Meghan & Harry: bombshells from the Oprah interview
Good, bad and downright ugly revelations emerged in Oprah’s bombshell interview with the Sussexes
WELL, we were promised a no-holdsbarred, tell- al l interview and that’s what we got. For Oprah Winfrey, it was the scoop of her glittering career – two hours of riveting television during which she coaxed detail after detail out of one of the most famous and controversial couples in the world.
Few stones were left unturned, few subjects were taboo. And whether you love or loathe Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, there’s no doubt this was riveting viewing.
Filmed in the garden of the California home belonging to Gayle King, Oprah’s best friend, the interview covered it all: the good, the bad and the ugly of Meghan’s brief stint as a working royal and Harry’s escape from an institution he felt stifled him.
THE GOOD
The poignant private wedding
One of the biggest bombshells of the interview was that Harry (36) and Meghan (39) had married in secret shortly before their extravaganza in Windsor Chapel on 19 May 2018. “You know, three days before our wedding we got married. No one knows that,” Meghan said.
She and Harry called the Archbishop of Canterbury and said, “Look, this thing, this spectacle, is for the world but we want our union between us.”
The vows they have framed in their home are “just the two of us in our backyard with the archbishop”. Getting to know the queen Meghan said she’s always felt particularly warm towards Queen Elizabeth (94).
“The queen has always been wonderful to me. I mean, we had one of our first joint engagements together when she asked me to join her [on a day of engagements a month after the wedding].
“We had breakfast together and she’d given me a beautiful gift – pearl earrings and a matching necklace – and I just really loved being in her company.
“We were in the car going between engagements and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth. It was chilly and she was like, ‘Meghan, come on,’ and put it over my knees as well.”
She loved being in the queen’s company, she said, and added that they still speak regularly via video call.
Harry too spoke of his affection for and close relationship with his gran. “I’ve spoken more to my grandmother in the last year than I’ve done for many, many years,” he said. “I have a deep respect for her. She’s my commander-in-chief, right? She always will be.”
Freedom to do what they please
Harry said he and Meghan have no regrets. “I’m sad that what’s happened has happened, but I know we did everything we could to make it work. I’m really proud of us.”
The prince is loving life in California with their son, Archie (22 months). “To have outdoor space where we can go for walks as a family and with the dogs or go down to the beach, which is so close . . .
“The highlight for me is sticking Archie on the back of the bicycle in his little baby seat and taking him on these bike rides, which is something I was never able to do when I was young. He’s on the back and he’s got his arms out and he’s going, ‘Whooo!’ and chatting, chatting, chatting. He’s going, ‘Palm tree! House!’ ”
Archie’s newest word is “hydrate” and
‘To have outdoor space where we can go for walks as a family or go down to the beach, which is so close . . .’
(From previous page) he also tells people to “drive safe” when they set off, his proud parents said. “He’s not even two yet!” Meghan said.
It’s a girl!
The Sussexes will soon add a daughter to their brood, and Harry is thrilled! “To have any child, any one or any two, would be amazing. But to have a boy and then a girl – what more can you ask for? Now we’ve got our family, we got the four of us and our two dogs.”
And then they’re done – no more kids. “Two is it,” Meghan said.
Chickens for Archie
Meghan and Harry took Oprah on a brief tour of their Montecito property, which includes a chicken coop called Archie’s Chick Inn, with a plaque on the side that reads, “Established in 2021.”
“We want to live authentically,” Meghan said. “We want to get back to basics.”
THE BAD
The turning point Harry and Meghan’s tour of the South
Pacific in October 2018, shortly after they announced her first pregnancy, was a resounding success – but Harry said things started to shift after that.
“[The royal family] were really welcoming of Meghan but it changed after the tour. It was also the first time the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”
Harry was referring to his parents Prince Charles and Diana’s tour of Australia in 1983 when the princess, not her husband, captivated crowds and dominated headlines.
“Are you saying there were hints of jealousy?” Oprah asked.
“I just wish we’d all learn from the past,” Harry said. “But to see how effortless it was for Meghan to come into the family so quickly, in Australia and across New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga and connect with people. She was welcomed by the world.
“Here you have one of the greatest assets to the Commonwealth that the family could ever have wished for.”
