It’s been months since Princess Kate of Wales has made a public appearance, and rumors continue to swirl about her wellbeing.Video above: Why the Princess of Wales is on guard over health issuesMost recently, Kate has reportedly been dealing with “intense stress.”Among the issues Kate is facing, per the outlet: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have stepped back from the royal family, she’s undergone abdominal surgery, and chaos ensued when Kensington Palace released a Photoshopped picture of the princess and her kids. In addition to errors in the photo, royal watchers pointed out that Kate wasn’t wearing her wedding ring. The official word from the palace is that the 42-year-old is “doing well” after having planned abdominal surgery.”Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” a spokesperson said in February. “That guidance stands.”But the story has only gotten bigger ever since Kate shared that her U.K. Mother’s Day photo had been edited.Here’s everything we know about Kate’s abdominal surgery and the diagnosis behind it, plus all of the health updates we’ve heard so far. What is abdominal surgery?Abdominal surgery is a broad term used to describe a surgical procedure that involves opening the abdominal cavity, according to The University of Tennessee Medical Center. It usually involves treating diseases, conditions, or injuries to the stomach and bowels, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, bile ducts, or surrounding soft tissues, the organization says.The way the surgery is completed depends on the procedure someone is having done. Some medical conditions require more intensive surgeries, while others can be done via laparoscopic surgery, which is a surgical technique where short, narrow tubes are inserted into the abdomen through small incisions, per Medline Plus.Recovery time can vary for abdominal surgery, depending on the type of surgery someone has and why it was done. With laparoscopic surgery, you can usually go back to work after three days, Cleveland Clinic says. However, recovery from more invasive surgeries may take longer.What is Kate’s diagnosis?Kensington Palace have not specified a diagnosis or reason behind Kate’s surgery. Palace officials noted that she wants to keep this information private, so the public will likely never know.However, PEOPLE noted that the issue is “non-cancerous,” and according to Kensington Palace’s official statement, the surgery was “planned” and “successful.”That said, the Princess of Wales “situation came as a surprise even to those who work closely with the royal family” and that “within their broader circle of family friends, there had been no indication that anything was wrong,” PEOPLE reported.What are common reasons for abdominal surgery?There are a lot of potential reasons someone might undergo abdominal surgery, including the repair or removal of different tissues and organs in the abdominal area, per The University of Tennessee Medical Center.Common reasons for abdominal surgeries include:Removal of the appendix (aka an appendectomy)Gall bladder removal surgeryHernia repairRemoval of malignant tumors and lesion (and non-cancerous growths like lipomas)Where did Kate undergo abdominal surgery?Kate received abdominal surgery at The London Clinic, the largest independent, private hospital in the U.K., according to PEOPLE. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II’s parents – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother – in 1932. The hospital is currently equipped to treat 155 different conditions and has over 1,000 nursing, clinical, and support staff.Kate isn’t the first member of the royal family to receive care at the hospital. Like the Princess of Wales, the late Prince Philip also had abdominal surgery there in 2013, per PEOPLE. The late Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth’s sister) had skin lesions removed there in 1980, and in 1960, the Duke of Windsor (Queen Elizabeth’s uncle) underwent an eye operation, the publication reported.Here’s a timeline of her surgery, recovery, and every health update so far.Jan. 17, 2024: The news of Kate’s abdominal surgery was first announced. Kensington Palace shared an official statement on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram account that read: “Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital yesterday for planned abdominal surgery. The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.””The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate,” the statement continued. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.” Kensington Palace also noted that it “will only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’ progress when there is significant new information to share.”Jan. 29: Princess Kate is released from the hospital.On Jan. 29, Kensington Palace announced that Kate was back home and “making good progress” in her surgery recovery after a two-week hospital stay.”The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress,” Kensington Palace shared on Instagram. The Prince and Princess of Wales also wished “a huge thank you to the entire team at the London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff” in the statement. The Wales family also said they were “grateful for the well wishes they have received from around the world.”After the news of Kate’s health situation was initially shared on social media back in January, the comments section of the post were flooded with well-wishes, as well as questions about what “abdominal surgery” means. March 4: Kate is photographed riding in a car with her mother.Kate was seen in public for the first time since Christmas, riding in the passenger seat of a car driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, per People. However, that picture has been questioned on social media, with people claiming that it’s been edited, or that the person in the car is actually Kate’s sister.March 10: Kensington Palace releases a photo of Kate and her children for Mother’s Day.Kensington Palace released an IG photo the day before of Kate and her three children, which was taken last week at Windsor, per People. In her first public post since undergoing surgery earlier this year, Kate thanked fans for their “kind wishes and continued support over the last two months.””Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day,” she added. Kate’s husband, Prince William, is listed as the photographer on the image.The snap set the internet ablaze, with commenters pointing out what appeared to be editing fails on Princess Charlotte’s left hand and Prince Louis’ shoulders, along with other inconsistencies. The picture was distributed internationally, before agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters removed it from their websites on claims that the photo was edited, according to Business Insider. March 11: Kate apologizes for editing that family photo.Kate issued an apology on March 11 to address “confusion” over the photo of herself with her kids.”Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a statement released on X (formerly Twitter). “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”The post was signed “C” for Catherine, which is Kate’s first name.Releasing the apology has reportedly infuriated Kate, with friends telling The Daily Beast that she and William plan to fire staffers responsible for the photo mess-up once the public has moved on. March 11: Kate is photographed riding in a car with Prince William.On the same day she apologized, Kate was photographed riding in a car with Prince William while leaving Windsor, although her face was obscured. Goff Photos, the agency that took the picture, said in a statement to Today on March 12 that the snap was “cropped and lightened” but that “nothing has been doctored.”Photographer Jim Bennett, who took the picture, shared that car shots are “unpredictable at the best of times… and with some reflection on the glass it can be difficult,” per People.Bennett said he was expecting to snap a picture of William, but it wasn’t until he looked at the frame that he realized Kate was in the car, too. March 14: William mentions Kate during an event honoring Princess DianaA few days later, William spoke at the Diana Legacy Awards in London and casually slipped Kate’s name into his speech. ” legacy is something that both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work, as have the 50,000 young people who have received a Diana Award over the past 25 years,” he said. The future king didn’t say anything else about Kate. She is not expected to make a public appearance until after Easter, per Kensington Palace.
