- Palace says ‘while some recollections may vary,’ but allegations of racism will be addressed ‘privately’
- Prince of Wales put on a brave face as he spoke to medics, clerics and patients at the Jesus House church
- Queen has spent past two days mulling over how to respond to Meghan and Harry’s damaging claims
- The entire Palace said to be ‘shocked and dismayed’ by claims made in the interview, which aired on Sunday
- Today, No 10 confirmed that Boris Johnson has watched the interview but he declined to give his opinion
By James Gant For Mailonline, 9 March 2021
The Queen has broken her silence on Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview to say the ‘whole family is saddened’ to hear how ‘challenging the last few years have been for them’.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, she added allegations of racism will be ‘addressed by the family privately’.
The statement said: ‘The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
‘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.
‘Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.’
It comes after senior royals broke cover today amid claims the palace is paralysed with fear that Harry and Meghan could out the figure accused of commenting on Archie’s skin colour if it denies the Royal Family is institutionally racist.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were out and about visiting several vaccination centres as part of their official duties, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were seen driving around London on personal errands.
Buckingham Palace is under intense pressure to issue its response to a cascade of extraordinary and damaging claims made in the Oprah interview on Sunday night.
A senior palace source today claimed the delay is partly down to a lack of ‘trust’ between the Windsors and the Sussexes, with fears a denial without fully investigating the claims could lead to Harry and Meghan naming the person they accuse of making the comment.
The Duchess of Sussex’s allegation that a senior royal asked Harry how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be and the claim the one-year-old was denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race – rather than because of protocol – are the most damaging to the royals.
‘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 Evening Standard.
The source added: ‘It could lead to the Sussexes naming names and it blowing up again.’
It came as Prince Charles smiled but stayed silent as he was quizzed about the interview on the first official engagement by a royal since it aired – as he told a nurse ‘I can imagine how exhausting it is’ as she described her work handing out vaccines.
The Prince of Wales – who is said to be ‘absolutely devastated’ at Harry’s claims he cut him off, put on a brave face as he spoke to medics, clerics and patients at Jesus House church near Brent Cross in London, following the deluge of personal attacks in front of a TV audience of 28million in the UK and US alone.
He was alone for that visit, although Camilla joined him later for trips to a vaccination centre in Elephant and Castle, south London, and the headquarters of NHS England.
One parishioner at Jesus House, who only gave her first name, Grace, highlighted that Charles had visited a ‘black church’, adding: ‘All that effort and someone turns around and says there’s racism, I don’t believe that’.
Harry – through back-stage comments to Oprah – has ruled out the Queen and Prince Philip as having made the comments about Archie but left other royals under suspicion.
Charles is said to be ‘deeply’ concerned over the racism claims, with a source saying: ‘It goes against everything the Prince of Wales believes in. He believes diversity is the strength of our society.’
This morning’s visit is understood to have been in the palace diary for some time, although the royals may have had a suspicion about what could be discussed in the Oprah interview in advance of it airing.
Charles seemed at ease as he chatted with people waiting for their vaccinations, including one woman who said she was from Nigeria.
The prince – who previously visited the church in 2007 – replied: ‘Oh fantastic, yes, I’ve been there. Lots of different ethnic groups. Do give them my kind regards next time you speak to them.’
As Charles left the church, a reporter asked, ‘Sir, what did you think of the interview?’, and after turning to see who had called out, he smiled and carried on walking.
In the Oprah interview, Charles was personally referenced by Prince Harry, who said he felt ‘really let down’ by his father after he allegedly refused to answer his calls during his time in Canada.
Harry also claimed his family had cut him off financially and suggested the Queen had been badly advised and had cancelled a meeting scheduled at Sandringham.
Discussing his father, Harry said: ‘I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like. I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.’
Royal insiders have rubbished the claims and said Charles feels ‘let down’ by his son’s comments.
‘The Prince of Wales went out of his way to make sure his son and daughter in law were financially supported,’ a senior source told the Standard.
Harry’s remarks raised eyebrows as the couple had themselves made clear their express wish to be ‘financially independent’ when announcing their decision to quit in January 2020.
Meanwhile, another source close to the heir to the throne told the Telegraph Charles will be left ‘absolutely devastated’ by what his youngest son had said about him.
As senior officials tried to work out how to respond:
The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and wife Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV (pictured)
Today, the Prince of Wales was praised for visiting the NHS pop-up vaccine clinic in spite of ongoing ‘family drama’. One woman, who only gave her name as Grace, claimed she briefly spoke to the heir to the throne.
‘He was quite interactive with the people in there in spite of all the drama going on,’ the 50-year-old said. ‘He took the time to come out here. I’m very happy he came out to encourage us to take the vaccine as well.’
She hailed the work of the church to help people ‘not to be afraid of the vaccine’ and for ‘creating a platform’ that had given ‘a lot more reassurance to black people and ethnic minorities’.
Grace said it would have been ‘rude’ for anyone to mention the Oprah Winfrey interview and repeated: ‘In spite of the family drama he still took time out to come here.’
In an apparent reference to Harry and Meghan’s claim an unnamed member of the royal family made a racist comment, Grace highlighted that Charles had visited a ‘black church’, adding: ‘All that effort and someone turns around and says there’s racism, I don’t believe that’.
She added: ‘Every family has issues, I don’t think it’s right for anyone to wash their dirty linen in public.’
Another patient said ‘private matters didn’t come up at all’ during the visit by the Prince of Wales.
Maziya Marzook, 42, from Harrow, said: ‘He didn’t bring up anything, he was more interested in how the vaccine was and how we feel.’
She said Charles was ‘doing his job’ and that he seemed ‘quite a nice person’ and appeared ‘humble’.
Ms Marzook, a housewife, added: ‘It’s good that he comes like this, the encouragement he’s giving.’
Royal aides were paralysed with ‘horror and dismay’ when watching the stream of damaging allegations yesterday as the Duke of Sussex stood accused of ‘blowing up his family’.
