Story at a glance
- In an interview with Oprah, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, revealed how racism played a role in their departure from the royal family.
- The long-awaited story included several damaging allegations against members of the British monarchy.
- Despite backlash, there has been no response from Buckingham Palace.
It seems everyone has something to say about Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, from Meghan’s father to a former date. Everyone, that is, except the British royal family.
The Telegraph, a major British newspaper, reported that Buckingham Palace is expected to release a response on Tuesday, one day after the interview aired in the United Kingdom, but that Queen Elizabeth had not yet approved the statement. More than 17 million people watched the interview Sunday on CBS, according to preliminary Nielsen data, and another 12.4 million watched from across the pond on ITV the next day.
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Among other devastating allegations against the royal family and its advisors, Meghan said she was denied help after seeking mental health treatment for suicidal thoughts and that a member of the royal family expressed concern to Harry about the skin tone of their first child, Archie, before his birth.
“It’s probably the most damning condemnation of the royal family and how they operate I’ve ever heard,” Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, told The Guardian.
And yet, the palace has remained silent, at least thus far, although tabloids have reported emergency meetings at the palace and claimed Prince William is “devastated” by the interview. The British tabloids themselves were also under scrutiny for their treatment of Meghan, who is biracial, days after a U.K. judge ordered The Mail On Sunday to report a decision in her favor on its front page.
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Although the decision was made in February, the judge said, “the fact is that there has been just one short article on an inside page of the Mail on Sunday and two articles in MailOnline. There is something to be said for the claimant’s argument that the coverage of the case in MailOnline has not been very informative about the issues in the case and how they were resolved.”
Another frequent critic of Meghan, Piers Morgan, stormed off the set of “Good Morning Britain” after a co-host criticized his coverage of Markle in particular, who reportedly stopped talking to Morgan after the two went on a date. Her father, Thomas Markle, appeared on the show as well that morning.
Piers Morgan just walked off the Good Morning Britain set (!!!) after co-presenter Alex Beresford defended Harry and Meghan and condemned Piers’ treatment of them in yesterday’s programming pic.twitter.com/mH75J8ND4O
— Chris Rickett (@chrisrickett) March 9, 2021
Still, the Society of Editors UK defended itself against allegations that their coverage of Markle was racist, saying in a statement, “The UK media is not bigoted and will not be swayed from its vital role holding the rich and powerful to account.”
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