Queen in crisis talks as Royal Family left ‘reeling’ & yet to respond 24 hours after bombshell Meghan & Harry interview
THE Queen was locked in crisis talks after the Royal Family was left “reeling” by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah, it was reported overnight.
Buckingham Palace is yet to officially respond to the tell-all chat that saw Meghan Markle break down in tears as she and Prince Harry revealed the pressures they had faced within the Royal Family.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest news...
The interview was first aired in the US – in the early hours of Monday morning in the UK – before being broadcast to British TV screens on ITV on Monday night.
And 24 hours on from the interview’s first broadcast, senior members of the Royal Family – including the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William – were still said to be locked in crisis talks.
And The Times reported overnight that the Queen had refused to sign off a prepared statement – with the monarch reportedly wanting more time to consider her response.
A royal insider told the Daily Mail that Harry had pressed the “nuclear button on his own family” with the two-hour interview.
But royal insiders claimed there was a sense of “intense personal shock and sadness” – with the palace said to be paralysed with “horror and dismay”.
A source said: “There’s a lot people want to say but no one wins with a tit-for-tat battle.”
Concerns have now been raised that this week, all senior members of the Royal Family are expected to carry out public engagements – where they could face questions about the Oprah interview.
A senior royal source told the Telegraph: “The institution needs to lead the response to this. What a sad, terrible morning.”
Meghan, 39, broke down in tears during the explosive interview with Oprah – revealing she had been left suicidal after joining the Royal Family and that she had faced racism within the institution.
Recounting how she sobbed in her husband Prince Harry’s arms, she said: “I just didn’t see a solution. I didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
It comes as…
- Prince Harry hit the ‘nuclear button’ on his family in the interview, insiders claimed
- Meghan Markle is reported to have slammed the door in Kate Middleton’s face when the duchess tried to apologise over an incident over flower girl dresses
- ITV Hub crashed as the interview was broadcast on the UK screens
- Oprah revealed Prince Harry insisted the Queen and Prince Philip were not the Royals who expressed concerns about Archie’s skin colour
- A new photograph of the couple with Archie was released
- Thomas Markle will be interviewed on GMB
- Harry and Meghan held a private ‘exchange of vows’ before their wedding
- The full transcript of the interview can be read here
The Duchess of Sussex said there had been conversations with Prince Harry and a “family” member about their unborn son and what colour his skin would be – and “what that would mean or look like”.
But the 39-year-old declined to say who had started those conversations, saying it would be “damaging” for them.
Prince Harry, 36, said he would “never share” the full details of the discussion but that he was asked at the start of his relationship with Meghan, how dark the skin of their children might be.
Oprah Winfrey yesterday revealed it was not the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh who made the comment about Archie’s skin.
But the host had been left shocked by the revelations by Meghan, with the Duchess claiming the Firm had not wanted her son to be a prince and that he would not receive security.
Meghan said: “In those months when I was pregnant, all around same time: we have in tandem he won’t be given security, a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Oprah was left stunned and replied: “What? There is a conversation…hold on. Hold up. Hold up. Stop right now.
Asked whether there were concerns that her child would be “too brown” and that would be a problem, Meghan said: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”
Meghan reveals to Oprah concerns were raised by royals over Archie's skin colour
Oprah: You certainly must have had some conversations with Harry about it and have your own suspicions as to why they didn’t want to make Archie a prince. What are those thoughts, why do you think that is? Do you think it’s because of his race? I know that’s a loaded question.
Meghan: I can give you an honest answer. But in those months when I was pregnant, all around same time: we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.
Oprah: What? Who, who is having that conversation with you? What?
Meghan: So, um,
Oprah: There is a conversation – hold up
Meghan: there are several conversations about it, with Harry
Oprah: there was a conversation with you about how dark your baby is going to be?
Meghan: Potentially, and what that would mean or look like
Oprah: And you’re not going to tell me who had the conversation?
Meghan: I think that would be very damaging to them.
Prince Harry confirmed he had been involved in the conversations but said he would never share the details.
He said: “At the time it was awkward but I was a bit shocked.”
Oprah had last night introduced the interview by confirming that “no subject is off limits” and that Meghan had not been paid for the chat.
And the US chatshow queen quizzed Meghan over the decision that son Archie would not be a prince.
However, Meghan said of the lack of title: “It was not our decision to make.”
Meghan – who is now pregnant with a little girl, added: “That was when they were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or a princess.”
Under rules brought in by George V in 1917, only the children and grandchildren of a sovereign have the automatic right to be a prince or princess, and use the HRH title.
Archie is the great-grandchild of the Queen, but will be a grandchild of the ruling sovereign when Charles becomes King, and thus would then be entitled to the titles.
Under George V’s declaration, of the Queen’s great-grandchildren only Prince George is actually entitled to be a prince because he is in the direct line of succession to the throne as the eldest son of Prince William, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
However, ahead of George’s birth, the Queen stepped in to issue letters patent, ensuring that Kate and William’s children would have the prince and princess titles.
They are the children of a future monarch, but Archie is not.
Prince Harry insisted he would never blindside his grandmother with an interview – saying he had too much respect for the Queen.
However Meghan and Harry claimed the 94-year-old did snub them by cancelling an overnight stay at Sandringham amid Megxit.
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Other bombshells revealed by the couple in the two-hour special on CBS included confirmation of a falling out between Meghan and Kate Middleton.
Meghan claimed she had been the one left in tears after a confrontation over the bridesmaid’s dresses with the Duchess of Cambridge.
But the couple said they were now “thriving” – and revealed they were expecting a little girl in the summer.
