Oprah: It is the best interview I’ve ever done.they hid nothing
Man charged over deaths of missing mother and daughter
Oprah Winfrey has described her much-hyped interview with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex as the best she has ever done.
The TV host told friends the couple answered almost every question asked of them and, for every one they didn’t answer, they explained why.
Her comments emerged as the couple’s interview sparks global speculation about a widening rift between them and the rest of the royal family as Meghan accuses Buckingham Palace of trying to smear her by revealing bullying allegations. Reports in the US have suggested broadcaster CBS paid Harpo Productions, Winfrey’s company, up to £6.5 million for the interview. It was revealed yesterday that the Duchess claims during the interview, to be screened in the US tonight and in Britain tomorrow, that royal aides listened to a telephone conversation she had with Winfrey months before her wedding to Prince Harry.
In a newly-released preview clip, she told Winfrey it was “liberating” to make her own choices without involving Buckingham Palace. Winfrey disclosed she asked Meghan for an interview a few months before her wedding to Prince Harry in 2019 but was told it would not be possible. Meghan, 39, said staff had to be present during a conversation with Winfrey at that time. Meghan said: “I remember
that conversation very well. I wasn’t even allowed to have that conversation with you personally, right. There had to be people… sitting there.” Explaining why she chose now to do the interview, Meghan said: “We’re on the other side of a lot of life experience that’s happened. And also that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn’t have said ‘yes’ to you then. That wasn’t my choice to make. “I’m ready to talk. To say it for yourself, to be able to just make a choice on your own. And to be able to speak for yourself.” The interview, which took place during a conversation with Winfrey where “nothing is off-limits”, will also cover “wide-ranging” topics, such as motherhood, the couple’s philanthropic work and the Duke and Duchess’s move to California. CBS has shared multiple trailers for the two-hour special, which have seen Prince Harry reveal his worst fear was “history repeating itself”. Meghan has also spoken of what she claims are “falsehoods” perpetuated by the royal Family.
The interview also follows reports last week that the Duchess left aides shaken and crying after alleged bullying. A spokeswoman for the Sussexes called it a “calculated smear campaign”.
The special will also be aired as Prince Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, remains in hospital after a heart procedure. Winfrey’s friend, US presenter Gayle King, said: “I heard Oprah say it’s the best interview she’s
ever done.” She said Winfrey told her that they answered every question and any questions they didn’t answer “they explained why”.
In the run-up to the interview airing, friends of the Duchess have been going public on social media with messages of support for her.
Silver Tree, an executive producer on TV series Suits, in which Meghan starred, posted: “She is one of my very nearest and dearest. Like all her friends I love her madly. She is the friend who insists on always hearing the details of your life, your day, your kids life, your kids day, before hers. Always before hers.”
Suits co-star Patrick Adams posted a Twitter thread in which he wrote: “It’s obscene that the royal family, who’s [sic] newest member is currently growing inside of her is promoting and amplifying accusations of ‘bullying’ against a woman who herself was basically forced to flea [sic] the UK in order protect her family and her own mental health.”
Actor Janina Gavankar posted: “Here’s what she is: kind, strong, open. Here’s what she’s not: a bully.”
Meanwhile ITV could earn £200,000 per minute from advertising during the two-hour interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, industry sources have suggested.
The commercial broadcaster is hoping to earn a huge profit on its reported £1m investment in the programme, which is expected to be a ratings smash hit.
Analysts said the show, to be broadcast tomorrow at 9pm in Britain, could easily attract more than 10 million viewers.
Insiders said advertising was being offered at £70,000 per 30-second slot but this could double if certain ratings targets are hit.
Detectives probing the disappearance of a mother and her toddler daughter last night confirmed it is now a murder inquiry. Meanwhile, forensic teams were continuing to scour a house in Dundee after a 50-year-old man was charged in connection with the deaths of Bennylyn Burke, 25, and her two-year-old daughter.
She and her two daughters had been reported missing on 1 March, 11 days after leaving their home in Bristol. Police said one girl has been found and was being cared for last night. Witnesses in Troon Avenue, in the city’s Ardler neighbourhood, said they saw a man being led away by police on Friday afternoon.
The street remained sealed off yesterday as teams of forensic officers in white suits entered the house. One used a video camera to film inside the kitchen and camera flashes were seen from behind closed blinds in every room of the house. The kitchen windows were later covered by yellow plastic screens to block the view. Police also set up a large blue tent in the front garden while detectives made door-todoor inquiries.