It’s been months since Princess Kate of Wales has made a public appearance, and rumors continue to swirl about her wellbeing.
Video above: Why the Princess of Wales is on guard over health issues
Most recently, Kate has reportedly been dealing with “intense stress.”
Among the issues Kate is facing, per the outlet: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have stepped back from the royal family, she’s undergone abdominal surgery, and chaos ensued when Kensington Palace released a Photoshopped picture of the princess and her kids. In addition to errors in the photo, royal watchers pointed out that Kate wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.
“Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates,” a spokesperson said in February. “That guidance stands.”
But the story has only gotten bigger ever since Kate shared that her U.K. Mother’s Day photo had been edited.
Here’s everything we know about Kate’s abdominal surgery and the diagnosis behind it, plus all of the health updates we’ve heard so far.
What is abdominal surgery?
Abdominal surgery is a broad term used to describe a surgical procedure that involves opening the abdominal cavity, according to The University of Tennessee Medical Center. It usually involves treating diseases, conditions, or injuries to the stomach and bowels, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, bile ducts, or surrounding soft tissues, the organization says.
The way the surgery is completed depends on the procedure someone is having done. Some medical conditions require more intensive surgeries, while others can be done via laparoscopic surgery, which is a surgical technique where short, narrow tubes are inserted into the abdomen through small incisions, per Medline Plus.
Recovery time can vary for abdominal surgery, depending on the type of surgery someone has and why it was done. With laparoscopic surgery, you can usually go back to work after three days, Cleveland Clinic says. However, recovery from more invasive surgeries may take longer.
What is Kate’s diagnosis?
Kensington Palace have not specified a diagnosis or reason behind Kate’s surgery. Palace officials noted that she wants to keep this information private, so the public will likely never know.
However, PEOPLEnoted that the issue is “non-cancerous,” and according to Kensington Palace’s official statement, the surgery was “planned” and “successful.”
That said, the Princess of Wales “situation came as a surprise even to those who work closely with the royal family” and that “within their broader circle of family friends, there had been no indication that anything was wrong,” PEOPLE reported.
What are common reasons for abdominal surgery?
There are a lot of potential reasons someone might undergo abdominal surgery, including the repair or removal of different tissues and organs in the abdominal area, per The University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Common reasons for abdominal surgeries include:
Removal of the appendix (aka an appendectomy)
Gall bladder removal surgery
Hernia repair
Removal of malignant tumors and lesion (and non-cancerous growths like lipomas)
Where did Kate undergo abdominal surgery?
Kate received abdominal surgery at The London Clinic, the largest independent, private hospital in the U.K., according to PEOPLE. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II’s parents – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother – in 1932. The hospital is currently equipped to treat 155 different conditions and has over 1,000 nursing, clinical, and support staff.
Kate isn’t the first member of the royal family to receive care at the hospital. Like the Princess of Wales, the late Prince Philip also had abdominal surgery there in 2013, per PEOPLE. The late Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth’s sister) had skin lesions removed there in 1980, and in 1960, the Duke of Windsor (Queen Elizabeth’s uncle) underwent an eye operation, the publication reported.
Here’s a timeline of her surgery, recovery, and every health update so far.
Jan. 17, 2024: The news of Kate’s abdominal surgery was first announced.
Kensington Palace shared an official statement on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram account that read: “Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital yesterday for planned abdominal surgery. The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter.”
“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate,” the statement continued. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.” Kensington Palace also noted that it “will only provide updates on Her Royal Highness’ progress when there is significant new information to share.”
Jan. 29: Princess Kate is released from the hospital.
On Jan. 29, Kensington Palace announced that Kate was back home and “making good progress” in her surgery recovery after a two-week hospital stay.
“The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress,” Kensington Palace shared on Instagram. The Prince and Princess of Wales also wished “a huge thank you to the entire team at the London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff” in the statement.
The Wales family also said they were “grateful for the well wishes they have received from around the world.”
After the news of Kate’s health situation was initially shared on social media back in January, the comments section of the post were flooded with well-wishes, as well as questions about what “abdominal surgery” means.
March 4: Kate is photographed riding in a car with her mother.
Kate was seen in public for the first time since Christmas, riding in the passenger seat of a car driven by her mother, Carole Middleton, per People.
However, that picture has been questioned on social media, with people claiming that it’s been edited, or that the person in the car is actually Kate’s sister.
March 10: Kensington Palace releases a photo of Kate and her children for Mother’s Day.
