Meghan and Harry Oprah interview: Couple’s bizarre warning as Prince William denies racism
Prince Harry and Meghan’s press team issued a bizarre warning before their explosive interview, as Prince William responded to their racist claims.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s press team issued a bizarre warning to the BBC before their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
According to The Sun, a source said a publicist for the couple’s Archwell company reminded the network to be impartial in its coverage of the couple and not just use “old white men” in the ensuing interviews.
They were urged to use a “broad range of contributors” after the sit-down aired, The Sun reported.
“The BBC by its very nature has to be impartial at all times. So to be told how to conduct their coverage of a major news event by a PR person acting on behalf of Harry and Meghan is a bit strange to say the least,” a source told The Sun.
“This is the UK, not China. You can’t tell the BBC how to conduct its journalism, which frankly, was more than fair and balanced,” the person added.
PRINCE WILLIAM DENIES ROYALS ARE RACIST
Prince William has broken his silence after Prince Harry’s bombshell TV interview, and revealed where things stand with his brother.
He revealed the pair haven’t spoken since Harry and his wife Meghan Markle’s Oprah tell-all – in which they accused the royal family of racism and cruelty.
But it’s understood they are looking for ways to have a “heart-to-heart talk”. “They have opened communication channels,” a source told Page Six.
Prince William confirmed he had not yet spoken to Harry, while making his first public appearance since his brother’s allegations.
“No, I haven’t spoken to him yet but I will do,” Prince William said.
Prince William refuted his brother’s claims that the royal family is “racist”, issuing a strong defence of his family while visiting a school with his wife Kate in Stratford, East London.
“We are very much not a racist family,” William said.
His comments came after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle alleged that a senior member of the royal family had asked “how dark” baby Archie’s skin would be, in one of the most shocking moments in their Oprah Winfrey interview.
While it’s not clear exactly how much contact the pair have had, they are still on speaking terms after the tell-all, and have been communicating via WhatsApp for the better part of a year, New York Post reported.
‘WE GET TO TELL THE TRUTH’
Meghan and Prince Harry could release proof of racist comments made by a member of the royal family, a friend of the couple has warned, after the Queen released a statement saying “recollections may vary”.
The couple claimed a senior royal asked “how dark” baby Archie’s skin would be, that the palace did nothing to help Meghan when she was on the verge of suicide, and that Prince Charles stopped taking Prince Harry’s calls during their bombshell TV interview.
Actor Janina Gavankar, who has been a friend of Meghan’s for 17 years, warned there was more to come from the couple.
But she denied that they were trying to “nuke” the Royal Family while Prince Philip, 99, remained in hospital with a heart problem.
When asked if there were more claims, Ms Gavankar replied: “I didn’t plan to say this much but I really do feel like we’re in a new era”.
“We get to tell the truth, things are different now.”
The actor, who watched the interview with the couple, said she had been aware of Meghan and Harry’s racism claims before they were aired in the Oprah tell-all.
The couple were not paid for the interview, which was screened in more than 70 countries, and watched by an audience of 1.7 million in Australia.
Ms Gavankar, who received permission from Meghan to speak with ITV, said that she was disappointed with the Queen’s statement.
“One side I thought I’m so thankful that they are finally acknowledging the experience but on the other side I know that the family and the staff were well aware at the extent of it,” she said.
“And though their recollections may vary ours don’t because we lived through it with them and there are many emails and texts to support that.”
The Queen’s statement said the family would deal with the matter privately but was “concerned” about the racism claims and that they would be taken “very seriously”.
It came a week after the Queen also raised concerns about accusations published in The Times that Meghan had allegedly bullied staff. The matter is now being investigated in an internal probe that is unlikely to be released publicly.
Two staffers quit after claims Meghan was unreasonable and left them “shaking” and in tears.
Australian Samantha Cohen, who worked for the Queen for almost two decades, was also put under considerable pressure when seconded to help Prince Harry and Meghan, according to emails leaked to the newspaper.
Ms Gavankar, 40, dropped another bombshell, saying that one of the staffers was sacked for “gross misconduct” and denied that Meghan was a “bully”.
“I have known her for 17 years and I have seen the way that she regards the people around her and the people she works with,” she said.
“I can say she’s not a bully but I can also say that I am personally glad that people are doing their due diligence because I also know why someone had to leave and it was for gross misconduct.
“The truth will come out, there’s plenty of emails and texts about that.
“I’m just happy that it’s actually getting looked into because the truth really does set you free.”
CONFUSION OVER MEGHAN’S PASSPORT
Meghan Markle took at least 13 personal trips overseas after she started dating Prince Harry — despite claiming during her bombshell TV tell-all that the palace took her passport away when she joined the royal family, according to a report.
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey that she handed over her passport when she joined the royal fold in 2016.
“You couldn’t just go. You couldn’t. I mean, you have to understand, as well, when I joined that family, that was the last time, until we came here, that I saw my passport, my driver’s license, my keys,” Markle said.
“All that gets turned over. I didn’t see any of that anymore,” she added.
