Couple’s interview clashes with their retreat from the spotlight
BY the time this is being read, the media storm will be in full frenzy. There is no doubt headlines across the world will be dominated by Harry and Meghan’s exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, which was due to be aired on American TV last night and will be on our screens tonight.
Most of us will be glued to the screen, which says an awful lot about our – and the world’s – enduring fascination with the British Royal Family. The timing of the interview is so bad – with the Duke of Edinburgh seriously ill in hospital and the world still in the grip of coronavirus – one would think it is deliberate. But, bad timing or not, millions on both sides of the Atlantic will sit entranced as Meghan dishes the dirt on The Firm.
In the run-up to the much-anticipated interview, Winfrey has promised shocking content, with no subject off limits. In extracts of the interview released over the last few days, Meghan has criticised the constraints she faced as a working royal, and said it was “liberating” to be able to “say yes” to a request for an interview with the US chat show host. She accused The Firm – as the royal family is sometimes known – of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and Harry. It’s a high-risk strategy. If the couple’s motive behind the interview is to generate sympathy among the general public, then doing so when most of us here have been stuck at home for a year dealing with thousands of Covid-related deaths, lockdown, redundancy, and homeschooling is a brave choice. The more likely motive is money, which, to a nation which by and large treasures the Royal Family, will come across as depressingly shallow.
Reports in the Sunday papers yesterday suggested that courtiers at Buckingham Palace are braced to retaliate if the couple launch an attack on the Royal Family itself. Many believe the real focus of Harry and Meghan’s motivation will be to train the spotlight on the behaviour of the British Press. On this subject they may get a more friendly ear, but the public is often less sympathetic to those who relentlessly play the media game while complaining at having to play it.
Harry and Meghan left the UK to get away from the attention of the British press, and to preserve their mental health. That fact alone makes this interview even more baffling. Contrast all of that with the response of the Queen. It was reported yesterday that she is likely to ignore the interview, and is fully focused as usual on her duty, and on the health of her husband. Just hours before the Sussexes’ Oprah interview was broadcast in America, the Queen used her Commonwealth Day television message to stress the importance of staying in touch with family and friends during testing times. The Queen, who is head of the Commonwealth, used the message to highlight the “friendship, spirit of unity and achievements” around the world and the benefits of working together in the fight against the virus. “The testing times experienced by so many have led to a deeper appreciation of the mutual support and spiritual sustenance we enjoy by being connected to others,” she said. They are important thoughts, and it is a shame they will be overshadowed.