Kensington Palace released an IG photo the day before of Kate and her three children, which was taken last week at Windsor, per People. In her first public post since undergoing surgery earlier this year, Kate thanked fans for their “kind wishes and continued support over the last two months.”
“Wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day,” she added. Kate’s husband, Prince William, is listed as the photographer on the image.
The snap set the internet ablaze, with commenters pointing out what appeared to be editing fails on Princess Charlotte’s left hand and Prince Louis’ shoulders, along with other inconsistencies. The picture was distributed internationally, before agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters removed it from their websites on claims that the photo was edited, according to Business Insider.
March 11: Kate apologizes for editing that family photo.
Kate issued an apology on March 11 to address “confusion” over the photo of herself with her kids.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a statement released on X (formerly Twitter). “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
The post was signed “C” for Catherine, which is Kate’s first name.
Releasing the apology has reportedly infuriated Kate, with friends telling The Daily Beast that she and William plan to fire staffers responsible for the photo mess-up once the public has moved on.
March 11: Kate is photographed riding in a car with Prince William.
On the same day she apologized, Kate was photographed riding in a car with Prince William while leaving Windsor, although her face was obscured.
Goff Photos, the agency that took the picture, said in a statement to Today on March 12 that the snap was “cropped and lightened” but that “nothing has been doctored.”
Photographer Jim Bennett, who took the picture, shared that car shots are “unpredictable at the best of times… and with some reflection on the glass it can be difficult,” per People.
Bennett said he was expecting to snap a picture of William, but it wasn’t until he looked at the frame that he realized Kate was in the car, too.
March 14: William mentions Kate during an event honoring Princess Diana
A few days later, William spoke at the Diana Legacy Awards in London and casually slipped Kate’s name into his speech. “[Princess Diana’s] legacy is something that both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work, as have the 50,000 young people who have received a Diana Award over the past 25 years,” he said.
The future king didn’t say anything else about Kate. She is not expected to make a public appearance until after Easter, per Kensington Palace.
THE gulf between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the rest of the Royal Family seems to widen every week.
And it wasn’t helped yesterday by the Duchess of Sussex unveiling her new home, food, garden and lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard shortly before Prince William was due to speak at his late mother’s Legacy Award event in London.
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Prince William paid tribute to the winners of the Legacy Awards last nightCredit: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Pala
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Meghan’s brand logo appeared online shortly before Wills’ speechCredit: Instgram/americanrivieraorchard
The move was slammed by slammed by royal experts as yet another attempt to steal the limelight, with one branding it “calculated” and another claiming it would have “saddened Diana.”
Meghan’s glitzy Instagram post showing off her new crest surfaced an hour before William delivered an emotional speech at the Diana Awards at London’s Science Museum, where Harry later appeared via video link.
Meghan and Harry also chose yesterday to announce the winner of their $100,000 (£78,500) NAACP – Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams slammed the timing, saying there was “nothing accidental” about them, adding: “The announcement of the new brand is totally consistent with the timing of all the Sussexes’ announcements.”
Here we take a look at all the times the couple have shamelessly stolen the royals’ thunder.
Spare bombshell interviews
Ahead of the publication of Prince Harry’s controversial memoir Spare, he sat down for long interviews with ITV’s Tom Bradby and Anderson Cooper, for US channel CBS, in January last year – the day before the Princess of Wales’ 41st birthday.
In a series of shocking accusations against his family, he claimed royals sought to protect their own reputation “to the detriment” of the Sussexes and that they were “complicit” in their “pain and suffering”.
He also detailed the alleged tense relationship between Kate and Meghan in the interviews.
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Prince Harry gave the bombshell interview on the eve of Kate’s birthdayCredit: ITV
Everything we know about Meghan’s new business
MEGHAN Markle has launched a new Instagram brand called American Riviera Orchard.
Industry insiders said the site will focus on home, food, garden and lifestyle goods.
A source told the Mail: “It’s a lifestyle and cooking brand called American Riviera Orchard.
“The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix.
“Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams. And at some point there will be a book and blog etc.”
As the interviews made global headlines, the official Royal Family’s social media channels posted a simple birthday wish for Kate, writing: “Wishing the Princess of Wales a very happy birthday.”
But the timing didn’t escape the attention of royal fans, with one tweeting: “I can’t believe Harry is doing this to Kate on the eve of her birthday…”
Meghan Markle is using Princess Diana’s legacy to promote her new business – it’s opportunism at its worst
Another wrote: “Prince Harry: I love Kate! Also Harry: I’m releasing this book on your birthday darling.”
Netflix trailer
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Harry and Meghan’s Netflix trailer dropped as William and Kate took on engagements in BostonCredit: Netflix
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William and Kate ignored the issue on their US tripCredit: Splash
Angela Levin told The Sun: “I think that the day seems chosen to ruin Kate and William’s trip – to take away everything from that.
“To pile it on. There was no need to do it that day. It was done deliberately to spoil their visit.”
‘Pregnancy announcement’ at wedding
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Meghan and Harry told family members they were expecting ArchieCredit: AFP
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Eugenie was not impressed by Meghan’s news on her big dayCredit: PA
Princess Eugenie walked down the aisle with Jack Brooksbank in October 2018, just months after Harry and Meghan tied the knot.
But when news of Meghan’s pregnancy broke days later, it was claimed the couple had upstaged the bride by breaking the happy news to the Queen, Prince Charles and the rest of the family at the wedding reception.
Pictures showed Harry speaking to the late Queen, fuelling speculation that this was the moment he broke the news.
