The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Oprah I - Pre-interview, Feb-March 2021

[US Royal Watcher]

They won their case in early February yet the accusations emerge right before the interview? I think it's fairly far-fetched to try to pretend there isn't a correlation.

So two "friends" have criticised the BRF (in response to the leaks). Not sure how it changes my point that the surest way for HM to avoid getting blamed for leaks is to put a stop to the leaks.

I haven't seen anyone bringing up Andrew's actions (which extend a bit beyond just friendship with Epstein) to counter the allegations against Meghan. Only people being confused about the firm's combative reaction to H&M juxtaposed to their almost non-existent reaction to Andrew.

I'm sorry but I still don't understand. I would agree that the timing of the news article about the claims of bullying coincide with the interview but if Harry and Megan can't control that the interview is being aired while Philip is in the hospital, why do you think the staff and Buckingham palace can control the timing of the article about it?

With respect to the Queen stopping leaks, if she could do so, she would have done so long ago. Meghan and Harry are the ones who are complaining publicly about these criticisms. I believe people should hold themselves to the same standards they have for others.

As to you last point - you brought up Andrew, which I think some Meghan and Harry supporters are doing to distract against the very serious allegations about Meghan. Regardless, my understanding is that the authorities conducted a criminal investigation into the allegations against Andrew. Even if you think there is something the palace should investigate that the police didn't, the allegations against Andrew did not involve the palace workplace environment. The allegations against Meghan do. Moreover, my understanding is that the investigation into the bullying complaints is not about Meghan but rather, how those complaints were handled.

I'm not directing this comment to you, but several Meghan and Harry supporters kept implying that the royal family had something to hide because they were worried about the interview. By that logic, why is Meghan so worried about the investigation?

 

[Claire]

My major concern here - is that there is already a concern that this bipolarization of opinion will encourage the weird to come out of the woodwork. BP have placed more people on the watch list in the last 3 years then they have in the existence of the watch list. You do not have to go on Twitter to see the tone and severity of many of these fans - it only takes 1 fool with a weapon. Meghan's friends are encouraging this behavior. And personally I think that Meghan and Harry need to reign their supporters in.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Im still puzzled about the "neighbours wearing tiaras" but -
and Im also puzzled as to who is so "common" in the RF? the queen? She has a bad blind spot over Andrew, but other than that, she's generally felt to be a dignified and dutiful sovereign. Philip? Charles and Camilla now happily married for 15 years and both doing thier job. William and Kate? Edward and Sophie?

You are puzzled about my comments that for the most part...the certain members of the BRF are more like people i work with and intereract with daily than true Royalty? And that they have contributed to diminishing the prestige of the monarchy?

And i made sure to qualify my criticism s about the BRF by saying "WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS".

I don't know how to make it more clear...but i stand by every word.

 

[Denville]

You are puzzled about my comments that for the most part...the younger members of the BRF are more like people i work with and intereract with daily than true Royalty?

And i qualified my comments by saying "WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS".

I don't know how to make it more clear. Sorry.

It seems to me that the large majority of the working royals are reasonably sensible dutiful people... not prone to causing scandals..
I think I grasp your point better now.. but if you're saying that Will and Kate for example are a different royal couple to Philip and Elizabeth II, yes, of course they are. They're still rich, privileged and royal, but they were brought up in the late 20th century, and were given a relatively "ordinary" upbringing.. I suspect that they're happier to look after their kids themselves a lot of the time.. and to go and stay with Kate's middle class parents...
If they were like old fashioned royals of the 1920s or the Victorian age, they simply would not survive, and neither would the monarchy....

 

[Durham]

My major concern here - is that there is already a concern that this bipolarization of opinion will encourage the weird to come out of the woodwork. BP have placed more people on the watch list in the last 3 years then they have in the existence of the watch list. You do not have to go on Twitter to see the tone and severity of many of these fans - it only takes 1 fool with a weapon. Meghan's friends are encouraging this behavior. And personally I think that Meghan and Harry need to reign their supporters in.

