JUST THE FOUR OF US NOW
AFTER INTERVIEW THAT’S TORN APART THE ROYALS, PREGNANT MEGHAN AND HARRY A PICTURE OF BLISS WITH ARCHIE
PRINCE HARRY embraces his pregnant wife as they clutch son Archie in an intimate show of unity – while the fallout from their shocking TV allegations tears apart their relationship with the royal family.
The blissful portrait was taken by close friend photographer Misan Harriman to mark news Meghan is having a daughter.
It was released the day after they told TV host Oprah Winfrey they were victims of royal racism and that her treatment by the palace left Meghan contemplating suicide.
Last night, more allegations emerged, including Harry’s claims that they were barred by the Queen from visiting her at Sandringham in Norfolk.
Harry said his grandmother asked them to tea after they flew back from a trip. But after their plane landed an aide contacted him to say she was now too busy.
He claimed, when he called the Queen, she said there was ‘something in my diary I didn’t know I had’.
Harry said: ‘I didn’t want to push because I kind of knew what was going on.’
The claim was in part of their interview broadcast in the US yesterday morning. Oprah also revealed Harry and his brother William were no longer on speaking terms.
She compared the relationship to Meghan’s with her estranged dad. ‘From what I gathered the relationship with her father is
similar to what is happening with Prince Harry and Prince William,’ she told viewers in the US. ‘There is distance there and maybe, with time, things will get better but for now, no.’
Meghan, 39, has accused her father of betraying her and causing pain by talking to the press. Thomas Markle was today set to respond to her claims for the first time on Good Morning Britain on ITV. The brothers are due to unveil a statue of their mother, the Princess of Wales, on July 1 – on what would have been her 60th birthday.
Harry, 36, is reportedly determined to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with his brother, 38, at the ceremony in the gardens at Kensington Palace.
But the slew of damaging claims will test the bond of the future king and his brother to the limit.
Harry told Oprah: ‘You know, I love William to bits – he’s my brother, we’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience.
‘But we’re on different paths. The relationship is space at the moment, and time heals all things, hopefully.’
Harry speculated how Princess Diana might feel about he and Meghan moving abroad, saying: ‘She would feel very angry with how this has panned out and very sad. All she would ever want was for us to be happy.’
Other allegations in the interview – screened by CBS in America on Sunday night and on ITV last night – included claims an unnamed royal asked how dark Harry and Meghan’s baby would be, although Oprah confirmed it was not the Queen or Prince Philip.
Meghan revealed she contemplated suicide as she struggled with palace officials’ treatment of her ahead of the couple’s decision to quit Britain for California. They said Prince Charles refused to take his son’s calls and cut him off financially, leaving him to rely on a £10million inheritance from his mother. Yet Harry also said he was optimistic they would ultimately be reconciled. Harry revealed he had spoken to the Queen more in the past 12 months than for many years – despite the snub at Sandringham in January last year after they returned from Canada.
He said: ‘My grandmother had said, “The moment you land, come up to Sandringham, we’d love to have a chat. Come for tea. Why don’t you stay for dinner because it’s going to be a long drive and you’re going to be exhausted?”’
But on landing in Britain on January 6, he received a message from the Queen’s private secretary ‘basically saying, “Please pass on to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that he cannot come to Norfolk. The Queen is busy, she’s busy all week”.’ He said he then phoned the Queen who told him of ‘something in my diary that I didn’t know I had’ and said she was also ‘busy’ for the rest of the week. ‘I didn’t want to push because I kind of knew what was going on,’ Harry told Oprah. ‘When you’re head of The Firm, there is people around you that give you advice – and what has also made me really sad is some of that advice has been really bad.’
Reaction to the revelations was split worldwide. Supporters of Harry and Meghan condemned their treatment by the royal family and the media – but critics called for the couple to be stripped of their royal titles. Prime minister Boris Johnson repeatedly declined to comment on the interview during a Downing Street press conference yesterday. However, environment minister Lord Goldsmith tweeted: ‘Harry is blowing up his family. What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.’