Amy Whyte, 39, who lives nearby, said: “A forensics van and two police cars pulled up and taped everything off. It was quite scary. “Police told us not to speak to anyone about it. I was asked if I saw or heard anything because my garden backs on to the street. I couldn’t remember anything out of the ordinary. We’ve lived here for a year and it’s a quiet area.” Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “Police told us it was a serious incident but we didn’t need to be concerned. I didn’t know what to think. Nothing like this has ever happened here.” Police Scotland confirmed a link with the search for Bennylyn Burke, who was reported missing on March 1. She was last seen at her home in Bristol on February 17. Her family were at her home in Staple Hill but declined to comment.
Avon and
Somerset
Police had previously appealed for information about Bennylyn and her two children, saying: “We’re increasingly concerned for her and her children’s welfare and are asking for anyone who sees Bennylyn or knows where she may be to contact us.” Yesterday Avon and Somerset Police said Police Scotland was now leading the investigation. Last night, Detective Super-intendent Graeme Mackie of Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team (MIT) said there would be an increased police presence in the area for some time. He added: “We are now treating the disappearances as a murder investigation and I would urge anyone with any information to please come forward and speak to us.
“This is a complex inquiry involving both local officers in Dundee and specialist resources from across Police Scotland. Bennylyn’s next of kin have been updated on the arrest and are being supported by colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police.
“Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this very difficult time.”
It was the final match before the authorities shut down football for lockdown last year.
Now, experts analysing the mass gatherings allowed in the weeks after Covid-19 first arrived in Britain, believe Rangers’ Europa League clash with Bayer Leverkusen on March 12 helped spread Covid in Scotland.
The match went ahead on the same day the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that mass gatherings of more than 500 people were to be banned the following week – and a day before the Scottish football season was suspended. But there was no direction from the authorities to prevent the game proceeding.
Almost 50,000 fans were allowed inside Ibrox, including more than 1,000 travelling supporters from a region of Germany that was one of the worst hit by the virus at that time, and where matches were being played without spectators.
There was also no testing of arrivals to Scotland’s airports, with the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman telling parliament on March 12 that such measures were “not the current scientific or clinical
advice to us”, and there was no requirement to wear masks on public transport and no social distancing at the stadium.
Experts now believe that the virus was widely circulating in the community but the lack of mass testing meant that on March 12, the official tally stood at just 60 cases.
Health data analyst George Batchelor, co-founder of Edge Health, carried out research which suggested two
European football matches in Manchester and Liverpool and the Cheltenham horse racing festival, all held in the same week as the Rangers match, probably led to increased transmission and deaths.
His study found the two matches in England and the Cheltenham festival, which attracted 25,000 people, caused more than 100 deaths, 500 hospitalisations and 17,000 infections.
Batchelor was unable to replicate the study for sporting events in Scotland due to a lack of data which shows deaths by hospital, but said: “Events like that really seeded, not just one or two cases, but really dumped a lot of cases into the system, which partly explains the really aggressive first wave.
“It seems unlikely that the Rangers match wouldn’t have led to more cases and
deaths. We have seen strong evidence that games in England led to significant numbers of additional deaths at local hospitals at two to three weeks after the event, which makes sense because that’s the speed that the virus will kill someone. We know that big events have been a big problem so it seems reasonable to extrapolate that to Scotland.”
Professor Stephen Reicher, of the University of St Andrews, who advises the UK and Scottish governments on Covid19 policy, said the match shouldn’t have gone ahead.
He said: “It was probably a mistake, with hindsight. There is research showing that outdoor events seem to have an effect on transmission which leads to much higher increases in infection. We don’t know exactly what the effect is and there are some studies planned now to look at the effect of football games.
“But what is probably true to say is we delayed lockdown too long last March and mass events were certainly not helpful.”
The death of one fan who was in the crowd that night was later linked to the virus. Ryan Storrie, who was originally from Ayrshire but had been living in Dubai, jetted in to Scotland for the match. The 40-year-old fell ill in the days after and died in Scotland on March 31. His widow Hilary believes he probably picked up the virus during the trip. Hilary, 45, said: “We were worried about the virus but the match was on Ryan’s 40th and he really wanted to go so we decided to fly over for it on the 10th.
“We had tickets for hospitality in the Davie Cooper suite at Ibrox. It was jam-packed. You couldn’t swing a cat. There was certainly no social distancing.” They were due to fly back to Dubai on March 19 but the flight was cancelled so they had to check in to a suite in Glasgow.
Hilary said her husband’s symptoms began the following day when he developed a severe headache.
