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Will Harry and Meghan’s interview help or hinder their brand?
Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex is expected to deepen the rift between the now US-based couple and the royal family, with teasers released ahead of the broadcast confirming Meghan directs some of the blame for the couple’s “Megxit” at her in-laws.
Initially conceived as an attempt to present the couple’s side of a year of largely negative media coverage, there are now growing fears the interview may backfire and instead ignite a feud that would make the “War of the Waleses” – the very public falling out between Harry’s parents in the 1990s – pale in comparison.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with interviewer Oprah Winfrey.Credit: Harpo
The duke and duchess resigned as working members of the royal family in January 2020 and relocated to Montecito, California, where they have effectively embarked on a commercial enterprise, signing lucrative deals with Spotify, Netflix, Disney and, setting the stage for the explosive TV interview, Winfrey’s production company Harpo.
Soundbites from the two-hour interview have been released to media, including one in which Winfrey says to Meghan: “You’ve said some pretty shocking things here.” The interview had initially been planned as a 90-minute television special but was lengthened because Winfrey and US broadcaster CBS felt the material was too substantial to cut.
In another clip, Winfrey asks Meghan about the anticipated fallout from Buckingham Palace. “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there’s an active role that ‘the Firm’ is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” she replies.
“If [speaking out] comes with risk of losing things, there’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
“The Firm” is a term used to describe the administrative operation of the royal family, particularly the private secretaries, equerries and senior staff who control logistics and protocol. Harry’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, once described them as the “men in grey”. Penny Junor’s 2005 book The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor credited Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, with coining the term.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in New Zealand in 2018. Credit: AP
A key source of agitation between the feuding parties is the perception that the couple acted unilaterally and embarrassed the Queen when they announced their “resignations” on social media. The move forced a family meeting, referred to as the Sandringham Summit, in January 2020. After the meeting the Queen issued a statement saying “very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family” had taken place.
Under the exit agreement the couple cannot use the style of royal highness or carry out duties on behalf of the Queen, they must repay the £2.4 million ($4.3 million) renovation cost of Frogmore Cottage and pay a commercial rent to retain it as a London home. Costs for the couple’s security were not clarified publicly but are said to be partly funded by British taxpayers and Harry’s father, Prince Charles.
Harry was also forced to surrender his military appointments, including the post of Captain General of the Royal Marines. The couple also agreed to give up their royal patronages, though they retain private patronages such as Harry’s stewardship of the Invictus Games.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with newborn son Archie in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle.Credit: AP
Adding to the agitation is the perception that Harry and Meghan are commercialising the royal “brand” – in effect, attempting to privatise what is essentially a public institution. Similar past attempts, such as Prince Edward’s production company Ardent and the staging of a royal “tournament” edition of the TV show It’s a Knockout – were PR disasters.
Last year the Sussexes signed a deal with Netflix, to develop “scripted and unscripted series, film, documentaries, and children’s programming”, and Spotify, to produce and host a podcast. Separately, the duchess signed a deal with Disney for voice work.
Those deals followed a clumsy attempt to launch the brand Sussex Royal, for which the couple registered a trademark on certain items including clothing and printed items. In the UK, however, the use of the word “royal” and depictions of royal crowns have special protection under intellectual property law and the couple were forced to abandon it.
Ahead of the interview airing in the US, Australia and the UK, the British tabloids launched what many will interpret as a preemptive strike, publishing reports quoting an unnamed royal aide who re-aired allegations that the Duchess of Sussex had, during her time as a working royal, bullied staff.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with the Queen at the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.Credit: AP
“Our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article,” a statement from Buckingham Palace said. “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 learned.” The Palace “does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace,” the statement said.
Harry is expected to talk with Winfrey about his mother’s experiences with the British tabloids, and how his fear that history would repeat itself was instrumental in his decision to leave both the royal family and the UK.
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago,” Harry tells Winfrey in the interview. “It has been unbelievably tough for [Meghan] but at least we have each other.”
It expands on a subject he touched on in another interview, with television host James Corden, last week. “We all know what the British press can be like, and it was destroying my mental health,” Harry told Corden, who is a friend of the couple. “I was like, this is toxic. So I did what any husband and what any father would do.”
The Duke of Sussex (bottom, left) as a boy with his brother, Prince William, and their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales.Credit: AP
The interview will begin with Winfrey and Meghan alone, discussing her experience joining the royal family, her treatment by the UK media and the birth of the couple’s first child, Archie. In the second part, Meghan will be joined by Prince Harry to discuss their future, including the upcoming birth of their second child. Winfrey has said that “nothing was off limits” in the interview.
The bigger question is whether the interview will achieve what is intended. As a platform to launch the couple’s American brand, there are few better than an audience with Winfrey, America’s national confessor-in-chief. But as a chance to tilt the already precarious PR compass in their favour, it may yet prove to be as disastrous a misstep as the last.
Oprah with Meghan and Harry will air Monday, March 8, on Ten at 7.30pm.