THE SUSSEXES REIGNITE RIFT
THE SUSSEXES REFUSE TO LET GO OF OLD GRIEVANCES AS THEY HEAD BACK TO WORK
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell March interview with Oprah Winfrey was meant to be their “last word” on their exit from the British royal family before they finally got on with enjoying their new lives. But after accusing the Windsors of racism and neglect, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have fired another shot at the monarchy.
After the couple revealed they were disturbed over alleged conversations about “how dark” their son Archie’s skin might be before his birth in May 2019, the palace responded by saying that while “recollections may vary” the issue would be dealt with “privately”. In an extract from the updated version of the 2020 biography Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and
Carolyn Durand, which is due out on August 31, the writers claim the couple are having trouble moving on after they were left dissatisfied by the official reaction.
“Those three words, ‘recollections may vary’, did not go unnoticed by the couple, who a close source said were ‘not surprised’ that full ownership was not taken,” read an extract of the book, which ran in WHO’s sister publication People magazine. “Months later and little accountability has been taken,” a pal of Meghan’s added. “How can you move forward without that?” the extract continued.
Following repeated attacks on the monarchy by the Sussexes, the Queen, 95, is finally declaring enough is enough! Elizabeth is said to be “exasperated” with Harry, 36, and Meghan, 40, after the pair gave a series of interviews this year and passed along details of their private conversations to friends in the US media.
“There is a limit to how much will be accepted by the Queen and the royal family can only be pushed so far,” a source told British newspaper The Sun. “They are getting lawyered up. Harry and Meghan will be made aware and know repeated attacks will not be tolerated,” the source added.
Following the publication of the Finding Freedom extract, Harry and Meghan hit back at claims they’d “reignited” the rift with the royals, with their lawyers telling the MailOnline the accusations were “false and inaccurate”. But this isn’t the first time Meghan has been caught out using Scobie as her mouthpiece.
The former Suits star was forced to admit in court she’d collaborated with the authors on the original book, despite previous denials. As part of her privacy lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday, Meghan revealed she authorised a friend to discuss with Scobie and Durand her relationship with her dad Thomas Markle, 77, after he gave her personal letter to the publication. Meghan’s legal team told the British court she “indicated to a person, whom she knew had already been approached by the authors,” that they could discuss her estrangement from her father “to prevent any further misrepresentation”. While Harry’s relationship with his family remains in tatters since he and Meghan moved abroad early last year, Scobie says they have no regrets and are on the verge of starting an exciting new chapter. After signing content creator deals with Netflix and Spotify, which are reported to be worth up to $230 million, the pair have made only one podcast episode between them in the past year. But after the birth of their daughter Lilibet “Lili” Diana in June, this is all set to change as they enter “an era of visibility” and step up their in-person charity work.
“They’re a couple who do very well in those human moments of interaction. They need to be on the ground,” Scobie tells People. “That’s something that really excites them,” he added.
MODERN FAIRYTALE The authors of Finding Freedom say Meghan still got exactly what she wanted in the relationship. “What started [as a] fairytale romance became a story that reinvented the genre – an independent woman in an equal role alongside her knight,” they state.