She said: “By the 30th he was really, really bad. He was struggling to breathe, he was clutching his chest.
“I said I wanted to phone an ambulance but he persuaded me to wait until the morning.
“The next morning I found him dead, lying on his back in the bed.”
Hilary and her sons had mild symptoms of the virus so they had to wait several hours before police and a coroner arrived in specialist hazmat suits.
She said: “It was just horrific, really scary. They told me I would have to say goodbye to him at that point because we wouldn’t see him again. They wouldn’t be able to open the coffin.”
Hilary, who was with Ryan for 17 years, said she suspects he may have picked it up at the match or going to and from Ibrox.
Andy Mcgowan, who co-hosts a Rangers podcast, travelled to the match from Clackmannanshire on a supporters’ bus carrying around 55 people. He said: “The transport to the game was, in hindsight, hazardous. After the game we put out communications on Facebook and in our Whatsapp group for the supporters’ club to ask if people would let us know if anyone had symptoms. We got nothing back from that.”
Mcgowan believes the decision to cancel football was not taken sooner because it was unpopular with fans. He said: “It would have been fairly damaging to politicians. It would have cost Rangers £1 million in gate money and you would have had football fans laying that at the feet of the government.”
Phillip Arens, a German journalist who flew to Scotland with the Bayer Leverkusen squad, said hand sanitiser was handed out on the plane and the team doctor took the temperature of everyone on board. However, he remembers no health measures when he landed in Scotland.
He said: “It’s difficult to say if Scotland did enough to protect against the virus at the time. There were certainly a lot of peak announcements – every minute there were messages on the big screens.”
Uefa said it did not receive any advice or request from the local authorities to play the match behind closed doors.
The Scottish government said: “We were the first devolved administration in the UK to recommend that all large gatherings or mass events of 500 people or more be cancelled or postponed and at the time of the game our available testing capacity was focused on saving lives and protecting the vulnerable, primarily in our NHS.”
Rangers declined to comment.
MSPS examining the Scottish government’s unlawful investigation into Alex Salmond yesterday criticised the release of damning legal advice days after Nicola Sturgeon gave evidence.
The first minister appeared before the committee of inquiry on Wednesday but documents published two days later reveal the growing frustration and professional embarrassment felt by lawyers advising the government over its refusal to hand over documents and failure to accept Salmond was almost certain to win his case that their investigation into harassment claims against him was unfair and unlawful. His subsequent victory in court would cost taxpayers more than £600,000.
Deputy first minister Swinney only began releasing the legal advice last week after MSPS threatened a motion of no confidence in him. He said “key legal advice” was being published ahead of Sturgeon’s appearance before the committee. But 11 documents were published after the first minister gave evidence. Seven documents were published on Thursday and four the next day.
Scottish Labour deputy leader and committee member Jackie Baillie said there are still critical papers missing, adding: “The first minister continues to drip feed information. But what is clear is the committee does not have all the legal advice, particularly notes of critical meetings, that they should have.
“The committee is having to piece together what happened as bits of information become available. This is not an acceptable way for the Scottish government to proceed.”
Lib Dem MSP and committee member Alex Cole-hamilton said: “It was very convenient for the Scottish government that we only got half the picture before the session with the first minister.
“It was frustrating, for example, not to have the evidence about senior counsel threatening to resign in black and white in front of us when speaking to Nicola Sturgeon because she pleaded ignorance of that.” Conservative MSP and committee member Murdo Fraser said: “It is now clear why the Scottish government did not want the committee to see the information before Nicola Sturgeon gave evidence. The legal papers they did release on Tuesday night only gave a partial picture of the advice that was presented to them at different times.
“We now know counsel were advising the case could not be realistically defended in the middle of December, and there are therefore serious questions as to why the Scottish government continued their defence beyond that point, racking up thousands of pounds in additional legal costs which have had to be met by the Scottish taxpayer. “Nicola Sturgeon should have had these questions put to her but that was simply not possible because of the deceitful way in which the Scottish government held back these papers.”
Sturgeon promised in January 2019 to “fully co-operate” with the committee into the unlawful inquiry into harassment claims against Salmond but the Scottish government spent months resisting demands for the release of the legal advice. Releasing the documents, Swinney claimed they “utterly disproved the conspiracy theory” that there was a plot against Salmond.
He said the Scottish government has now “disclosed all of the formal written advice notes received from external counsel during the judicial review which we have identified, as well as a number of other relevant previously legally privileged documents”.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government has taken unprecedented steps to provide the committee with the information it has requested in line with data protection, confidentiality and legal restrictions.”