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William and Harry have not spoken for “some time”
So, what did Meghan Markle and Oprah Winfrey speak about? We shall find out next Sunday night. In the meantime, everyone is freaking out about it. The Mail on Sunday reports that there is “mounting concern” at what Meghan has talked about, in an interview—we are told—in which no subject was off-limits. (Harry is an integral side-dish in the documentary, we are told.)
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A royal source told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Harry and William have not spoken for some time, and Meghan speaking about their relationship or relationships with the Royal Family to Oprah will not help matters. Things are still bad between them, although both want to repair that brotherly bond. William does not know what she has told Oprah, none of the Royal Family do. They will find out at the same time as everyone else, although I doubt they’ll watch it.”
Oh puleeeze. William, Kate, and the rest of the Windsors will be nervously chomping their way through multiple tubes of Pringles during the two-hour special next weekend.
It’s unknown which broadcaster will show the interview in Britain. The BBC, said the Mail on Sunday, want it but won’t spend big for it, adding that while Harry and Meghan have not been paid for the interview, “it is not known whether they will receive a fee for the international rights or supplemental pictures or footage” within the show.
An insider told the paper: “It’s not just about the money, it’s about the biggest possible U.K. audience hearing what Meghan has to say. Yes, this is primarily designed for the U.S., but she felt she was silenced for so long in the U.K. and now she gets to have her say.”
The queen reassures Harry
The queen told Prince Harry she wanted him to be happy, but warned that he should uphold the values of the royal family in a “harmonious” personal phone call made after it was agreed Harry and Meghan’s split from the royal family is permanent.
The Mirror reported that the call took place before Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah, set to screen next Sunday on CBS. It also happened before Harry’s interview with James Corden this week, in which he talked about the damage done to his mental health by the “toxic” British media, and his insistence that he had not “walked away” from the royal family. Harry told Corden: “We never walked away, and as far as I’m concerned, what decisions are made on that side, I will never walk away.”
A source close to Harry told the Mirror: “Harry has spoken to the Queen, and she told him she was delighted he has found happiness. She only wants the best for him and his family. She has seen him struggle with his position in the family and had always had a great deal of affection and sympathy for him.
“Harry explained he had no regrets about his decision to step back from his role within the family. He went further to detail his thoughts about his future role. He described it as being free, but he knows he has a duty to the family and he reiterated his promise to never do anything to embarrass them. This is all about moving on, it was a very harmonious conversation between a caring grandmother and her grandson.”
On Friday, Gayle King, Oprah’s best friend, perhaps trying to steal some thunder back for Oprah’s interview next weekend after all the hoopla over the Corden interview, reminder CBS This Morning viewers, “It’s their first major broadcast interview since giving up their senior royal duties…I've heard from reliable sources, this is Oprah talking, that it’s the best interview she’s ever done so I’m curious. That’s saying something.”
Prince Andrew gets un-personed. Again.
Prince Andrew is to be swapped out of the queen’s official birthday celebrations this year, with his role representing the Grenadier Guards to be taken by Major General Roland Walker, an Afghanistan veteran whose vehicle was hit in January 2010 by a Taliban roadside bomb.
Walker, who has met the queen before, when he received the Distinguished Service Order medal from her at Buckingham Palace after the attack, has been approved to take Andrew’s place at this year’s Trooping the Color ceremony, The Sunday Times reports.
The exclusion of Andrew from the ceremony makes it clear that, despite his frequent lobbying to be allowed back in to the fold, the palace regards Andrew’s expulsion from the royal family over his links to Jeffrey Epstein as permanent.
Andrew faced the humiliation of not being included in his daughter Beatrice’s official wedding photo last year.
Prince Andrew still holds the honorary military title colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
A senior royal source said: “It’s a very difficult one for the Grenadiers and for the queen. He was an assiduous colonel but it has all been overshadowed by the other stuff.”
Andrew stepped back from public life in November 2019 after a BBC interview in the course of which he said he did not regret his friendship with Epstein, and showed no empathy for the financier’s victims.
In other Prince Andrew news, the Mail on Sunday reports that his spin doctor, Mark Gallagher, has stepped down a year after he approached an internet troll in an attempt to discredit the famous picture of Andrew with his arm around teenager Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Prince Philip still in hospital
Buckingham Palace is endeavoring to maintain a “nothing to see here” tone when journalists enquire about the health of Prince Philip. However, the uncomfortable truth is that he is spending a second weekend in hospital, and the current stay is now his longest-ever spell in hospital.
The palace has said he is fighting an infection and is “responding” to medical help.
His son Prince Edward this week told Sky News that Philip was “a lot better” but “looking forward to getting out,” and that the family were keeping their “fingers crossed.”
Get your jab, William urges
There was some irritation at the palace this week that a rare personal comment by the queen, designed to boost the U.K. coronavirus vaccine rollout, was overshadowed by Prince Harry’s interview with James Corden.
However this hasn’t stopped other royals now assiduously plugging the shots. Prince William said on a Zoom call this week that social media is “awash with rumors and misinformation” about coronavirus vaccines as he sought to bolster his grandmother’s message.
He said that vaccinations were “really, really important” and highlighted the need to keep the take-up high among younger generations.
William made the comment while talking to two clinically vulnerable women who have been shielding with their families since last March.
Address unknown
A problem familiar to anyone who moves house is what to do about your mail when the redirection service stops. So, pity Harry and Meghan who have been told they need to make new arrangements for their substantial correspondence after Prince Charles withdrew his financial support for the mail service provided by his team at Clarence House.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that the charmingly-named Correspondence Section at Clarence House, which previously handled the Sussexes’ mail, still receives “sackfuls” of post for the couple “with notable spikes around birthdays, Christmas or significant announcements.”
A Los Angeles address for the couple’s Archewell Foundation is provided on their website, but one assumes they will want to figure out a way that correspondents sending congratulatory messages to Buckingham Palace when the Duchess gives birth to their second child don’t receive their letter back marked “Return to sender.”
This week in royal history
Happy birthday, Commander Tim Laurence, husband of Princess Anne. He turns 66 on March 1.
Unanswered questions
Did James Corden get all the best scoop out of Harry? If Gayle King is right, Oprah has the real scoop coming up next week.