A source later claimed the Queen already knew, but had not seen her grandson in person to congratulate him, and that the bride and groom had also been told in advance.
But it is thought that the royal get-together was the first time most of the family learned she was expecting their first child.
And in Finding Freedom, the sympathetic biography of the Sussexes, a source reveals Eugenie was “upset” by the couple going public on her big day.
The Princess “told friends she felt the couple should have waited to share the news”, the books claimed, adding that it “did not go down particularly well”.
Meghan’s career relaunch
MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry have been busy since stepping back as senior working royals.
Meghan has signed with American podcast network Lemonada Media to create new content, and her old 12-episode Archetypes episodes will also be distributed by the firm.
The couple still have their deal with Netflix, where they have created shows like their Harry & Meghan documentary, and the Duke of Sussex’s Heart of Invictus show.
And Meghan has enlisted Beverly Hills talent agency William Morris Endeavour ahead of her long-planned relaunch.
The cameo appearance sees the former Suits star doing multiple roles at coffee company Clevr Blends, including packing, working on the digital team, and on the operations team.
Bombshell Oprah interview
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Meghan and Harry’s bombshell Oprah interview contained sensational claimsCredit: AP
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It was broadcast on the day of the Queen’s Commonwealth addressCredit: Getty
The couple used the platform to make bombshell claims against the Royal Family, including a charge of racist comments made about the colour of son Archie’s skin, allegedly made by a senior royal before his birth.
Meghan also claimed she had been “silenced” by the Royal Family and left depressed, with suicidal thoughts, by her treatment.
But the decision to air on March 7, 2021, just hours after the Queen’s annual Commonwealth Day Speech aired on the BBC, was criticised in royal circles.
One expert claimed the clash could have been avoided had the Sussexes forewarned the Palace about the interview, calling the decision to grab the headlines on the day of the Queen’s speech “disrespectful”.
Harry’s job announcement
Harry, once extremely close to cousin Princess Eugenie, risked upsetting her again when he chose her birthday to make a job announcement.
Buckingham Palace released two pictures to celebrate Eugenie’s 31st birthday, on March 23 2021.
Just hours later The Wall Street Journal released news that the Duke – keen to show he could stand on his own two feet – had landed a high-paid job in Silicon Valley as “Chief Impact Officer” at health tech company Better Inc.
Prince Harry ‘pain’ podcast
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Kate and William visited various charities for Mental Health Awareness WeekCredit: Splash
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Harry talked about his ‘pain’ with Dax Shepherd on a podcast that same weekCredit: armchairexpertpod.com
In the pre-split days, when the brothers and their wives were known as the Fab Four, they were joint advocates for mental health awareness, appearing together at a Royal Foundation event on the issue.
But in May 2021, as Kate and William attended numerous charity events for Mental Health Awareness Week, Prince Harry dropped a devastating podcast talking about a “cycle of pain and suffering” – suggesting he was treated badly by his father because “that’s the way he was treated”.
“I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on,” he said.
At the time, William – whose own tireless work for mental health charities was drowned out by Harry’s complaints – was said to be “very shocked” by his brother’s claims.
Book clash
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Meghan’s book was announced in May 2021Credit: Rex
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Kate’s book came out days laterCredit: PA
In the same month, Meghan was accused of “trying to upstage Kate” by announcing the release of her children’s book days before Kate’s photography album was released.
On May 4, 2021, Meghan announced she would be publishing The Bench, an illustrated story inspired by son Archie and husband Harry.
But some pointed out the announcement came just days before publication of a photography book that Kate had been working on for a year.
The book, Hold Still, captured life in the UK under lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic.
One furious Kate fan tweeted: “So now just as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has the HOLD STILL book about to be released on May 7, [Meghan] chooses to release a book she wrote in 2019. Connect the dots, people!”
Christmas card row
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This Christmas image revealed Lilibet for the first timeCredit: Alexi Lubomirski
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The Queen’s image was released the same dayCredit: Getty
Last Christmas, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex caused a sensation when they shared the first glimpse of their daughter Lilibet and the first real look at son Archie’s face on their festive card.
But the post on social media came just hours before Buckingham Palace published an image of the Queen from her annual speech, ahead of its Christmas Day airing.
The much-anticipated speech was the first since the late monarch lost her beloved husband, Prince Philip, in April 2021.
The couple were accused of overshadowing the event, with Kate Garraway suggesting they were trying to “usurp” the Queen.
Queen’s birthday row
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Harry talked about the ‘pain’ of being a royal kidCredit: NBC
On the eve of the nation’s celebrations for the Queen’s 96th birthday, in April 2022, Harry once again angered the royal circle by giving a cringeworthy interview in which he claimed he was her protector.
In an interview with US news channel NBC, broadcast the night before her birthday, he said: “I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her.”
Members of the royal household were said to be shocked and angered by the comments.
Angela Levin called for him to be banned from the Jubilee celebrations later that year, commenting: “Harry’s comment on US TV about him checking the Queen is protected is a gross insult to Prince Charles and William.”
Upstaging Dad
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The King’s first official family portrait excluded the coupleCredit: AP
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The new portrait was released days laterCredit: AFP
On October 1 2022, Buckingham Palace shared the first official snap of the recently ascended King Charles, the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales, as the mourning period for the Queen came to an end.
Harry and Meghan, notably absent from the family scene despite being in the UK at the time it was taken, chose to make their own statement two days later, by releasing two new portraits of themselves at the One Young World conference in Manchester.
