A right royal dilemma
Oprah Winfrey’s prime-time interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex doesn’t air in the United States until tomorrow, but the highly anticipated chat has already sparked emotions in Britain, goosed by a week of teaser quotes, news of a palace inquiry, and weaponised leaks about who the true bullies are in this Buckingham soap opera.
Where once Britain tore itself apart over Brexit, this week has seen people join warring tribes backing either the Sussexes or the House of Windsor.
Do you feel, for example, that Meghan, a biracial American, a successful actress and compassionate diplomat, a woman, a mother, a feminist, has been smeared and silenced by trashtalking TV personalities and the ‘‘men in grey suits’’ who run Buckingham Palace?
Or do you view her as a bit of a grasper, an ingrate, a California snowflake, too quick to take offence, who stole Prince Harry from his family and is only a firstname global celebrity because she married into royalty – and then, after a scant two years of ribboncutting, is turning on the very monarch who made her?
Winfrey’s conversation with (mostly) Meghan plays out against a backdrop of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, with questions raised over how women are treated compared to men, especially an American woman with a white father and a black mother who married a prince.
The interview will also land amid a public feud between the couple and the royal family, after the palace announced this week that its human resources department will investigate a 2018 complaint that Meghan bullied her staff, especially young women, ‘‘to the point of tears’’, pushing two personal assistants ‘‘out of the household’’ and undermining the confidence of a third.
What we know about the interview’s contents is ... not very much. There could be bombshells. There could be ‘‘meh’’.
But the two-hour interview might come to define the current Meghan. We are told that Harry plays only a bit part.
As for Winfrey nailing the interview of the year, eyebrows have been raised. She attended the couple’s wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018, but the three were not known to be close.
People with knowledge of the interview arrangements say that no money exchanged hands, nor were Harry and Meghan given advance questions or control over the editing.
Still, matters are complicated. Harry and Meghan live in a mansion in Montecito, a wealthy seaside enclave north of Los Angeles. Winfrey is their neighbour. A year ago, Harry announced that he is partnering with Winfrey on a documentary series on mental health for Apple TV Plus.
Parallels have been drawn with another bombshell interview. In 1995, Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, sat down to talk to BBC reporter Martin Bashir and spoke publicly for the first time about her unhappy marriage.
Harry and Meghan have dominated the British press this week, especially the tabloids. The Daily Express’s front page shouted: ‘‘End this now, Harry! For love of the Queen and Prince Philip, war of words must stop.’’
The timing couldn’t be worse for the couple. Back home in Britain, on top of the Covid-19 pandemic and a record economic slump, Philip, Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, is recovering from a heart procedure.
‘‘Harry and
Meghan are hugely popular,’’ said Pauline Maclaran, a professor of marketing and author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture. ‘‘But I think that some people who might otherwise have supported them will find this just a little bit distasteful, that they’re drawing all this attention to themselves just at this time when Prince Philip appears to be quite seriously ill.’’
Critics are already lining up to deride it as a brand-building exercise by the couple, who left Britain saying they wanted to live a normal life but have been accused of continuing to use their royal status to open doors and make money.
Ahead of the broadcast, relations with the palace are increasingly strained.
First there was the Queen’s decision to strip Harry and Meghan of the handful of royal patronages they had retained in the one-year trial period following their departure last year. The
couple responded with a terse statement promising to live a life of service – a move many in Britain saw as disrespectful to the monarch, as she usually has the final word.
Then this week, the palace said it was launching a human resources investigation after a newspaper reported that a former aide had accused Meghan of bullying staff.
Others are concerned that the interview will include damaging revelations about the royal family, especially after the disastrous interview Prince Andrew, Harry’s uncle, did with the BBC in 2019 about his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He was forced to give up his royal duties after failing to show empathy for Epstein’s victims.
Regardless of what was actually said, the interview further blurred the line between celebrity and royalty, tarnishing the royal mystique, Maclaran said.
Royal watchers wonder what could possibly be next.
‘‘It’s just such a mess,’’ said Penny Junor, who has written several books about the royals, including a biography of Harry. ‘‘I don’t think there are going to be any winners in it.’’
‘‘I don’t think there are going to be any winners in it.’’ Penny Junor, royal biographer