But insiders told The Sun that the 39-year-old visited at least 10 different countries as a tourist — and must have presented her passport.
Besides Queen Elizabeth II, all members of the royal family are required to have a passport on foreign trips, according to the outlet, which reported that Markle flew off on 13 holidays after she started seeing Harry, including jaunts to New York, Ibiza, Botswana, Italy and Amsterdam.
QUEEN ‘WANTS TO HEAL RIFT’
The Queen is planning to get a direct line to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to rebuild bridges behind closed doors after they revealed claims of racism at the top of the Royal Family.
The 94-year-old consulted with Prince Charles, 72, and Prince William, 38, before releasing a statement about the couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey that has rocked the Firm.
The Queen walked a careful tightrope with her comments, which showed love and care for Prince Harry and Meghan, who revealed in the sit-down she had suicidal thoughts because of the pressure of being a royal.
The Queen said she did not know the full extent of the couple’s pain before the interview.
In a carefully written 61-word statement a day after the interview first aired in Britain, the Queen attempted to calm the racism storm engulfing the Firm.
The Royal Family will investigate Prince Harry’s racism claims, which were taken “very seriously”, but the outcome will be kept “private”.
There are still questions about which royal asked “how dark” baby Archie’s skin would be, with Prince Charles, Prince William, Camilla and Kate under suspicion of making the comments.
“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” a statement issued by Buckingham Palace on behalf of the Queen said.
“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
The statement also made an attempt to keep the door open for Prince Harry, 36, Meghan, 39, Archie, 1, and the couple’s expected baby girl due in the American summer.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members,” the Queen added.
Omid Scobie, a Harper’s Bazaar journalist close to Meghan who wrote the flattering book Finding Freedom, said the statement was too little, too late.
He said it did not compare favourably with the statement the palace put out following bullying claims against Meghan last week.
“A statement that took two days to put together, lacking the vim and vigour showcased last week when the Palace announced to every media organisation in the world that they would be conducting an HR investigation into bullying claims,” Mr Scobie said on Twitter.
Buckingham Palace had a statement ready to be released shortly after the program aired in the UK on Monday night, but the Queen held it back while she considered her response.
Prince Harry’s anger at the racist remark, which he indicated was said when Meghan was pregnant with Archie, was still palpable in the interview.
The comment was made to him and then he relayed it to Meghan, who let it slip in her chat with her Californian neighbour and master interviewer Winfrey.
It underscored the couple’s continuing claims that Meghan was subjected to racist attacks by the British Press.
PALACE IN CRISIS OVER RACISM CLAIMS
Prince Harry did not reveal who made the comment, but clarified that it was not the Queen, nor Prince Philip, 99, who remains in hospital after three weeks of treatment.
Prince Philip has previously made questionable comments such as in 1986, when he told a group of British students during a visit to China: “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
Prince Harry was subject to a race inquiry in 2009 when he was heard on video calling one fellow military cadet a “Paki” and another a “raghead”.
He was also criticised in 2005 when he attended a fancy dress party dressed in a Nazi uniform with a swastika armband.
Meghan’s father Thomas Markle, 76, referenced the Hitler incident when interviewed on British television this week.
Prince Charles was out in north London at a vaccination centre, which was set up in a church popular with the area’s black community.
A reporter asked: “Sir, what did you think of the interview?” Clearly taken aback, Prince Charles turned to look at the reporter as he left the building and said “oh” and gave a nervous chuckle and carried on walking.
Prince Charles gave a speech praising the role black majority churches played in their local communities.
“As I’ve seen today, you’ve opened your church to the vaccine program to the whole community and you’ve been collecting and distributing food to those who need it most, as I’ve also seen,” he said.
“If ever we needed an example of how to be a good Samaritan, we need look no further.
“We are all immensely proud of the role black majority churches have been playing and it is a source of profound sorrow to know that black communities have been hit particularly hard by this pernicious virus.”
As he spoke healthcare worker Caroline Olodimeji, 67, Prince Charles asked where she came from, originally Nigeria but she had lived in the UK a long time.
The prince said “oh fantastic”, adding that he had been to Nigeria, and spoke about how many “different ethnic groups” there were in the country.
The royal family had been sweating on what to say in the statement for fear of further antagonising Prince Harry and Meghan.
“A denial could lead the Sussexes breaking their vow and naming the member of the royal family who discussed their son’s skin colour. There is a lack of trust,” an insider told The London Evening Standard.
“The feeling is it will be better to try to build bridges with the couple and to embrace them.
“However, this incendiary interview has caused pain and division. Trust is an issue.
“For Harry to say he feels ‘let down’ seems a little rich when you consider what he has done. The Duke of Sussex continues to say he respects his grandmother, but he has ridden roughshod over the institution she represents. Time is said to be a great healer, let’s hope so.”
A Black Lives Matter co-founder Opel Tometi demanded a boycott of the royal family.
Ms Tometi told American website TMZ that the comments referred to by Prince Harry showed that the royals may not value black lives.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
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