New Archie pics
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Meghan and mum Doria Ragland with ArchieCredit: Harris_Duchess/Twitter
In November 2022, a new image of rarely-seen Archie, sitting on Meghan’s knee during a Zoom chat, was released as Kate and William touched down in the US.
The image – which sent fans into frenzy over the unrecognisable toddler – was released by Professor Duchess Harris.
Royal fans suggested the timing was a deliberate attempt to divert from the Wales’ Earthshot mission.
One tweeted: “Notice Rachel Markle [Meghan’s birth name] puts this out to try and distract from Prince William and princesses of Wales!”
Markle sparkle: Duchess’ business ventures from wellness blog The Tig to kids’ book The Bench
ALONG with her well-known acting career Meghan Markle has also carved out something of a career in the business world as well.
Before getting engaged to Prince Harry, the Suits actress had her lifestyle blog The Tig but this was closed down when she got engaged in 2017.
The Tig, named after her favourite wine Tignanello, was seen as something as a rival to Gwyneth Paltrow‘s £200million Goop, which offers similar wellness and “conscious living” content.
She previously described it as a “passion project” which “evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity”.
Since stepping down as senior royals, the couple have produced a podcast, Netflix documentary and memoir, as well as several high-profile interviews between them.
Speaking in docuseries Harry & Meghan, the mum-of-two said of the blog: “It wasn’t just a hobby, it became a really successful business.
“I’ve never really been the type of person to do only one thing. I guess that’s how my website was born.
“There was fashion, tons of food, and travel – all the things that I loved.”
Rumours emerged in March last year that Meghan was going to relaunch the blog.
Meghan also ventured into the world of children’s books with the launch of The Bench in June 2021.
Inside Meghan’s 34-page book The Bench, the illustrations give a fresh glimpse into the Sussexes’ “authentic” life at their LA home – featuring their then newborn daughter.
The publication was a commerical success with it becoming a number one bestseller on Amazon’s chart.
Meghan dedicated her book to the “man and boy who make my heart go pump-pump” in a sweet note for her husband Prince Harry and son Archie.
The mum was “inspired” to write the book after originally creating a poem for Harry’s first Father’s Day.
The royal couple have also been reported to be planning an Oprah-style media empire after registering a series of new entertainment businesses.
They appear to have names which are meaningful to the couple, with one – Cloverdale Inc – bearing the same name as the street that the Duchess lived on with her mother in Los Angeles when she was young.
Both Cloverdale and a second company, Riversoul Productions Inc, are set up explicitly in the “entertainment” industry, and join companies Hampshire LLC, Bridgemont LLC and IPHW LLC.
The couple are already using name Archewell Productions for their Netflix and Spotify deals.
Henri Paul died after being in the same car crash that killed Princess DianaCredit: AP:Associated Press
Who was Henri Paul?
Henri Paul was a French chauffeur who was born in July 1956.
After growing up in Lorient, on the west coast of France, Henri joined the French Air Force.
He reached the rank of captain by the age of 29 and left the military shortly after.
He later pursued a career in security and served as Head of Security at the luxury Hotel Ritz in Paris.
Henri is reported to have had a reputation as a “macho action man” who loved being around celebrities and high-profile people as part of his role at the famous hotel.
An inquest into Princess Diana’s death heard that he had been privately treated for alcoholism but his family have denied he had a drinking problem.
How did he come to drive Princess Diana on the night she died?
Henri picked up Princess Diana and film producer Dodi from Le Bourget airport outside Paris on the morning of August 31, 1997.
On the fateful day in 1997 Henri, who is said to have been instructed to drive the hired black 1994 Mercedes-Benz to keep the Princess out of the media’s eye, took Diana on a shopping trip before finishing his shift.
He later agreed to return to the hotel and drive Dodi and Diana the short distance from the hotel to Dodi’s apartment near the Arc de Triomphe.
He was said to have been “over-excited” at the prospect of spending time with the princess.
Netflix film scenes for The Crown near the location of the tragic car crash that killed Princess Diana in 1997
There was a three-hour period between the end of Henri’s shift and his return to the hotel where nobody knows where he was.
Blood analysis results from his post-mortem suggest he spent the time drinking as he was found to be three-times over the French drink-drive limit.
A post-mortem also found traces of anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medicine in his system.
Evidence from a Ritz bar bill show he had two Ricards – a French aniseed spirit – while waiting for Diana and Dodi to leave the hotel.
How was he behaving in the lead-up to the crash?
An inquest into Diana’s death in 2008 found paparazzi photographers and Henri were to blame for her “unlawful killing”.
The inquest heard testimonies from bar staff working at the Ritz on the fateful night with one, Alain Willaumez, saying Henri was “drunk” and had been “walking like a clown” hours before the crash.
CCTV images from the Ritz do not show any evidence of drunken behaviour.
Security footage revealed at the inquest does show him appearing to wave at photographers just moments before Diana and Dodi left the hotel.
The court was told Paul had goaded waiting photographers, saying: “You won’t be able to catch up.”
The car was travelling around double the 30mph speed limit.
The accident happened because Henri Paul was taking alcohol and was driving the vehicle. That’s why the accident happened.
Princess Diana’s former bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones
What did police and the inquest jury believe about Henri Paul?
After 22 hours of deliberations, an inquest jury ruled Diana had been unlawfully killed as a result of Henri’s drinking driving and photographers chasing the vehicle.