It doesn't help when public figures like Gayle King bandy about words like "vilified". King doesn't know any more than the rest of use whether these reports of bullying are justified or not.

Not to mention the intemperate rant from Patrick Adams.

It's very instructive to see how CBS News is treating a former staff member of the NY Governor who has complained about her treatment. Maybe CBS should put out a hand to the alleged victims of Meghan Markle & Harry Windsor.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Squidygate. Nuisance phone calls.Panorama interview. Charles on tape talking dirty to his mistress. Fergie getting her toes sucked in the South of France.Harry running naked through Vegas hotel rooms...that's just a few.

It is the cumulative effect of all these things i feel have sometimes given a soap opers feel to the Windsors and contributed to the trivialization of the BRF Denville.

I don't agree that dignity is old fashioned for Royals...or anyone else.

 

[Denville]

Squidygate. Nuisance phone calls.Panorama interview. Charles on tape talking dirty to his mistress. Fergie getting her toes sucked in the South of France.Harry running naked through Vegas hotel rooms...that's just a few.

It is the cumulative effect of all these things i feel have sometimes given a soap opers feel to the Windsors and contributed to the trivialization of the BRF Denville.

I don't agree that dignity is old fashioned for Royals...or anyone else.

30 years ago when most of these things happened...

 

[tommy100]

My major concern here - is that there is already a concern that this bipolarization of opinion will encourage the weird to come out of the woodwork. BP have placed more people on the watch list in the last 3 years then they have in the existence of the watch list. You do not have to go on Twitter to see the tone and severity of many of these fans - it only takes 1 fool with a weapon. Meghan's friends are encouraging this behavior. And personally I think that Meghan and Harry need to reign their supporters in.

THIS!!

Ab Fab actress Joanna Lumley said she wouldn't watch the interview and hated how it pitted people against each other due to differing opinions and I have to say I agree. I'm not sure who benefits from the interview but civility, harmony and getting along certainly does not. These forums show that all too well sometimes. Some people will take things too far and that is really dangerous.

What annoys me the most if there have nothing to talk about - wait until you have a project to talk about (unless maybe they announce something specific). ATM it just looks like they are going to Oprah to dish on the RF.

Not sure if it has been posted already but Yougov has a poll out about how interested people in UK are to watch:

Very - 11%
Somewhat - 20%
Not very - 18%
Not at all - 49%
Don't know - 2%

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Did you not get the part where i said " for starters " Denville??

Harry's Vegas Adventure was NOT 30 years ago...neither was Fergie's Pay for Access embarrassment and certainly not Andrew/Epstein.

This is off topic...so I am not going to go further with it.

 

[evolvingdoors]

So, if to judge by a post and its comments in a facebook group of individuals from my country who reside all over the world, the couple are now a mere laughing stock to them.

None of them understand why they doing the interview, the only reason everyone agree on is that they are seeking attention.

A few, who were on their side are even saying they no longer think favortly about the couple because of the fact that they are doing this interview.

Everyone agrees it is a bad idea and will boomerang on them in the long run.

 

[HighGoalHighDreams]

As airing hour nears, I can't help but laugh thinking the most explosive bits of this interview have been shown in the teasers and most of the rest of the two hours will be quite routine of the couple talking about Archewell and the daily routine of their lives. I think 75%+ of this interview will be rather, well, dull.

Of course, this would not have garnered any attention for the producers of this show, who have framed this interview as if we will have two hours of explosive revelations.

 

[Alisa]

I for one can't wait to watch. This interview is going to be good.
It will no doubt provide The Daily Mail, The Sun and other tabloids with content for at least a month.

 

[QueenMathilde]

So the title of this thread is the pre interview thread. Do I come here to read what everyone thought or is there going to be a post interview thread?