Today, the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to the string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV.
With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said.
The couple’s interview on CBS late on Sunday night sent shock waves around the world yesterday as the couple laid bare the extent of their rift with the Queen and other senior royals.
They accused an unnamed Royal Family member of racism, suggesting the relative had asked ‘how dark’ their baby would be; said they had been driven out of Britain, in part, by racism; and accused the Palace machinery of failing to support a ‘suicidal’ Meghan.
Meghan also accused her sister-in-law Kate of making her cry; suggested senior royals plotted to ensure Archie would never have a title or adequate security; and said officials had failed to stand up for the couple against ‘racist’ commentary, while lying to protect other royals.
A senior Government minister and Boris Johnson ally, Lord [Zac] Goldsmith, echoed the mood of many in royal circles yesterday. Responding to the suggestion that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had ‘loaded up a plane and dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace’, he tweeted: ‘Not ‘Buckingham Palace’ – Harry’s family. Harry is blowing up his family.’
A statement is understood to have been prepared by Buckingham Palace highlighting the Royal Family’s love for the couple, in an attempt to avoid tensions mounting even further. However the Queen was keen not to rush it out without careful consideration overnight, according to The Times.
Buckingham Palace, which was not informed about the couple’s decision to do the interview before it was first announced last month, had been bracing itself for the worst.
But aides could not have predicted how devastatingly brutal the couple’s interview – watched by 17million in the US alone but set to air last night to a global audience of many times more, including on ITV in the UK – would be.
The Mail has been told that royal staff stayed up until 3am to watch the interview via video link live from the US with a mounting sense of horror – and sadness.
The Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young and Charles’s private secretary Clive Alderton are both said to have watched the interview from Buckingham Palace.
Palace IT staff had set up a computer link so they could see it, while other members of staff watched it on their laptops while working from home, reported the Daily Telegraph.
Aides then had to prepare briefings from members of the Royal Family and agreed that any response would have to be co-ordinated between the Queen, Charles and William.
As morning broke, crisis meetings were called involving senior officials as well as senior royals, in person and on the phone, as well via video call.
The Queen, at Windsor, spoke with her son Charles, who was at Clarence House, his London home, and grandson William, who has also moved back to the capital from Norfolk in preparation for his children to return to school.
Sources told the Mail that household staff, many of whom had supported the couple as best they could during an ‘extremely difficult and trying three years’, felt ‘angry and let down’ but were determined to put a brave face on the situation for the sake of the elderly monarch.
‘Staff are reeling. But there is [also] a strong sense of needing to retain a dignified silence and show kindness and compassion. There’s a lot people want to say but no one wins with a tit-for-tat battle,’ said one. ‘Bridges need to be built after all this is over, after all.’
Most damaging are the couple’s claims that not only were they unsupported by both family members and staff, but they also suffered as a result of an apparent racist agenda against them.
Meghan suggested that race was the heart of every decision made against them. But there was bemusement among royal insiders at her claims that senior royals had tried to prevent their son, Archie, from having a title – or security – because of blatant prejudice.
‘They didn’t want him to be a prince,’ she told Miss Winfrey.
Long-standing rules, laid down by George V, mean that the title of HRH passes only to the children of a sovereign and their grandchildren through the male line, meaning Archie will only be given a title when his grandfather, Prince Charles, accedes to the throne.
The Queen can issue letters patent to change that on an individual basis but aides for Harry and Meghan briefed journalists at the time of his birth that they were very happy for him to be styled ‘Master Archie’ because they wanted him to have the same kind of freedoms as the prince’s cousins, Zara and Peter Phillips.
The Prince of Wales put on a brave face today as he visited a pop-up vaccination centre at Jesus House church near Brent Cross in north London, as he continued with his public duties amid the continuing fallout
Today Charles met with clerics and parishioners at the majority black church – which has overseen a drive to increase the uptake of the Covid vaccine among BAME people.
The Prince of Wales re-adjusts his face mask after visiting Jesus House church near Brent Cross this morning – in the first royal engagement since the Oprah interview
Charles got into the back of a car after ignoring a question about the interview, as he put on a brave face amid the continuing scandal
With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said
‘I think life is about being able to share stories you’re comfortable with’: Meghan says everyone should have ‘basic right to privacy’ in latest Oprah interview clip
Meghan Markle has said she and Harry are trying to share ‘parts of our lives’ they feel ‘comfortable’ with and said everyone should have a ‘basic right to privacy’ in the latest Oprah interview clip.
The couple have faced criticism for complaining about their own privacy being violated at the same time as sharing damaging details about private conversations they have had with senior royals in front of a global TV audience numbering in the tens of millions.
They have also been accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for releasing photos of private family moments on Instagram – prompting press stories of their private lives – while complaining about media intrusion after coverage that paints them in a bad light.
Asked by Oprah if she should accept that losing some privacy was ‘part of the deal’ of being a royal, Meghan argued that ‘everyone has a basic right to privacy’ and ‘I think life is about being able to share stories you’re comfortable with’.
In the previously unseen clip published by OprahMag.com, Meghan said: ‘Two things here. I think everyone has a basic right to privacy, basic. We’re not talking about anything that anybody else wouldn’t expect.
‘So if you’re at work and you have a photograph of your child on your desk and your co-worker says ”oh my gosh, your kids so cute, that’s fantastic… can I see your phone so I can see all your pictures of your child?”. You go, ”no, this is the picture I’m comfortable sharing with you”.
‘And then if they double down and say, ”no but you already showed me that one so you’ve got to show me everything, so I’m going to hire someone to sit in front of your house or hide in the bushes and take pictures into your back yard because you’ve lost your right to privacy because you shared one image with me”.
‘That’s sort of the flawed argument and operating mechanism that they’re confusing people to think.’
Meghan claimed she and Harry were not asking for complete privacy, but ‘boundaries and respect’. Advertisement
A source close to the Sussexes suggested yesterday the couple were so concerned about Archie’s security because of his mixed race heritage that they wanted him to become a prince so he would be afforded suitable security.