Instead, it all went south from there.
Loss of independence Meghan claimed she was naive when she joined the royal family and didn’t research what becoming a member of the Firm would be like.
“As Americans, what do you know about the royals? It’s what you read in fairytales. It’s easy to have an image of it that’s so far from reality.
“That’s what’s been tricky over the past few years. When the perception and the reality are two different things, there’s a complete misalignment.”
Meghan increasingly felt as if she were being silenced. Palace officials lied to protect other royals instead of coming to her and Harry’s defence, she said.
“And they took away my passport, my driver’s licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over.”
Shock of it all
That she’d need to curtsy to the queen came like a bolt from the blue, Meghan said. She and Harry were on their way to see Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, at their home, Royal Lodge, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, and in the car Harry informed her the queen would be there too.
Harry turned to Meghan and said, “Right, do you know how to curtsy?”
“I thought genuinely that was what happens outside [the family] – I thought it was part of the fanfare. I didn’t think that was what happens inside.
“I said, ‘But it’s your grandmother,’ and he said, ‘It’s the queen’. That was the first moment the penny dropped.”
Fergie, famous for her deep-knee curtsies, rushed out of the house to help the newbie practise.
Kate and those tears
It’s long been reported that Meghan reduced her sister-in-law Kate, Duchess of Cambridge (39), to tears over her demands regarding the bridesmaids’ dresses for her wedding. Kate’s daughter, Princess Charlotte (now 5), was one of the bridesmaids.
But “the reverse happened”, Meghan told Oprah. “A few days before the wedding she was upset about something pertaining – yes, the issue was correct – about flower-girl dresses and it made me cry, it really hurt my feelings.
“I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. She was upset about it, but she owned it. She brought me flowers and a note, apologising. She did what I’d do if I knew that I hurt someone, just take accountability for it. She’s a good person.”
Feeling imprisoned
Until he met Meghan, Harry felt trapped in the rigid system and she helped show him he didn’t have to stay.
“My father and brother, they’re trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.”
Harry admitted there’s distance between him and Prince William (38). “Our relationship is one of space at the moment, but time heals all things, hopefully.
“As I’ve said before, I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been through hell together. We have a shared experience, but we’re on different paths.”
THE UGLY
At rock bottom
Meghan said the stress of royal life left her on the verge of suicide. Five months pregnant and feeling unsupported, she claimed the palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t “a paid employee”.
“I knew if I didn’t say it that I’d do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a clear and real and frightening constant thought.
“I remember how Harry just cradled me. I said I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said I’ve never felt this way
(From previous page) before and I need to go somewhere. And I was told I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
Shortly after this, she was “forced” to go to a charity event at the Royal Albert Hall. “Seeing photographs from that night haunt me.”
The colour of Archie’s skin
When she was pregnant, a member of the royal family “raised concerns and conversations about how dark the baby’s skin might be when he’s born,” Meghan said.
A shocked Oprah tried to get her to name the person, but Meghan refused. “I think that would be damaging to them.”
Although Meghan refused to name names, Harry told Oprah it was neither of his grandparents.
“He didn’t share the identity with me,” Oprah later said. “But he wanted to make sure that I knew, and if I had an opportunity to share it, that it wasn’t his grandmother nor his grandfather that were part of those conversations.”
Meghan also revealed how she wanted Archie to be given the title of prince and the decision not to award it to him went “against his birthright”. Being a prince would afford him extra security and him being not safe made her uneasy.
But as Archie is seventh in line to the throne, he was never in the running for the title. The couple turned down a ceremonial title – Earl of Dumbarton – for Archie when offered.
Cut off from the family funds
Charles stopped taking Harry’s calls when he and Meghan moved to Canada from the UK.
“He stopped because I took matters into my own hands,” Harry said. “I needed to do this for my family. I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like. And Archie is his grandson. I’ll always love him but there’s a lot that’s happened.”
Charles (72) also cut him off financially, Harry claimed. “They literally cut me off. Members of the family were suggesting Meghan carry on acting because there wasn’t enough money to pay for her.”
If it hadn’t been for the money Diana left him he didn’t know how he would’ve coped, he said. “I got by on what my mom left me.”
Without security, he and Meghan had “no choice” but to make multimillion-dollar deals with streaming giants Netflix and Spotify.
