobs remained in place in their bedroom for the last 18 years.
“He got comfort from the fact they’d be buried together but now he’s not allowed to be anywhere near her or their son. He’s lying alone in a coffin in a morgue. It’s undignified, unfair and unnecessary.”
When Mr Mulholland bought the family plot following his baby’s death, the grave was intended to hold four coffins. But burial regulations introduced in 1992 now require six feet between them and 28 inches above the final coffin in the grave.
An official at Ards and North Down Borough Council said Mr Mullholland’s grave only allowed for another 3ft 9in and a coffin measuring 15 inches would not adhere to regulations.
Donna said: “Clarke’s Funeral service offered to try to get a coffin that
Where has humanity gone in Northern Ireland? NIECE DONNA COLE YESTERDAY
measures 11.5 inches with the hope that my uncle would fit in it. But the council says it would have to be 11 inches to stay within the rules, meaning we’re fighting over half an inch of space.
“The funeral home asked for an extra half inch to be dug out of the grave and left on top of the grave to settle but the council won’t hear of it. “My uncle’s wishes, intentions and the contract he had for burial have all been ignored.
“He paid for his funeral in full in 2012, 20 years after the new regulations and no one told him that there was a chance he’d be barred from his own grave.
“Where has humanity gone in Northern Ireland? What has happened that an old gentleman cannot be buried in his grave with his wife and baby for the sake of half an inch of soil? It’s heartbreaking.
“My uncle paid in full for his own funeral service including everything from the flowers to the orders of service. He liked order and good sense and in the final moment of his life on this earth he has been subjected to disorder and very poor decisions.
“My uncle was taken back to the morgue after his funeral service and remains there unburied and alone.”
The situation, according to Co Down MLA Alex Easton, is not particular to Mr Mulholland.
He said: “If this can happen to one family it can happen to many others.
“Graves and burials are a vitally important aspect of life in Northern Ireland and this sort of situation is appalling.
“I’m horrified and deeply angry to discover people who have bought grave plots are now discovering in some cases they can’t use the grave.
“Regulations brought in in 1992 mean for many families the last person to pass away will not be allowed to be buried with loved ones as expected despite buying a grave plot in good faith from the council.”
A spokeswoman for Ards and North Down council said: “All councils in Northern Ireland are bound by the Burial Ground Regulations 1992, which detail strict guidance in terms of the functions of a council in relation to its burial grounds.
“We accept incidents such as this are distressing for families at what is already a difficult time, however, we will always do our utmost to try to find a solution the family can accept.”