But insiders say there was never any doubt that the Queen’s great-grandson would be protected and although the Prince of Wales has made no secret of his desire to have a slimmed-down monarch, Harry and his family were always part of his plan.
There was no comment, however, on Meghan’s astonishing accusation that Kate had reduced her to tears ahead of the 2018 royal wedding over a bridesmaid dress fitting with her daughter, Princess Charlotte.
She even claimed her future sister-in-law ‘owned’ her mistake, apologised and bought her flowers, contrary to claims that it was she who had made Kate cry with her unrealistic demands.
‘She did what I would do if I hurt someone. Just take accountability for it,’ Meghan said.
The Duchess of Cambridge was yesterday seen driving, stony faced, near Kensington Palace as her office released a video of conducting a call to mark International Women’s Day by speaking to the youngest woman to row solo across an ocean.
The picture of strain was a stark contrast to a new image of Harry and Meghan, pregnant and cuddling Archie, in the garden of their home in California released by her friend, Misan Hariman, to also mark IWD.
The black and white portrait emerged on social media just hours after their interview – in which the couple revealed the second baby they were expecting was a girl – had aired.
A message read: ‘Welcome to the girldad club H!’
The Prime Minister refused yesterday to comment on the details of the Sussexes’ allegations – even when asked whether he believed members of the Royal Family might be racist.
But the White House backed the couple’s decision to speak out, a spokesman saying it took ‘courage’ for Meghan to open up about struggles with mental health problems.
And Labour called on the Palace to launch an investigation into the couple’s claims of racism.
Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was ‘really sad to see the family in turmoil like this’ and that the allegations made by the duchess must be taken seriously.
He added: ‘The issues that Meghan has raised of racism and mental health are really serious issues.
‘It is a reminder that too many people experience racism in 21st century Britain.
‘We have to take that very, very seriously.
‘Nobody, but nobody, should be prejudiced (against) because of the colour of their skin or because of their mental health issues.’
Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton bore a grim expression as she was seen driving herself through London yesterday
Labour education spokesman Kate Green went further, saying the duchess’s claims should be ‘fully investigated’ by the Palace.
But Tory MP Michael Fabricant accused Labour of trying to ‘politicise’ the row.
He told the Mail: ‘Labour are wrong to politicise this. They know full well that there will be inquiries going on.
‘They really do trying to be desperately insert themselves into the story to get attention.’
Mr Fabricant said: ‘Every family is dysfunctional one way or another.
‘The holder of every high position will have personal little secrets they want hidden. We are all human.’
‘I never played naked pool or dressed up like Hitler’: Meghan’s father Thomas Markle takes swipe at ‘snotty’ Harry, says his daughter ‘let him down but he still loves’ her – and insists the British public are NOT racist
By Martin Robinson and Henry Martin for MailOnline
Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas today denied his daughter’s claims to Oprah that he had ‘betrayed’ her before branding his son-in-law ‘snotty’ and declaring: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never played naked pool or dressed like Hitler like Harry did’.
Mr Markle says that he’s apologised ‘100 times’ for doing a deal with a paparazzi photographer before the Royal Wedding in 2018 and urged the couple to see him with Archie now they only live ’70 miles away’ from his Mexico home in Los Angeles.
And in an attack on his daughter’s decision to refuse to see him, Mr Markle said: ‘The biggest problem here is she’s pretty much ghosted all of her family’.
Thomas Markle has had his say on Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview to defend himself and the Royal Family, who he says aren’t racist, before laying into Harry claiming he had failed to properly support his daughter
Hillary Clinton says the ‘cruelty’ the British press showed to Meghan was ‘outrageous’
Hillary Clinton says the ‘cruelty’ the British press showed to Meghan Markle was ‘outrageous’ and has slammed the Royals for failing to support a ‘young woman who was just trying to live her life’.
The former Secretary of State made the comments during a live event with the Washington Post on Monday, a day after Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah aired on CBS.
‘I found it so heart-rending to watch,’ Clinton said, adding that she had met the pair before, as well as Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana.
The former Secretary of State made the comments during a live event with the Washington Post on Monday, a day after the couple’s interview with Oprah aired on CBS
Clinton then said it was ‘heartbreaking’ to watch the ‘incredibly accomplished’ Markle ‘not be fully embraced’ by both the ‘permanent bureaucracy that surrounds the Royal family’ and the UK press.
The former presidential hopeful said she too is no stranger to facing off with the British press, adding: ‘I’ve had my time in the box with the British tabloids, as anybody who is in the public eye has had, and their cruelty in going after Meghan was just outrageous.
‘The fact she did not get more support that the reaction was, you know, ‘let’s just paper it over and pretend it didn’t happen or it will go away, just keep your head down’—well, this young woman was not going to keep her head down.
‘You know, this is 2021 and she wanted to live her life, she wanted to be fully engaged and she had every right to hope for that,’ Clinton added. Advertisement
The 76-year-old also denied the Royal Family – or Britain – is racist, saying if it is true an unnamed royal asked about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be, it was probably just a ‘dumb question’, before calling Meghan and Harry’s claims ‘bulls**t’.
Mr Markle, who has watched the entire two-hour CBS interview, said he was ‘upset’ when he saw his youngest daughter tell Oprah that royal life was so stressful she was suicidal and ‘couldn’t be left alone’ – but then said Meghan’s husband Harry had ‘obviously not supported her that well’.
Mr Markle spoke to Good Morning Britain in the UK after watching the Oprah interview with his daughter and her husband, which was watched by 11.4million in Britain last night and tens of millions more when it was shown by CBS in the US on Sunday.
In it Meghan said she could not fathom hurting her son Archie in the way her own father ‘betrayed’ her, admitting she ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with Thomas. She said: ‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child’.
Mr Markle said that while he did let her down, she had ‘let me down too’ by cutting him off after heart surgery almost three years ago. He said: ‘The bottom line is she didn’t lose me, she made a statement saying she lost me, she didn’t lose me, I would’ve always been there for her, I’m there for her now if she wants me’. He added: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never played naked pool or dressed like Hitler like Harry did’.
