Royals face off in TV battle
Will Harry and Meghan reveal ‘‘shocking’’ royal secrets, or will a dutiful Queen win the day? Maria Puente reports on a contrasting clash of TV specials.
It’s an embarrassment of riches for royal fans and critics today, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sitting down with Oprah Winfrey for their first American TV interview, and the Queen and a clutch of other royals taking to the airwaves in Britain for their first TV-only Commonwealth Day service on the BBC.
Harry and Meghan’s twohour chat – Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special – airs this afternoon on the US east coast (NZ time), and at 7.30pm tomorrow on Three.
The Commonwealth Day broadcast aired early this morning (NZT) on the BBC, and then on YouTube.
The Sussex interview was a surprise when CBS announced it. In two promos last week, Meghan doesn’t speak, but Winfrey appears to quote her, calling the couple’s frustrations ‘‘almost unsurvivable’’. She asks: ‘‘Were you silent or were you silenced?’’
In contrast, the Commonwealth programme has been in the works for weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, which ruled out the usual inperson service to protect the 94-year-old queen and everybody else from Covid-19.
So why are both events happening now?
This TV blitz comes at a moment of uncertainty about 99-year-old Prince Philip’s health. The queen’s husband has been in hospital since February 16 battling an infection and a preexisting heart condition. He has since been transferred to a specialist cardiac hospital for tests and observation.
The Oprah interview has been described by critics as another skirmish in the conflict between the royal family and the Sussexes. Sally Bedell Smith, American author of multiple royal biographies, doesn’t believe the scheduling is a coincidence.
‘‘There’s no logical reason to do these on the same night,’’ she says. ‘‘CBS could juggle its schedule. Why the urgency, why not wait a week?
‘‘That would be the sensible, thoughtful and considerate thing for Harry and Meghan to have done, once they realised this would coincide with the Commonwealth ceremony.’’
What can viewers expect to see in the Winfrey interview?
Harry and Meghan will talk in more detail about why they gave up their working royal roles and left for California, where they now live, and about what they plan to do with their new independence and resources derived from Netflix and Spotify deals.
Winfrey promises in the promos that ‘‘there is no subject that’s off-limits’’ and some revelations are ‘‘shocking’’.
Harry gave a preview of his thinking during a taped appearance on his pal James Corden’s The Late Late Show on CBS: Harry said he and Meghan stepped back from royal life because ‘‘toxic’’ British media coverage was damaging his mental health. He said they intended to continue their ‘‘public service’’ in the US.
‘‘Frivolous, self-absorbed and demeaning, and with a laugh track,’’ Bedell Smith said of Harry’s Late Late Show appearance. ‘‘What was the point? What was he there to promote?’’
Winfrey’s interview will first focus on Meghan, with topics ranging from ‘‘stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood [and] philanthropic work, to how she is handling life under intense public pressure,’’ a CBS statement said. Harry will join them later to talk about their move to the US, and their hopes for their family.
The subject of their American-born second baby, expected later this year, will come up, as will Harry’s
‘‘I don’t think this is going to be the catastrophic royal-bashing ... interview some have suggested.’’
Royal commentator Victoria Arbiter
relationship with his relatives, especially brother Prince William. They’re also likely to talk about their ongoing effort to push back against media coverage they consider invasive and abusive.
What is the British media saying about the interview?
The London tabloids that regularly berate Harry and Meghan predict the interview will be explosive, incendiary, and a slap at the Queen and the royal family. They have quoted their ‘‘palace sources’’ saying the Sussexes did not tell the Queen about it ahead of time, even though they were under no obligation to do so given their changed status.
‘‘Historically, long-form interviews with royals haven’t always gone well or achieved the desired results,’’ says Victoria Arbiter, CNN’s royal correspondent and daughter of a former press secretary to the Queen.
Thus, some tabloids have compared this interview to the one Princess Diana did with the BBC in 1995, which had the effect of blowing up what little remained of the romantic fantasy of her marriage to Prince Charles, which was by then a nightmare of infidelity, embarrassing media leaks and mental health stress.
But the situation is different for the interview with Winfrey, who has become a friend and champion of Harry and Meghan. Almost three years on, their marriage remains strong.
‘‘They’re not going to throw the royal family under a bus,’’ Arbiter says. ‘‘To what end? It would not serve them well . . . I don’t think this is going to be the catastrophic royal-bashing, mudslinging interview some have suggested.’’
Will Harry and Meghan embarrass the Queen?
The Guardian, which is generally sceptical of the monarchy, and the Evening Standard, generally less critical of the Sussexes, report that their sources say Harry and Meghan are determined to say nothing that will upset the Queen, for whom they have ‘‘the greatest respect and love’’.
To achieve their new lives, Harry and Meghan gave up, at the Queen’s insistence, their royal appointments, patronages and honours. But they remain committed to public service. ‘‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal,’’ their statement concluded.
Their critics argued this was a disrespectful parting shot at the Queen. Their supporters told the Daily Mail it was taken out of context.
Why does Commonwealth Day matter?
Every year, the royal clan gathers on the second Monday in March at Westminster Abbey for a service to mark Commonwealth Day, a national ritual that allows British taxpayers to see members of the royal ‘‘firm’’ paying tribute to countries around the world that still have a link to Britain.
Last year’s Commonwealth Day service was the last public engagement for Harry and Meghan with the family before the couple left the UK. Having just negotiated their exit with his disappointed relatives and angry senior courtiers, the abbey service was an awkward affair, heavy with unspoken tension between Harry and his brother.
What can be expected from the BBC programme?
The Queen; Harry’s father, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla; Prince William and his wife, Kate; and other senior royals will carry out traditional royal duties.
Led by the Queen, for example, the family has in recent days focused on encouraging Britons to get vaccinated, as the Queen and Prince Philip were.
The Queen, who rarely spoke on TV before the pandemic, is expected to deliver a message. Charles, Camilla, William and Kate ‘‘will share why our Commonwealth links are so important’’, according to the BBC. Other senior royals will talk with young people from some of the Commonwealth nations.
Royal author and journalist Robert Hardman argues that Britons will see a dutiful royal family in contrast to the freedom-seeking Harry and Meghan.
They will see ‘‘a steadfast, record-breaking monarch quietly honouring one of her greatest achievements – the ‘family of nations’ she built and nurtured from the remnants of empire’’, Hardman wrote recently in the Daily Mail.
‘‘They will see a family wedded not to ‘systemic change’ but to those traditional, unglamorous, plodding but vital royal virtues of continuity and stability. Unlike service, those are not universal.’’ –