 

[Leopoldine]

Camilla Long has weighed in on the upcoming interview. The article is behind the Times paywall, and it's a doozy.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-a-bare-knuckle-fight-they-cant-win-c0cxv7ckf

Ms. Long describes Meghan's "truth" (her quote marks, not mine) as "an unstoppable Krakatoa of toxic sniping and petulant Marie Antoinette revelations." She asserts that the interview will be just the beginning, that Harry and Meghan's bread-and-butter is now attacks on the Royal Family.

She also characterizes the whole kerfuffle as basically Meghan vs. William, and compares the heightened drama surrounding this to O.J Simpson's famous car chase.

The monarchy comes in for some criticism, being described as "an arid boot camp of duty and devotion."

 

[Alison H]

I don't think anyone particularly anticipated this, when Harry and Meghan first left - or am I being naïve? I think people were concerned that they'd embarrass the Royal Family by going for every commercial deal going, and that we'd get adverts saying "Hey, the Queen's grandson Prince Harry never gets his burgers and fries anywhere but Such-A-Place" or Meghan doing a voiceover on the next Disney princess film and that sort of thing, but not all this "toxic sniping", as Camilla Long very accurately puts it.


This is just horrible. It's doing no-one any good, and must be very upsetting for the Queen and Prince Philip, who don't need all this grief at their age. What is Harry thinking of?

 

[poppy7]

Camilla Long has weighed in on the upcoming interview. The article is behind the Times paywall, and it's a doozy.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-a-bare-knuckle-fight-they-cant-win-c0cxv7ckf

Ms. Long describes Meghan's "truth" (her quote marks, not mine) as "an unstoppable Krakatoa of toxic sniping and petulant Marie Antoinette revelations." She asserts that the interview will be just the beginning, that Harry and Meghan's bread-and-butter is now attacks on the Royal Family.

She also characterizes the whole kerfuffle as basically Meghan vs. William, and compares the heightened drama surrounding this to O.J Simpson's famous car chase.

The monarchy comes in for some criticism, being described as "an arid boot camp of duty and devotion."

Camilla Long is a ....This was funny though but I do take issue with the she was a bit rude. I dont think that is it.

 

[Muhler]

Camilla Long has weighed in on the upcoming interview. The article is behind the Times paywall, and it's a doozy.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-a-bare-knuckle-fight-they-cant-win-c0cxv7ckf

Ms. Long describes Meghan's "truth" (her quote marks, not mine) as "an unstoppable Krakatoa of toxic sniping and petulant Marie Antoinette revelations." She asserts that the interview will be just the beginning, that Harry and Meghan's bread-and-butter is now attacks on the Royal Family.

She also characterizes the whole kerfuffle as basically Meghan vs. William, and compares the heightened drama surrounding this to O.J Simpson's famous car chase.

The monarchy comes in for some criticism, being described as "an arid boot camp of duty and devotion."

I don't believe it is their bread and butter now.
It could, repeat could, become their bread and butter at a later stage if their situation becomes desperate or deluded enough. That cannot be ruled out 100 %. It is however an option that is IMO most unlikely to happen.

If, and again I repeat if, they should embark on some sort of crusade against the BRF or just William, then I would of course lose everything for Meghan.
But Harry... He would be beyond contempt in my eyes. He would betray his family and his country. Even if it was just Meghan saying the words, he would fail as a husband, son, grandson, brother, royal and a Briton for not preventing it.

I simply cannot imagine anyone but the most fanatical fan, viewing such behavior with anything else but scorn.
H&M would simply have to go collectively insane.

 

[Mbruno]

Camilla Long has weighed in on the upcoming interview. The article is behind the Times paywall, and it's a doozy.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-a-bare-knuckle-fight-they-cant-win-c0cxv7ckf

Ms. Long describes Meghan's "truth" (her quote marks, not mine) as "an unstoppable Krakatoa of toxic sniping and petulant Marie Antoinette revelations." She asserts that the interview will be just the beginning, that Harry and Meghan's bread-and-butter is now attacks on the Royal Family.