Mr Markle was referencing Harry’s decision to wear a Nazi uniform to a party when he was 20 and seven years later in 2012 the prince was photographed wearing nothing but a necklace with a naked female playmate hiding behind him having just played a game of strip pool in his VIP Las Vegas hotel suite.
Describing his last phone call with Harry after heart surgery in May 2018, Mr Markle said: ‘Harry had said to me if you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened to you. Me, laying in a hospital bed after a having procedure, I had a stent put here and put here [points at his heart] and that was kind of snotty so I hung up on him.’
And in a further attack on Harry, Mr Markle said that his daughter’s admission she was suicidal while living in the UK reflected badly on his son-on-law.
He said: ‘It really did upset me, like I said, it would have been easy for her to reach out to me, any of the rest of her family, who she claims she doesn’t know. But the other thing is that I would think that she could turn to her husband.’ When noted she did, he said: ‘Obviously not supported her that well.’
But Mr Markle also used the rare interview to urge his daughter to reach out to him. He said: ‘I’d like to say again. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. This was two years ago. But I’ve tried to make it up to her. I’m now only 70 miles away. I’ve never stopped loving her. I don’t agree with all the things that my children they do. But I will always love them. And I certainly love Meghan’.
‘You’ve never liked her’: Piers Morgan storms off GMB during furious row with weatherman Alex Beresford who was speaking up for Meghan Markle
Alex Beresford added fuel to his row with Piers Morgan today as he took aim at those who ‘had the privilege to sit on the fence’ and said no one should ‘pick apart claims of racism.’
Morgan stormed off the Good Morning Britain set live on air this morning after the show’s weatherman accused him of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan Markle.
Morgan and Beresford had been discussing the Sussexes’ bombshell interview with Oprah, where the couple accused the Royal Family of racism.
After publicly disagreeing on Twitter in the days leading up to the interview, the pair continued to clash in the studio this morning, with Beresford branding his colleague ‘diabolical’.
Tensions were evidently rising as Beresford tried to interject while Morgan was discussing the media’s role in promoting the monarchy.
Morgan said, ‘Well do you mind waiting?’ and Beresford replied ‘Actually I don’t, carry on’ before Morgan let him speak, saying, ‘Up to you mate, I was just going to… fine.’
Beresford then joined the debate around the couple’s press coverage, adding: ‘There was bad press around the engagement, before the engagement and everything that has followed since has been incredibly damaging, quite clearly to Meghan’s mental health and also to Harry.’
Heated exchange between Piers Morgan and Alex Beresford before GMB host walked off set
Piers: William went through exactly the same thing. And he’s managed to come to terms with the media, and he works with the media and he recognises the media is there actually to perform two roles. One to hold them to account because they’re publicly funded. But secondly he also wants to promote the monarchy, because if the media doesn’t promote the monarchy, the monarchy slowly dies out.
Alex (interjecting): Piers, Piers
Susanna: Alex yes (gesturing for him to speak)
Piers: Well hang on, we’ll come to Alex in a sec
Alex: Oh ok, all right I’ll wait
Piers: Well do you mind waiting?
Alex: Actually I don’t, carry on
Piers: Up to you mate, I was just going to… fine
Susanna: I was going to make the point Alex that something very different happened with Prince Harry was that he was in a relationship with a woman who was very different and they felt the press then turned on them and was racist.
Alex: They have had an overwhelming amount of negative press. I watched the programme yesterday and yes they had some great press around the wedding. But what press is going to trash someone’s special day.
There was bad press around the engagement before the engagement and everything that has followed since has been incredibly damaging, quit clearly to Meghan’s mental health and also to Harry.
And I hear Piers say that William has gone through the same thing but siblings experience through tragedy in their life and one will be absolutely fine and be able to to brush it off but the other won’t be able to deal with it so strongly. And that is clearly what has happened to Harry.
He walked behind his mother’s coffin at a tender age in front of the globe. That is going to shape a young boy for the rest of his life. So I think we all need to take a step back.
I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this programme, a number of times. I understand you have a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one, and she cut you off. She’s entitled to cut you off. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has. But yet you continue to trash her’.
Piers (getting up from his seat): Ok, I’m done with this.
Alex: No, no, no, oh that’s pathetic.
Piers: Sorry. You can trash me mate but not on my own show. See you later (walking off set)
Alex: This is absolutely diabolical behaviour. I’m sorry but Piers just spouts off on a regular basis and we have to sit there and listen. 6.30 to 7am yesterday was incredibly hard to watch. He has the ability to come in here and talk from a position where he doesn’t fully understand’
Susanna: OK…
Alex: And I’m absolutely…
Susanna: OK, I think we all need to take a break
Show cuts to ads Advertisement
The weatherman, 40, then suggested Morgan, who has previously recalled going to the pub with Meghan ahead of her date with Prince Harry, was upset at being ‘cut off’ by the duchess.
He added: ‘She’s entitled to cut you off. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has. But you continue to trash her’ – at which point Morgan marched off set.
Susanna Reid was forced to send ITV’s breakfast programme to an early advertisement break after the row between her co-host and Beresford boiled over.
The GMB host returned to the set after the ad break, and said he and Beresford needed to engage ‘in a civilised manner given that we work at the same show on the same team’.
He added: ‘You launching into a pretty personally derogatory monologue on one of your colleagues probably isn’t one of the best ways to go about it.’
Morgan also went on to address criticism he received yesterday after seemingly casting doubt on Meghan’s claims to have felt suicidal. While doubling down on his ‘serious concerns about the veracity’ of her interview, he stressed mental health ‘should be taken extremely seriously’.
After the show ended Beresford tweeted what appeared a thinly-veiled dig: ‘I wish I had the privilege to sit on the fence.
‘In order for me to do that I would have to strip myself of my identity and that’s not something I can do. It’s not any of our places to pick apart claims of racism in order to make us to feel more comfortable.’
