Cambridges still ‘hopeful of a reconciliation’
On the eve of a potentially devastating TV interview with the Sussexes, ex-staff speak fondly of ‘the old H’
IT IS shaping up to be the television event of the decade, and threatens to rub salt in the wounds of already fractured royal relationships.
Yet The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge privately remain “hopeful of a reconciliation” with their brother and sister-inlaw despite the prospect of criticism in the Oprah Winfrey interview.
A friend of the Cambridges, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “There will always be bumps in the road but they’re a family and families come through these things. They both remain hopeful of a reconciliation with Harry and Meghan. It has been very difficult for both sides and there has been a lot of sadness over what has happened but ultimately they want things to improve between them in the fullness of time.”
The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is said to have told friends that she does not believe it too late to “pull them back in”.
Another source revealed that former employees of the couple “felt emotional” seeing the Duke of Sussex, 36, in a jokey video with James Corden last week “because it reminded us of old H – the H that would give you a big hug”.
Anticipation of the two-hour Oprah special, heightened by a series of dramatic teaser excerpts released by CBS, eclipsed the row over the definitions of duty and service.
Tensions intensified with the emergence of reports of “outrageous bullying” by the Sussexes and a litany of claims from “broken” aides who described feeling humiliated, “sick”, “terrified”, and left “shaking” with fear about their behaviour.
Some were said to have been reduced to tears by the Duchess of Sussex, 39.
A spokesman for the Sussexes said the Duchess was “saddened” by this “latest attack on her character”, adding that she was “deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma”.
On Wednesday evening, Buckingham Palace launched an unprecedented investigation into the allegations, and insisted that the Royal Household did not tolerate bullying, amid claims that so-called “men in grey suits” had failed to act on multiple complaints.
The Sussexes blamed the reports on an orchestrated “smear campaign” by palace aides so terrified about the forthcoming revelations on Oprah that they needed to make a pre-emptive strike. The staff in question felt that only a partial version had emerged of the Duchess’s two years as a working member of the Royal family and they wished to tell their side. But behind the stories of anger and two sides “at war” was genuine sadness, not only at Kensington Palace, but also at Clarence House, where the Prince of Wales has had to watch a rift between his two sons play out before the world. It is not known whether he has made attempts to intervene; to act as arbitrator for the Dukes.
His aides are said to have carefully distanced themselves from the whole sorry saga, declining to disclose whether any private conversations had taken place behind closed doors.
The Queen, 94, is also saddened at what has arguably been one of the greatest ructions of her reign, reduced to getting to know her great-grandson, Archie, who turns two in May, via the video app Zoom.
As the world awaits her grandson’s big television moment, she will relay a message of unity and communities “coming together” across her beloved “family of nations” to mark Commonwealth Day.
It is a message that every member of her family, both in London and Montecito, will be hoping to see executed much closer to home.