She also characterizes the whole kerfuffle as basically Meghan vs. William, and compares the heightened drama surrounding this to O.J Simpson's famous car chase.

The monarchy comes in for some criticism, being described as "an arid boot camp of duty and devotion."

I don't think Camilla Long had access to an advance copy of the interview, but it makes sense that attacks on the Royal Family and fomenting the image of a feud with William and Catherine in particular would be now Meghan's "bread and butter" to stay relevant to the American entertainment media, especially now that she is officially out as a working member of the Family. I just don't know how much longer she will be able to play this game and still draw an audience. It looks to me like a self-defeating strategy in the long run.

 

[Durham]

This was linked to an article in The Guardian. About US attitudes. No idea how accurate these polls are.

https://morningconsult.com/2021/03/04/royal-family-favorability-harry-meghan-oprah/

 

[evolvingdoors]

Did you not get the part where i said " for starters " Denville??

Harry's Vegas Adventure was NOT 30 years ago...neither was Fergie's Pay for Access embarrassment and certainly not Andrew/Epstein.

This is off topic...so I am not going to go further with it.

Honestly, In my opinion all these things minimize compared to Harry Nazi costume and his caught on tape racism.

 

[Marengo]

If we can all leave Andrew, Nazi-costumes etc out of this discussion for now that would be great. The interview will start in a few hours so let's focus on that instead. Time to drop the subject and move on...

 

[Hallo girl]

I 100% agree with this ^^, I don't think it is a bad thing to want fame. But what Meghan didn't realise is that royal fame comes with a lot more responsibility than being famous as an actress or on your own in some other way. The Vanity Fair cover certainly made a statement about the way Meghan saw being involved with the RF. As I recall not all that many people even speculated they were an item at the time so it wasn't about confirming a widely held believe but really making a statement that the two were together and Meghan was now 'in with the royals'.
I guess the hope was that with the right support rather than Hollywood style support she would easily move across into this different yet not all too dissimilar role.

Sad, Oprah is a great interviewer and it would be great to see her talk and ask about some of these issues (even without being too critical)with Meghan and Harry. More likely we'll get 2 hours of soft questions all based around the version of the truth Meghan and Harry want to tell.

Hints were being dropped, then there was the necklace with the H and M on it while they were still dating. . The normally wrapped up Meghan had a bare neck and open coat showing the necklace, the palace had got in touch to advise her it was bringing attention to the relationship.
But she wanted privacy.

 

[Hallo girl]

I appreciate that the couple could not have anticipated Philips illness but they must have known that it was Commonwealth day on the 8th. It is the same date every year. As part of the negotiations they could have insisted on avoiding this date. Once again an example of the couple taking over when it was another royals time.

 

[tommy100]

I remember not believing the Vanity Fair article at first because it seemed to come out of the blue without too much fuss about them dating. Certainly Harry had been linked to other women where the relationship, if there was one at all, hadn't lasted long so there was no reason to believe otherwise this time.

I guess if Meghan believes she'd be able to go on doing things like that - Vanity Fair cover announcing you are in a relationship - then she would have felt 'silenced' by the Palace. But I would say they were giving her pretty good advice there to be honest ("they didn't support her" narrative aside).

I feel and have all along that while no one can blame H&M for all the media issues around them they certainly haven't helped matters, this interview being a case in point as well.

Hallo girl - I agree. It seems really mean spirited given how devoted to the Commonwealth the Queen is for the broadcast to go out now. If the RF hadn't changed usual plans the interview would have gone out in the US 1am UK time on Commonwealth day ensuring the tV broadcast HM and RF made was overshadowed completely. It has still somewhat but by the Commonwealth broadcasting going out today it isn't running alongside as much footage as H&M talking to Oprah as it might of. I get H&M maybe felt it marked a year since they left the UK but there seem lots of other dates they could have chosen that are significant to them and not HM, or even have waited a few days after Commonwealth Day. I don't know whether they picked the date of broadcast, I'm sure the network had a larger say, but if they were that bothered they'd have sorted it I'm sure.