“We genuinely hadn’t thought about it before. All I needed was enough money to be able to pay for security to keep my family safe.” A
PALACE AT WAR
If there’s one thing the palace seldom does it’s dish out public statements – yet this is exactly what happened in the frenzied week leading up to the interview.
As teasers to the interview were being dropped by CBS, the US channel broadcasting the show, British newspaper The Times published a story the senior royal aides felt they couldn’t ignore.
The paper claimed Meghan was the subject of a formal email complaint sent to Buckingham Palace’s HR department in October 2018 by her then Kensington Palace press secretary, Jason Knauf.
He expressed concern over her “unacceptable behaviour” towards staff – concerns he also raised in an email to Simon Case, William’s then private secretary.
Knauf expressed his worry the duchess “was able to bully two PAs out of the [royal] household in the past year and was undermining the confidence of
a third staff member.”
A follow-up email went on to question whether the palace’s policy on bullying and harassment “applies to members of the royal family”.
He added the palace’s head of PR, Samantha Carruthers “agreed with me on all accounts that the situation was serious”.
Knauf apparently spoke privately to Harry, who begged him to drop the matter. Two noticeable resignations at the time were Meghan’s private secretary, Samantha Cohen, and her personal assistant, Melissa Touabti.
A source at the time told Britain’s The Mirror newspaper, “[Melissa] put up with quite a lot. Meghan put a lot of demands on her, and it ended up with her in tears.”
Former aides say they were humiliated, terrified and shaken by Meghan’s “emotional cruelty and manipulation”.
WHY NOW?
The sources say they approached The Times because they felt the version of Meghan that’s publicly emerged is only partially true. They were also concerned how matters of bullying had been dealt with and believed the public “should have insight into their side of the story”.
Another suggestion why the story has emerged now could be because of Meghan’s recent win in her privacy and copyright case against Associated Newspapers, which prevented a trial in which aides would’ve given evidence.
A recent Sunday Times story suggested senior royal sources were shocked by the outcome, which saw a judge finding the publication at fault for printing parts of a private letter Meghan had written to her father, Thomas Markle (76), in 2018.
Accusations of being difficult and demanding have often been aimed at the duchess, who was known for sending work emails at 5am. She was said to have earned the monikers of Duchess Difficult or Duchess Diva by fed-up staffers. “Her expectations are unrealistic,” one aide said. “She wants everything done now. This isn’t Hollywood.”
‘The royal household does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace’
WHAT THE PALACE SAID
“We’re clearly concerned about allegations in The Times following claims made by former staff of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” a statement from Buckingham Palace read.
“Accordingly, our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article. Members of staff involved at the time, including those who have left the household, will be invited to participate to see if lessons can be learnt.
“The royal household has had a dignity at work policy in place for a number of years and does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace.”
Harry and Meghan are unlikely to be called into the probe as they’re no longer working royals. But they “still hope to be kept up to speed with what the investigation will entail,” a source close to the couple says.
Meghan is insistent the allegations are part of a “calculated smear campaign against her,” a friend told Harper’s Bazaar magazine. “Harry and Meghan knew things would get ugly in the run-up to the Oprah special. But seeing such an obvious attempt at destroying her character was distressing and upsetting for her.”
A spokesman said the duchess was “saddened at this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who’s been the target of bullying.”
Knauf will be central to the investigation, which hasn’t been given an official timeline, as well as past and present staff.
William and Kate might also be called as they shared many aides with the Harry and Meghan.
MEANWHILE, PHILIP BATTLES ON
The 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh has been in hospital since 16 February and underwent heart surgery for a pre-existing condition, the palace announced.
Ahead of the Oprah broadcast there were calls for Meghan and Harry to ask CBS to delay it out of respect for Philip.
But the matter was likely out of their hands – CBS had a lot resting on the interview and wouldn’t have postponed it, industry insiders say.
Royal experts agree this is a time of flagrant animosity in the House of Windsor.
“I can’t remember a time when we’ve seen such open hostility,” says royal correspondent Victoria Murphy.
Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl says the latest developments have turned the American public against the royals.
“It’s being seen as a war between the palace and the Sussexes. This is potentially a big crisis for the royal family.”