The fallout of Meghan and Harry’s sit-down with Oprah, that aired to British viewers on ITV last night, continues to dominate the news agenda this morning.
GMB aired a clip of the duke taking aim at the press, which kicked off a debate on the show.
Morgan argued the press performs a dual role of scrutinising the royals but also promoting their activities.
Beresford countered that most of the coverage of the Sussexes had been negative, before turning to address Morgan directly.
‘I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this programme, a number of times,’ he said.
‘I understand you have a personal relationship with Meghan Markle, or had one, and she cut you off. She’s entitled to cut you off.
‘Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has. But yet you continue to trash her’.
At this point Morgan, 55, stood up and said: ‘Ok, I’m done with this. Sorry. You can trash me mate but not on my own show. See you later’.
As the GMB host marched off, Beresford persisted: ‘You know what that’s diabolical behaviour. That’s pathetic.
His colleagues watched in stunned silence as he continued, calling Morgan’s comments in yesterday’s show ‘incredibly hard to watch’.
‘I’m sorry but Piers just spouts off on a regular basis and we have to sit there and listen,’ he said.
Reid eventually interjected and took the show to an early ad break while tensions cooled.
On Twitter Morgan fended off suggestions he was a ‘snowflake’ – something he rails against regularly on GMB.
Guido Fawkes, the political blog, tweeted: ‘What a snowflake @piersmorgan turns out to be. If you dish it out, you’ve got to take it.’
Morgan replied: ‘Agreed. I was annoyed, went for a little cool-down, and came back to finish the discussion.’
He added that it was a ‘strong debate’ and so ‘worth a bit of GMB family tension’, but justifying his exit, said: ‘I just prefer not to sit there listening to colleagues call me diabolical.’
After the break, Morgan returned and said: ‘What we need to do Alex is talk to each other in a civilised manner given we work on the same show on the same team.
‘You launching into a pretty personally derogatory monologue on one of your colleagues probably isn’t one of the best ways to go about it.
‘As much as I’d like to sit here taking abuse from you, that’s not going to happen.’
Beresford shot back: ‘I’m not trying to come on this show and take you down. Just because we’re on the same side we have to have the same view.
‘This whole situation is very personal for me and I’m by no way, shape or form accusing you of being racist. I have the luxury of knowing you on and off screen and we’ve had conversations, I know where you stand on this and I have a great amount of respect for you, Piers.’
The GMB show had already made headlines before Mr Markle spoke when host Piers Morgan walked off set live on air after being criticised by weatherman Alex Beresford who accused Mr Morgan of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan Markle
Morgan replied: ‘I wanted you on the show today because you sent me a really thoughtful and nuanced message about all this and I thought we could have a thoughtful nuanced conversation’.
Beresford then admitted: ‘I’m tired of finding a different way to explain not to you, but to so many people on why what has been said is so wrong.
He went on: ‘I’ve walked into institutions as the only person of colour and experienced covert and overt racism on so many occasions and why the Meghan interview really resonates with me is because an ex-work colleague – not on this show – asked me if I was worried about the shade of cocoa that my son was going to come out.
‘So I fully understand the hurt that is behind all of that.’
Morgan insisted he has not got a ‘racist bone’ in his body, saying he would ‘love’ if one of his children brought home someone from a different race.
Beresford said: ‘I don’t feel that you are a racist… but that’s why I just feel the stance you were taking on it yesterday was so strong I just felt it was slightly clouded because you’ve had an experience with her.’
The pair had rowed earlier in the week about the Oprah interview. Beresford tweeted: ‘You ever stop and think maybe you should give this woman carrying a baby a break?’
Morgan then replied: ‘You mean like she’s giving a 94yr-old woman a break as her husband lies in hospital?’ – a reference to the Queen and her husband Prince Philip.
The pair have locked horns before on air, including a similar debate about the Sussexes in January last year.
Just who ARE Harry and Meghan accusing of race slur? It’s not the Queen or Prince Philip… so who in the Royal Family is said by the couple to have queried the colour of their son’s skin?
By Rebecca English for the Daily Mail
Meghan and Harry sparked an extraordinary guessing game yesterday after accusing an unnamed member of the Royal Family of racism.
In one of the most shocking sections of the Oprah Winfrey interview, the duchess claimed that Harry was asked by a close relative ‘how dark’ their unborn baby would be.
Meghan and Harry accused an unnamed member of the Royal Family of racism during their interview with Oprah Winfrey
Former royal security unit chief blasts ‘arrogant’ assumption Harry and Meghan could retain their protection after stepping back
By Rebecca Camber, Crime and Security Editor for the Daily Mail
The assumption by Harry that tax- payers would fund security after he and Meghan left the UK was branded ‘arrogant’ and ‘unworkable’ yesterday.
Former chief superintendent Dai Davies, who led the Metropolitan Police’s royalty protection unit, said the couple’s plans were ‘utterly unrealistic’ and could have put British police at risk.
UK officers cannot carry guns under US laws or access intelligence about potential threats.
Donald Trump, who was then president, made it clear the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would have no US-funded Secret Service bodyguards after the couple moved to California from Canada in March 2020.
Harry told Oprah Winfrey they were informed at ‘short notice’ that their Met police security detail would be cut off.
The prince said, ‘Their justification was a change in status’, adding that he ‘pushed back’.
Mr Davies said he was ‘gobsmacked’ that the couple expected British taxpayers to pick up the bill – estimated at £4million a year.
He insisted: ‘It shows you their naivety and sense of entitlement.
‘It was utterly unrealistic to think they could continue to have their royal protection team working in America – in fact it would have put their [police] lives at risk.
‘There is a reciprocal agreement in place with the US for occasions like official state visits, but British officers couldn’t just carry on working there, unable to bear firearms and with no access to integrated intelligence from the security services. It was unworkable.’
He added: ‘It was simply arrogant to presume they and their baby would get protection.’