 

[Hallo girl]

I am now off to bed , I expect a full up date on here for me to read as soon as I open my eyes in the morning.
All views gratefully accepted.
Night Night

 

[AC21091968]

Rhiannon Mills (Sky News Royal Correspondent) was apparently told by a Palace insider, who finds it difficult to understand why Harry & Meghan decided to do an interview with Oprah in this circumstances (i.e. having a home, second child on the way, deals with Netflix and Spotify, wanting to distance themselves from being working royals).

Rhiannon Mills @SkyRhiannon
One palace insider said to me in some ways it’s hard to understand why Harry & Meghan have done this interview when they have their new home, baby on the way, lucrative deals “when the war is over it’s probably best to stop bombing” they said. Tonight we brace for the impact
5:25 AM · Mar 8, 2021·Twitter for iPhone​

https://twitter.com/x/status/1368628779753627657

Even the Prime Minister was asked about whether or not he is going to watch the Oprah's interview by a Guardian journalist (which I think is a silly question). The answer is No, of course.

 

[Denville]

I don't think anyone particularly anticipated this, when Harry and Meghan first left - or am I being naïve? I think people were concerned that they'd embarrass the Royal Family by going for every commercial deal going, and that we'd get adverts saying "Hey, the Queen's grandson Prince Harry never gets his burgers and fries anywhere but Such-A-Place" or Meghan doing a voiceover on the next Disney princess film and that sort of thing, but not all this "toxic sniping", as Camilla Long very accurately puts it.


This is just horrible. It's doing no-one any good, and must be very upsetting for the Queen and Prince Philip, who don't need all this grief at their age. What is Harry thinking of?

Well they don't seem to be producing any of these films or programmes for Netflix, do they? Is this because with Coivid it isn't possible or do they not have any ideas? If the latter, then I think they have to do interviews like Oprah, to keep their names in front of the public...

 

[kathia_sophia]

Is there a way to watch the interview online?

 

[Kellydofc]

Even if Harry and Meghan completely blast and embarrass Charles, I expect them to be invited to the family events, including the jubilee. However, unlike the 60th jubilee, Harry and Meghan probably won't be on the balcony unless the entire extended family is there.

As I recall during the last Jubilee the only people on the boat and on the balcony were the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, William, Kate and Harry to show how they were going to scale back the royal family going forward. And it was said that Charles, Camilla, William, Kate, Harry and his wife would be the working royal family once Charles came to the throne.

Since that was the case last time, I expect them to do the same thing this time, to show what the working royal family will be under Charles. Since Harry and Meghan have walked away they will clearly not take part in any public functions at all. So I don't expect either of them to turn up. I'm guessing Edward and Sophie will take their place and that is why we have seen so much more of them publicly.

As for other events like funerals and weddings I think it's hard to know right now what the royal family will do. If Phillip passes soon I think it highly unlikely they'd be able to have more than a handful of people at a funeral anyway. So I don't think Harry gets an invite.

The Queen's funeral is the occasion the invite and the Sussex attendance is most likely to matter at. I do think they will be invited and I think at least Harry will show. What Charles' coronation will look like is anyone's guess. Who knows who gets invited or how big it is.

Weddings don't matter because let's face it that's a good 30 years off and I suspect only the most dedicated of royal watchers will care about Harry by then. And I know people will say he's a queen's grandson, a King's son/brother but there's a lot of people who have no idea who Princess Margaret's children are. Heck, I know people who don't know who Prince Edward and Sophie are. So, I can easily see how that will be the case for Harry and Meghan in 2051 or so when we're looking at the marriage of George, Charlotte or Louis and whether the Sussex merit an invite. Especially if they haven't really been to any royal outings in the decades in between.

 

[Leopoldine]

Is there a way to watch the interview online?

You may be able to get it on Amazon tonight if they carry the Paramount channel in your country. CBS is part of Paramount. You may be able to get tomorrow evening on your local services.