A wedding guest ‘the bride had met once’
THE duke and duchess of
Sussex extended the wedding invitation to Oprah Winfrey to include the evening reception at Frogmore House, attended only by their closest relatives and friends.
The chat show host had been invited to the ceremony at St George’s Chapel, inside Windsor Castle, despite only having apparently met Meghan face-toface once.
It is not thought she had ever met Harry in person.
All 800 guests were invited to enjoy a ‘wedding breakfast’ in the Great Hall of Windsor Castle after the ceremony, but only 200 guests were invited to a sit-down dinner in the grounds of Frogmore House that evening, paid for by Prince Charles. Harry and Meghan reportedly split the guest list
‘100 each’.
The duchess is understood to have used her quota to include Oprah in the evening’s invitation.
Harry left many of his old friends off the guest-list, including Tom ‘Skippy’ Inskip and wife Lara, and his stepbrother Tom Parker Bowles and step-sister Laura Lopes.
Meghan, meanwhile, included on her evening guest list George and Amal Clooney, Idris Elba and Channel 4 vet Noel Fitzpatrick, who had looked after her rescue dog, Guy.
PRINCE HARRY has a lot of his mother in him. And his disastrous decision to sit down with Oprah Winfrey alongside his pregnant wife is straight out of Diana’s book. It is just over 25 years since she publicly eviscerated her husband in that Panorama interview with Martin Bashir.
Sitting alone in Kensington Palace, head bowed, wiping away the occasional tear, she told the world about the agony of life within the royal family – the pressure, the press, and her loveless marriage to Prince Charles, saying famously: ‘There were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’
She lashed out at courtiers, whom she called ‘the enemy within’, cast doubt that Charles should ever be king and, tugging at our emotions, saying all she wanted to be was a ‘queen in people’s hearts’.
She had recorded the interview in secret and only informed her private secretary a week before it was broadcast – and even then refused to tell him in detail what it contained.
Similarly, Harry and Meghan kept their interview secret from the royal family until a couple of weeks ago.
Diana was delighted with what she had done. ‘It’s terribly moving,’ she said. ‘Some of the men who watched were moved to tears. Don’t worry, everything will be all right.’
Alas, she was wrong and came to very much regret it. Diana had been excited by the attention and hadn’t thought about the negative impact on her children. William was said to have felt embarrassed and humiliated by the broadcast. The Queen viewed it as the final straw and instructed Charles and Diana to divorce as soon as possible.
My guess is that, like Diana all those years ago, Harry and Meghan will be feeling pleased
I fear this interview will be divisive – and the only winner will be Oprah Winfrey
as punch about their own interview with Oprah, which airs in America tonight and in the UK tomorrow. Although perhaps not quite as pleased as Oprah, who has artfully secured the scoop of a lifetime.
But I suspect that one day Harry will come to regret it, just as Diana did.
As a former soldier, committed to putting duty and loyalty to Queen and country above all else, this looks like being a gross betrayal. A betrayal that will feed straight into the hands of those who would like to see the nonarchy abolished.
It is hugely damaging for Harry, too. For him the monarchy is not some quaint, outdated institution, as it is for millions of Americans looking forward to tonight’s revelations. For Harry, the monarchy is family.
While Meghan might feel no loyalty or affection for the family, Harry certainly once did. He has always been a much loved son, grandson, brother and brother-in-law.
To be prepared to put those relationships at risk for two hours of television is bizarre.
So why do it? I suspect for the same reasons that Diana went public. Harry and Meghan will be wanting approval and love from the world, and vindication.
Oprah will tease out every detail of Meghan’s ‘truth’ – every last gripe about her brief life as a working royal, about her experience of racism in Britain.
Harry will play a supporting role and together they will talk about the toll on their mental health and pull at our heart strings, just as Diana did.
They will set out their stall as committed humanitarians, philanthropists whose mission is to make the world a better place, to promote social wellbeing so that ‘we, as people, are able to not simply survive – but to thrive’.
That sentiment from their old website, SussexRoyal, rings a little hollow in the light of claims by royal aides – denied by Meghan – that she humiliated and bullied staff members, both before and after her marriage to Harry.
She particularly went for young women, it is said. Some were reduced to tears. Others were