Russell Stuart, a former California State Guard officer turned celebrity bodyguard, pointed out that Harry and Meghan had increased their threat level by moving from Vancouver.
He said: ‘This is America. We’re a nation of gun owners, we’ve got a lot of weapons. We’re ten times the population of Canada.
‘California is a much bigger place, it’s more dangerous, you have a lot more potential threats than back in Vancouver.’
Initially when they went to Canada, the couple’s royal protection officers were given assistance by Canadian mounties, but this was only ever intended as an interim measure until other arrangements could be made.
The Canadian Government later confirmed it would stop providing security assistance to the family ‘in keeping with their change in status’.
Aside from the legal and practical difficulties of protecting a royal living abroad, the financial burden would have been astronomical.
The cost of a close protection team and static security at events was estimated at more than £1million a year when officers’ salary, overtime payments, overseas allowance, pensions, flights and accommodation costs were added up.
An armed team made up of at least six people including a principal personal protection officer and back up close protection officers accompanied the family at all times.
They work in pairs and if the couple travelled separately or attended separate engagements it required at least four of them to do the job as they work on relay shift patterns.
Many of the Scotland Yard officers who protected them had families in the UK and it would have been unfair to expect them to travel back and forth.
Such a vast expense would have been untenable at a time when Scotland Yard had already nearly doubled its flight budget to cover the escalating cost of protecting of globe-trotting Royals on official visits and holidays in 2019.Advertisement
She added that the unnamed Royal had raised ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born’.
The couple refused to identify the person concerned as it would be ‘too damaging to them’.
Speaking yesterday after the interview had aired in the US, Miss Winfrey revealed that Harry had asked her to make clear it wasn’t the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh – leaving only a handful of people it could be, including the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as the Duchess of Cornwall.
Palace insiders reacted with horror at the accusation last night, saying it was deeply unfair to throw around such a damaging accusation, potentially libelling a number of senior royals who are unable to defend themselves.
It was also pointed out that there was no context to the alleged comment, which might shed more light on why it was said.
And there appeared to be a contradiction about when it was said, with Meghan saying it was while she was pregnant, while Harry said it had happened before their wedding.
The bombshell claim came as the duchess was asked about why she believed the Royal Family were trying to stop her unborn son being made a prince and prevent him from receiving official security.
Miss Winfrey remarked that Meghan and Harry must have had their own ‘suspicions’, asking flatly: ‘Do you think it’s because of his race?’
Meghan said she would answer ‘honestly’, before going on to claim there were ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born’.
Reacting with exaggerated horror, Miss Winfrey asked who said that. Meghan sighed and said there were ‘several’ conversations about it with Harry.
‘About how dark your baby is going to be?’ asked Miss Winfrey.
Meghan replied: ‘Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.’ When pushed to reveal that person’s identity, Meghan refused.
Significantly, she revealed that the question was asked during conversations ‘family had with him’.
When Harry joined the conversation, Miss Winfrey quickly took up the issue with him, saying Meghan had revealed there was a ‘conversation about Archie’s skin tone’.
He nodded, clearly uncomfortable, admitted that it was ‘awkward’ and he was ‘a bit shocked’, but said he did not want to discuss it further.
Miss Winfrey said yesterday she had been ‘shocked’ at the alleged comment regarding Archie’s skin tone, but although she had tried to ask Harry for more information, both on and off-camera, he had refused to divest more.
However, he told her he wanted it made clear that the person concerned was ‘not his grandmother nor his grandfather’.
There was no comment from Buckingham Palace, but Charles’s biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, told BBC Radio 4 he could not believe it would have been the heir to the throne.
‘He is someone whose professional personal life has been dedicated to bringing people together, not pulling them apart,’ he said. As predicted, race was a defining feature of the interview, threading through much of the interview.
Harry claimed that a ‘large part’ of the reason he and his family quit the UK was down to racism.
In an extra interview clip, posted on Twitter by US broadcaster CBS yesterday, the couple were asked by Miss Winfrey: ‘Did you leave the country because of racism?’
After a pause, Harry admitted it was a ‘large part’ of their reasoning, before launching an attack on the ‘bigoted’ press in the UK.
The duke said it would have made a ‘huge difference’ if the Royal Family had acknowledged the couple’s concerns.
‘There’s a lot of people that have seen it for what it was,’ he said.
A lot of people. Like, it’s talked about across the world.
‘Yet, the very people that don’t want to see it or can’t see it choose not to see it.’
He said he has tried to ‘help them’ see what was happening to his wife and warned them that it was ‘not going to end well’.
Harry failed to reference his own indiscretions, including dressing up in a Nazi uniform and being filmed as a Sandhurst cadet using offensive and racist language to describe a colleague.
The couple refused to identify the person concerned as it would be ‘too damaging to them’. Pictured: Prince Charles poses for an official portrait to mark his 70th birthday in 2018 with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
Instead, he obliquely referred to ‘doing my own learning’, blaming ‘the system of which I was brought up in’ for his ignorance.
He added: ‘One of the most telling parts and the saddest parts, I guess, was over 70 Members of Parliament… came out and called out the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about Meghan.
‘Yet no one from my family ever said anything over those three years. That hurts.’
The duchess claimed the situation was made worse because royal press teams failed to come to their defence and correct inaccurate reports – as they had done for other family members.
Prince Philip, 99, wakes on 22nd day in hospital to the ‘worst Royal crisis since 1936 abdication’ after explosive Oprah interview aired on ITV – as Queen faces mounting pressure to respond to Harry and Meghan’s ‘nuclear’ claims
Prince Philip is spending his 22nd day in hospital today as his grandson Harry and his wife Meghan’s interview with Oprah continues to cause turmoil for his family.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 99, remains at the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, where he was moved back to on Friday following a successful procedure on a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London on Wednesday.