Rees-Jones, the sole survivor of the crash, has said that he believes Henri’s drinking had been the cause of the accident.
“The accident happened because Henri Paul was taking alcohol and was driving the vehicle. That’s why the accident happened,” he said in 2007.
What do the driver’s family believe happened to him?
Henri’s father Jean told The Mirror in 2017 that he believes Diana was deliberately killed in a plot to stop her marrying a Muslim man.
Despite a string of official enquiries ruling Diana and Dodi died in a tragic accident, Jean insists they were victims of an establishment plot.
Jean also believes samples showing his son had alcohol in his system could have been tampered with after his death.
He said: “Diana was killed and my son was killed. I believe they were both murdered.
“My son was simply collateral damage of a plot to kill Diana and they killed him as well.”
He added: “Even inside Scotland Yard there are two sides… One believes there was a secret plot to kill Diana, the other believes it was a genuine accident.”
Everything you need to know about Princess Diana’s final years
In 1997, Princess Diana spent her summer in the south of France and Italy. During August, she visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, to highlight the fight against landmines.
By the end of the month, the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed travelled to Paris together.
Her funeral was held on September 6, 1997. As her coffin made the journey from Kensington Palace to Westminister Abbey, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their late mother.
In an interview with Hello! magazine, the princess affectionally called him her “bonus son”, as she talked about helping to home-school him during lockdown.
She told the magazine: “I’ve felt very lucky to have had the chance to work with my bonus son over the course of the school closures.
“It was a huge learning curve for all of us.”
Who is Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi biological mother?
She was engaged to Edoardo up until 2018 but decided to call it quits on their relationship.
Dara lives in London with her son, and previously explained that she would rather Wolfie is educated in the UK due to gun laws in the US.
Princess Beatrice gives birth to a baby girl as she welcomes first child with Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Opening up on social media, she said: “I’m glad my son doesn’t go to school in the USA. I can sleep at night knowing he won’t die at his desk tomorrow morning.”
Dara continued: “Not to get all political here, but I went to a sports store in the US to buy tennis shoes today and couldn’t help but notice this huge gun section – post Xmas sale.
“So I walked up to the man and said, ‘What do I need to buy a gun home? Do I need a licence?’ And he said, ‘No, you can buy one right now and either take it in two days or take a $50 two-hour ‘conceal and carry course’ and bring it home right now’.
“And I said, ‘OK, so no licence needed, medical records, history of felony?’ And he said, ‘Nope. You can keep it in your car or home, as you see fit.’ Literally anybody can buy the most dangerous weapon known to man.”
He is an English property developer and member of an high-class Italian family.
He is the founder and chief executive of property consultancy firm Banda Property, which finds and develops properties for wealthy clients.
In 2020, Beatrice and Edoardo got married in a private ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park after their original plans were changed due to the Covid pandemic.
Announcing the arrival of their daughter, The Palace said: “Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and Mr Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are delighted to announce the safe arrival of their daughter on Saturday 18th September 2021, at 23.42, at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.
“The baby weighs 6 pounds and 2 ounces.
“The new baby’s grandparents and great-grandparents have all been informed and are delighted with the news.
“The family would like to thank all the staff at the hospital for their wonderful care.”
Does Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi have a royal title?
Wolfie does not have a title, as he is not a member of the Royal Family.
Only children of the sovereign, children of the sons of the sovereign, and the oldest living son of the Prince of Wales are eligible to receive the HRH status and prince and princess titles.
This means that Wolfie is not entitle to a royal title.
LONDON — Kate, the Princess of Wales, is “doing well” as she continues to recover from abdominal surgery, according to a Kensington Palace spokesperson.
The spokesperson brushed off recent social media speculation about Kate’s health, telling ABC News in a statement Thursday, “Kensington Palace made it clear in January the timelines of the Princess’ recovery and we’d only be providing significant updates. That guidance stands.”
Previously, the last major update the palace had provided on Kate came on Jan. 29, when Kate returned home to Windsor following a nearly two-week hospital stay after undergoing what the palace described as a “planned abdominal surgery” in mid-January.
Kate was seen smiling and greeting fans as she walked to the royal family’s traditional Christmas morning service at Sandringham alongside William and their three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.
The Waleses were joined by other members of the royal family as well, including King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla.
Less than one month after Christmas, on Jan. 17, Kensington Palace announced that Kate had been admitted the previous day to The London Clinic for “planned abdominal surgery.”
The palace did not provide further details on the type of surgery Kate underwent, but confirmed to ABC News at the time that the princess’s medical issue was non-cancerous.
“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate,” the palace said in a statement issued on Jan. 17. “She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.”
“The Princess of Wales wishes to apologise to all those concerned for the fact that she has to postpone her upcoming engagements,” the statement continued. “She looks forward to reinstating as many as possible, as soon as possible.”
William, the heir to the throne, postponed his public engagements while Kate was hospitalized.
He was spotted privately entering and exiting The London Clinic to visit Kate during her stay. The couple’s three children are not believed to have visited Kate in the hospital.
Kate is now recovering at home
The palace announced on Jan. 29, nearly two weeks after Kate underwent surgery, that the princess had been discharged from the hospital.
From there, Kate continued her recovery at the family’s home in Windsor, about 30 miles outside of London.
“The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery. She is making good progress,” a palace spokesperson said in a statement at the time. “The Prince and Princess wish to say a huge thank you to the entire team at The London Clinic, especially the dedicated nursing staff, for the care they have provided.”
