Harry and Meghan against the royal family, again
In anticipation of an expected interview, Markle said that the British monarchy "continues to spread falsehoods" about them.
In anticipation of an eagerly awaited interview with well-known television host Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle, wife of Prince Harry of the United Kingdom, said that the British monarchy "continues to spread falsehoods" about her and her husband. Markle's interview comes at a time of open hostility between the monarchy and the Sussex dukes Harry and Meghan Markle. In recent days, the Buckingham Palace administration has in fact launched an investigation into the alleged humiliations suffered by the palace staff by Markle, when she and her husband were active members of the royal house.
In early 2020, the two had decided to become more independent from the monarchy, giving up using their royal titles and moving to the United States. The January 2020 agreement between the Dukes of Sussex and Queen Elizabeth stipulates that Harry and Meghan are no longer "active members of the British royal family", although they continue to be part of it.
The queen's statement announcing the agreement was considered very friendly and conciliatory, but in recent months relations with Harry and Meghan have cooled: both have complained on several occasions about the too much media attention that was given to the couple, judged "distorted, false and intrusive", and a few weeks ago they announced that they would not resume playing an active role in the commitments of the royal family.
The two-hour special interview with Oprah Winfrey, which will air in the United States on Sunday on CBS and will be broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV on Monday 8 March, is also highly anticipated because in a preview that was released a few days ago Harry he said he feared that "history might repeat itself," referring to the pressure exerted by both the media and public opinion and the royal family on Diana Spencer, her mother.
The real protagonist of the interview, however, will be Markle, who will talk about her about her entry into the royal family, about marriage and motherhood, but above all about the hostility of the monarchy towards her and Harry.
In a new short excerpt from the interview, Winfrey asks Markle how she thinks the royal family will react to hearing her talk about her "her truths" about her. Markle replies, “I don't know how they can expect us to be silent after all this time. If there is an active role that the royal house is playing, it is that of continuing to spread falsehoods about us ". Markle then added that if exposing your version of the facts "involves the risk of losing something, well, there is already a lot that has been lost".
“There’s a lot that’s been lost already.”
— CBS (@CBS) March 4, 2021
CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A Primetime Special this Sunday at 8/7c. #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/iKFjiVP3IH
There is also another reason why there is a lot of talk about the interview: The Times ran an article on Tuesday about co-workers reporting complaints about Markle's alleged bullying behavior when she was serving the family. real. In October 2018, then-Secretary of Communications to the Dukes of Sussex, Jason Knauf, reported that Markle had sent away two personal assistants and that the staff of Kensington Palace - the royal palace where Prince William and his wife Kate also live. Middleton - had been "humiliated" on several occasions. Following Knauf’s report, the royal family administration announced Wednesday that it had launched an investigation into Markle’s alleged bullying behavior.
According to a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan, the Buckingham Palace announcement was specifically timed to go out just before the interview with Winfrey, and would be an attempt to spread "false, harmful and distorted information" about them. Lawyers for the Dukes of Sussex said the royal family "is using" the Times "to fuel a completely false narrative." Although there is currently no evidence that former collaborators have been encouraged to expose their complaints directly from the royal family, a spokesperson for the Dukes of Sussex said it was "no coincidence" that the allegations "aimed at discrediting the Duchess" arrive shortly before the interview.
According to Omid Scobie, co-author of the biography of Harry and Meghan Finding Freedom, the cultural differences between Markle and the royal family were seen early on. "She has an American work ethic," said Scobie, and in fact some of her behaviors when the dukes were on duty for the royal family had annoyed her collaborators and had been reported.
Peter Hunt, a former BBC correspondent at Buckingham Palace, said it was unlikely that Prince William's staff would have spoken to the press without his more or less tacit consent. However, another aspect that has attracted attention in this sense is precisely the personal and professional distancing between the Dukes of Sussex and the monarchy: also because Knauf is now the head of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. , William and Kate's leading charity.