Anti-monarchy group Republic said the monarchy is now facing ‘its worst crisis since the abdication in 1936’ after the Sussexes ‘went nuclear’ in a show watched by tens of millions of people around the globe
Prince Harry spoke of being ‘let down’ and ‘cut off’ by his family in an interview broadcast as his grandfather Prince Philip lay in hospital
The Duke of Sussex accused the Queen of snubbing him after she was allegedly overruled by royal aides when she tried to invite him and Meghan on a trip to Sandringham after the couple announced they were stepping down.
Meanwhile, Prince Philip was cleared of making a racist remark about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be, with Oprah saying Harry had confirmed the comment was not made by the Duke of Edinburgh or the Queen.
In the Oprah interview Meghan said she phoned the Queen to ‘check in’ when Prince Philip was taken to hospital, three weeks ago.
But Buckingham Palace has been paralysed with ‘horror and dismay’ as Prince Harry stands accused of ‘blowing up his family’ with his bombshell interview – with the Queen said to have refused to sign off on a statement.
The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and wife Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV.
With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said.
The couple’s interview on CBS late on Sunday night sent shock waves around the world yesterday as the couple laid bare the extent of their rift with the Queen and other senior royals.
They accused an unnamed Royal Family member of racism, suggesting the relative had asked ‘how dark’ their baby would be; said they had been driven out of Britain, in part, by racism; and accused the Palace machinery of failing to support a ‘suicidal’ Meghan.
Harry revealed an astonishing rift with his father, saying his family had cut him off financially while suggesting the Queen had been badly advised and had cancelled a meeting scheduled at Sandringham.
Meghan also accused her sister-in-law Kate of making her cry; suggested senior royals plotted to ensure Archie would never have a title or adequate security; and said officials had failed to stand up for the couple against ‘racist’ commentary, while lying to protect other royals.
A senior Government minister and Boris Johnson ally, Lord [Zac] Goldsmith, echoed the mood of many in royal circles yesterday. Responding to the suggestion that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had ‘loaded up a plane and dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace’, he tweeted: ‘Not ‘Buckingham Palace’ – Harry’s family. Harry is blowing up his family.’
A statement is understood to have been prepared by Buckingham Palace highlighting the Royal Family’s love for the couple, in attempt to avoid tensions mounting even further. However the Queen was keen not to rush it out without careful consideration overnight, according to The Times.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 99, remains at the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, where he was moved back to on Friday following a successful procedure on a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London on Wednesday.
A bonfire of piping hot pique served up by Queen of the sofa: JAN MOIR gives her verdict on the interview the whole world is talking about
By Jan Moir for the Daily Mail
Whoever thought that royalty would one day deign to sit down with Meghan and Harry? Still, miracles do happen.
On a blameless spring day in California, the queen of the secular confessional dug out the orb of self-absorb along with the interceptor sceptre and sallied forth from her multimillion-dollar Montecito mansion to a friend’s multimillion-dollar Montecito mansion to interview Harry and Meghan, who arrived fresh from their multimillion-dollar Montecito mansion round the corner.
As Queen Oprah settled her guests among the lavender pots and lush greenery of this unnamed private estate, the pillared splendour told its own tale of the kind of sequestered luxury the Sussexes now call home.
Yet in this sun-dappled paradise, all they wanted to talk about was paradise lost.
‘I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name. I mean, there’s the loss of identity,’ said Meghan.
This was odd, considering that she has always seemed to quietly revel in her royally bequeathed duchessdom, but let’s not quibble because she is Speaking Her Truth and just trying to live her authentic life.
The Duchess of Sussex said she would answer ‘honestly’ before going on to claim there were ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born’
They cut our money – and drove us into the arms of Netflix: A £30m fortune for Harry while Meghan is worth £4m
By Glen Keogh for the Daily Mail
Prince Harry said he was persuaded to sign multi-million-pound deals with Netflix and Spotify when he was ‘literally cut off financially’ from the Royal Family.
The Duke of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey he stopped receiving income from Buckingham Palace shortly after he and Meghan announced their wish to step back as senior royals and spend time overseas.
Harry added that he would have been unable to pay for security to protect his family if it were not for money left to him by his mother Princess Diana in her will.
The couple raised eyebrows when they announced in September a deal worth an estimated £75million to make programmes for Netflix – despite citing lack of privacy as a reason for quitting the Royal Family.
In December, the couple announced a lucrative deal with audio streaming giant Spotify.
The deal, estimated to be worth around £18million, will see Harry and Meghan make podcasts for Spotify’s 320million monthly users to help listeners ‘connect to one another without distraction.’
Asked about the money-spinning partnerships, Harry told Miss Winfrey they were ‘never part of the plan’ but were suggested by a ‘friend’ when they feared financial issues.
He insisted: ‘My family literally cut me off financially and I had to afford security for us.
‘But I’ve got what my mum left me and, without that, we would not have been able to do this.’ He added of the issues he has faced: ‘I think she saw it coming.’
His claims of financial worries come as Harry faces the prospect of becoming richer than all other members of the Royal Family.
He and Meghan are predicted to become the world’s highest-earning celebrity couple with a fortune potentially stretching to $1billion (£700million) within a decade. That compares to the Queen’s wealth which is estimated at £350million.
As superstars of the international circuit, the couple are expected to command fees of up to £1million for speeches and appearances.
Diana left £21million to her sons William and Harry, to be held in trust until they turned 25.
Estimates now put Harry’s portion at up to £20million as it gained value over time.
The duke also received an estimated £7million from the Queen Mother’s will after she died in 2002. His overall net worth is believed to be £30million while Meghan’s is said to be £4million.
When she starred in US TV drama Suits she was paid £2million over six years. She also raked in six-figure sums for film roles and owns property in Toronto.
Before stepping back from royal duties in December 2019, Harry received the vast majority of his income from the Duchy of Cornwall – a portfolio of property and financial investments managed by Prince Charles.
For the financial year 2018-19, this amounted to more than £5million.
It is believed Charles, who initially continued to fund the couple, withdrew financial support from the duchy last year when it became clear their move to the US was permanent.
She added that she hoped people would watch the show and realise that, despite everything, ‘life was still worth living’. Good to know!