The spokesperson added, “The Wales family continues to be grateful for the well wishes they have received from around the world.”
Since being home from the hospital, Kate has also spent time with her family at Anmer Hall, their home in Norfolk.
William has issued one public statement on Kate’s health
Later that day, William joined actor Tom Cruise at a central London hotel for a charity fundraising gala for London’s Air Ambulance.
At the gala, William made his first and so far only public remarks about Kate.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially, in recent days,” William said. “It means a great deal to us all.”
Following up with a joke, William continued, “It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather ‘medical’ focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all.”
William has since attended the BAFTAS on his own, an event at which Kate is traditionally by his side.
On Tuesday, William sparked speculation after he missed a service of Thanksgiving for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece, at St. George’s Chapel, citing a “personal matter.”
William returned to his public duties on Thursday, visiting the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London.
Kate has been completely out of the public eye while recovering, in contrast to Charles
William’s father Charles was briefly hospitalized at The London Clinic at the same time as Kate in January.
Charles stayed multiple nights at The London Clinic for a planned procedure to treat an enlarged prostate.
Shortly after he was discharged from the hospital, Buckingham Palace announced the 75-year-old king had been diagnosed with cancer.
The palace has not specified Charles’s type of cancer, the stage of cancer or the type of treatment he is receiving.
In contrast to Kate’s absence, however, Charles has been seen publicly since his diagnosis, including attending church with Camilla in Sandringham and traveling back and forth to London for treatment.
Last week, the palace released photographs of Charles reading some of the cards and letters frpm well-wishes the palace says the king has received.
Kate’s first public appearance could be on or around Easter Sunday
At the time of her surgery, the palace said Kate is not likely to resume her public duties until later this spring.
In past years, William and Kate and their children have been photographed walking to church on Easter Sunday.
As they grew up they remained close, with Margaret acting as a bridesmaid at the royal wedding of Queen Elizabeth II to the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip in 1947.
Princess Margaret had three strokes between 1998 and 2001 and her later years of life were stricken by illness and disability.
She started smoking cigarettes in her late teens and continued to smoke heavily for a long time after.
In the 1970s, the princess had a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression. She also suffered from migraines, laryngitis and bronchitis.
On January 5, 1985, she had part of her left lung removed, a similar procedure her father endured over 30 years prior.
In 1991 she quit smoking, however, continued to be a heavy drinker.
In January 1993, Margaret spent some time in hospital being treated for pneumonia. She then suffered a mild stroke in February 1998 while away at her holiday home.
The stroke affected her mobility and her ability to swallow, as a result, she needed mobility aids to support her while moving.
The princess was hospitalised once more on January 10, 2001, after a further stroke.
By March 2001, the strokes had left her with loss of vision and paralysis on her left side.
In February 2002, it was announced that Margaret had suffered a stroke which was then followed by cardiac problems and she passed away soon after.
She died on February 9, 2002, after suffering her fourth stroke.
How did the late Queen react to Princess Margret’s death?
The late Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret shared a close bond throughout their lives until Margaret passed away in 2002.
At the time, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen, with great sadness, has asked for the following announcement to be made immediately.
“Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning at 6.30 am, in The King Edward VII hospital.
“Her children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto were at her side.”
During Margaret’s funeral, Queen Elizabeth openly cried, one of the rare occasions the monarch showed emotion in a public setting.
PRINCESS Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only person to survive the car crash that went down in history in 1997.
His life changed forever that day, but what else do we know about him?
1
Trevor Rees-Jones was the sole survivor of the crash that killed Princess DianaCredit: AFP
Who is Trevor Rees-Jones?
Trevor Rees-Jones was born on March 3, 1968, in Rinteln, Germany.
He was the middle son of three boys born to British Army surgeon Colin Rees and his wife Gill who was a nurse.
The family moved to Oswestry, a town close to the Welsh border when he was ten years old, where he attended the Fitzalan School and met his future wife Sue Jones.
Trevor enrolled in the Combined Cadet Force at school and after his A-levels joined the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, serving one tour in Northern Ireland.
While working for Mohamed al-Fayed, he started doing security for his playboy son Dodi, and later his girlfriend Princess Diana.
He accompanied them on a holiday in the summer of 1997, when the tragic car crash took place.
The bodyguard later shut down claims by his former boss that Dodi and Diana had chosen an engagement ring together in Monte Carlo a week before they died in Paris.
They intended to stay at the Ritz hotel owned by Dodi’s father, but found themselves ambushed by paparazzi.
Ritz head of security Henri Paul hatched a plan to leave by the back door to dodge photographers and drive to Dodi’s apartment near the Champs Elysées.
Trevor also suffered profound memory loss, and struggles to remember many details from the crash. An investigation found none of the four people in the car were wearing seat belts.
Tests showed the driver was three times the drink-drive limit.
Trevor is now reportedly working as the global head of security for vaccine giant AstraZeneca. A source told The Sun: “His life is quiet and uneventful now. He certainly doesn’t court publicity or speak much about it. He’s tried to move on and get on with his life.”
The Mail tells how Trevor has rebuilt his life since the infamous crash.
His LinkedIn profile describes him as being based in Shrewsbury and having experience in international operations.
He was interviewed four times by French authorities but said he could not recall the incident.
He later claimed his boss had put “intense” pressure on him to remember details from the night his son was killed.
Trevor moved back to Shropshire where he was nursed back to health by mum Gill and step-dad Ernie. He worked for a time in a friend’s sports shop.