Oprah’s task was a simple one: to grill the Duke and Duchess on the fractious circumstances behind Megxit.
I say grill, but the chat show veteran didn’t have to rake over many coals to get to the main beefs.
Indeed, Oprah had barely put a match to their gas-fuelled umbrage before it all went up in a bonfire of piping hot pique.
Kate made Meghan cry! The Royal Family was racist! No one taught Meghan how to sing the National Anthem and she had to Google it all by herself, Oh My God the suffering, nothing happy and glorious about that, let me tell you.
The entire country of Not-So-Great Britain was put in the dock and found wanting and, even worse, there were money worries when 36-year-old Harry revealed that his family had ‘literally cut me off financially’.
He was left to scrape together a living from only the millions his mother had left him. ‘Without that we would not have been able to do this,’ he said.
Indeed, throughout the broadcast there was so much complaining about who was and who wasn’t going to pay for Harry and Meghan’s security that I felt like offering to pay for it myself, if only to shut them up.
For the first half of the interview, it was just the two women; Oprah in a pink jumper with matching spectacles, sensible flat boots and magnificent hairdo.
Meghan was in Elegant Duchess high heels and black wrap dress, telling her version of events like someone reliving the horrors of the night while relaxing on a sunbed, cocktail to hand.
She was poised, purposeful and delivered a strong performance full of dramatic pauses, deep breaths, Streep-like sideways glances and the occasional trembling lower lip.
When Harry appeared in the second half, it was interesting that Meghan took on a more supplicant role, gazing at her husband in adoration as he talked emotionally of the ongoing estrangement from his father and his brother.
Yet despite this, she was still in charge; reassuring him, rubbing his arm, nodding in agreement even as the chasm peeled open ever wider between the two families.
Here, too, the nature of their relationship seemed clear; he is the Rodney to her Del Boy, she is the princess to his pea.
‘No one in my family ever said anything over those three years. And that hurts,’ Harry said, of perceived slights to his wife.
Yet amid the 50 shades of green in this far-flung Garden of Eden they still had each other and their fingers were entwined like bindweed.
The original interview was three hours and 20 minutes long, edited down to 85 minutes of pure peeve — or ‘setting the record straight’, as Oprah insisted.
In America it was shown between adverts for loo paper, pistachio nuts, almond milk and car insurance.
There was a product that promised to get rid of sudden overnight wrinkles and I immediately thought of the Queen, who deserves so much more than this life–shortening opera courtesy of her blunderbuss grandson, this farrago of miff and huff.
The Sussexes did take pains to compliment HM, who gave Meghan some pearls, once shared a knee blanket and was kind.
She was practically the only soul who emerged with a shred of dignity from the entire programme.
Even still, the show remained a royal spectacle — it was right up there with Prince Edward’s It’s A Knockout fiasco and Prince Andrew’s ceremonial flaying by the BBC’s Emily Maitlis.
‘What?’ Oprah would cry, saucer-eyed, as the couple dropped another killer zinger and detailed their belief that everyone was out to get them, almost from the start.
Harry and Meghan gushed about their new life in Los Angeles in the Oprah interview aired Sunday as they shared candid footage of son Archie playing on a beach and showed off the hens they rescued from a factory farm.
Meghan told the talk show host, who also happens to be a neighbor, how their move to California was ‘greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read’ after revealing she had been left feeling suicidal while living as a senior royal in the UK.
She claimed she and Harry want to ‘live authentically’ and get back ‘down to basics’ as they offered a glimpse into their life in their $14.5million mansion by showing Oprah around Archie’s chicken coop.
The couple moved into their sprawling nine-bedroom and 16-bathroom mansion in upscale Montecito for $14.65million in June last year.
The 14,563-square-foot home, known as ‘The Chateau’, sits on 5.4 acres of land and immaculately clipped hedges border the estate’s stone-pillared entry gates.
Property listings say the home took nearly five years to build and included a library, office, spa with a separate dry and wet sauna, a gym with a stripper pole, game room, arcade, theater, wine cellar and five-car garage.
The entrance to the property opens onto a wide lane paved with hand-cut Santa Barbara Stone that leads through a grand archway of trees to the main residence, according to Zillow.
The estate has sweeping lawns, tiered rose gardens, tall Italian cypress trees, blooming lavender, century old olive trees, a tennis court, tea house, children’s cottage and a pool.
It also boasts a two-bedroom, two-bath guest house, perfect for Meghan’s mother Doria, who is acting as one-year-old Archie’s nanny Advertisement
As the minutes ticked by, it became obvious that the Sussexes’ revelations were designed to cause maximum damage to the Royal Family.
From the outset, the bomb-bay doors were open wide on this transatlantic revenge flight, the missiles falling like the raindrops Harry recently urged us all to become.
As Oprah nodded in empathy to their litany of woes, Sussex scold followed Sussex grievance followed terrible Sussex allegations about remarks made over their son Archie.
On the screen — but not off it, according to Oprah —the Sussexes stopped short of actually accusing anyone of anything, which was perhaps the worst crime of all.
For it leaves newspapers, internet chatrooms, social media and uninformed speculation — everything in the world that they profess to hate — to do the dirty work for them.
Look at them, pretending to hide under the petticoats of discretion in such a disingenuous fashion.
What a pair of dangerous cowards they are.
In the history of chat shows, has anyone ever used the forum for a more brutal and sustained attack?
Harry and Meghan clearly have suffered difficulty and pain — how we all wish things had been different on all sides — but was this carpet-bombing really necessary?
As one would expect from a friend, neighbour and wedding guest, Oprah did not probe or question too closely when the couple became vague on details, as they often did.
They, them, the institution, The Firm? Who were they talking about?
Who said what? How and when? Clarification came there none, as Oprah moved swiftly on to the next unsubstantiated allegation.
Interestingly, there was very little discussion of Thomas Markle — a key figure in the Sussex drama — which makes one suspect that questions about him were discouraged.