In 2000, he published a book called The Bodyguard’s Story: Diana, The Crash, And The Sole Survivor, which earned him a rumoured £1million.
But most of that is said to have been consumed up by legal fees after he was embroiled in a series of lawsuits with al-Fayed in England and France.
He had split from his first wife Sue months before the crash.
In 2003 he married second wife Ann Scott, a teacher.
Trevor recovered well enough to turn out for a local rugby team in North Wales and set up a business as a security consultant.
In 2008, he worked in war-torn Iraq before he was called to give evidence at the inquest, his face still deeply scarred more than a decade on.
He told the coroner he had vague memories of a motorbike alongside the vehicle, and a woman’s voice calling out “Dodi” but he was not sure if they were real memories.
In 1997, Princess Diana spent her summer in the south of France and Italy. During August, she visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, to highlight the fight against landmines.
By the end of the month, the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed travelled to Paris together.
Her funeral was held on September 6, 1997. As her coffin made the journey from Kensington Palace to Westminister Abbey, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their late mother.
Trevor said in the inquest into Diana’s death that the last thing he remembered of the night was climbing into the car at the Ritz.
He said in an interview three years after the crash: “I’m the only person who can tell people for real, and I can’t remember.”
Speaking at the inquest, he explained Henri Paul’s plan to dodge the paparazzi by driving the Princess and Dodi in one of the hotel’s limos out the back.
He said “I wasn’t happy as it meant Dodi would be splitting the security officers, but I went along with it. “Initially, I had been told that Dodi and Diana would travel without security and I said this would not happen, that I would travel in the vehicle with them.”
Prince Harry flew more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometres) to see his father after King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer. But Harry did not see his estranged brother, William, during a visit that lasted scarcely 24 hours.
The royal brothers remain emotionally and physically an ocean apart.
British media published photos of Harry at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday afternoon, just a day after he arrived at the same airport on a flight from Los Angeles.
He appeared headed back to life in California after a U.K. visit in which he spent less than an hour with his father at Clarence House, the king’s London home. Any meeting between the brothers would typically be confirmed by palace officials.
How King Charles’ cancer diagnosis affects Royal family
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William, meanwhile, returned to public duties for the first time since his wife, Kate, was admitted to a London hospital on Jan. 16 for abdominal surgery. She spent almost two weeks at the private London Clinic and is recovering at home. William handed out medals to notables and local heroes at a Windsor Castle ceremony in the morning and was due to attend a charity dinner on Wednesday evening for London’s air ambulance service.
Images from the day are more grist for the popular British media tropes: dutiful William, flyaway Harry.
Prince William, Prince of Wales attends London’s Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner on February 7, 2024 in London, England.
Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
Behind that simplistic summary are two royal brothers — bonded in bereavement by the death of their mother, Princess Diana, when William was 15 and Harry was 12 — whose paths have diverged dramatically.
While William, the heir, was destined from birth to be king, Harry, who is fifth in line to the throne behind his brother and William’s three children, has often appeared to struggle with the more ambiguous role of “spare.”
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He chose Spare as the title of his 2023 memoir, which recounted a lifetime of sibling grievances — from William getting the bigger bedroom at Balmoral Castle to a ferocious argument in which Harry claims William ripped his necklace and knocked him down onto a dog bowl.
In the book, Harry alleged that the British media treated him and his wife, Meghan — also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — as villains compared with virtuous William and Kate, and accused palace officials of lying to protect his elder brother.
The Sussexes cited the media’s racist treatment of Meghan, who is biracial, and a lack of support from the palace as reasons for their decision in 2020 to quit royal duties and move to the U.S.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returning to Canada
In an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, the couple portrayed the royal family as indifferent to Meghan’s mental health struggles, and suggested an unnamed family member had made a racist comment to Harry before the birth of their son, Archie. Harry described his relationship with William as “space at the moment.”
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The brothers’ interactions since then have been formal, and brief. They were seen temporarily putting their fraught relationship aside to attend the funeral of their grandfather Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in 2021. The pair did not walk side-by-side behind Philip’s coffin, but were pictured chatting and walking together after the service.
In September 2022 the brothers walked side-by-side behind the coffin of their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II before she lay in state. William later said it had evoked memories of doing the same at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.
Harry traveled to the U.K. for his father’s coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in May. He was assigned to sit two rows behind his brother, arrived at the abbey alone and left alone. The brothers were not seen speaking or even acknowledging each other.
Harry’s campaign to tame Britain’s tabloid press has also placed him at odds with his relatives. He broke from the royal family tradition of not engaging in litigation by filing several lawsuits against the news media for hacking his phone and other privacy violations.
Harry claimed in court filings that Charles had directed palace staff to order him to drop his litigation because it was bad for the family. He also said William had secretly settled his own hacking claims against Rupert Murdoch’s publications for a “huge sum of money” in 2020.
In Spare, Harry claims that their father implored them after Philip’s funeral: “Please, boys — don’t make my final years a misery.”
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Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith said rifts within the royal family would take more than a single visit to heal.
“I don’t think we should engage in too much magical thinking about this,” said Bedell Smith, author of Prince Charles: Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.
“There are some very, very deep, hurts (Harry) has inflicted on the family,” she said. But, she added: “King Charles, by nature, he wants to heal not only the world, but I think his impulse would be to try and heal the family.”
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Associated Press writers Brian Melley and Sylvia Hui contributed to this story.
Sandringham Palace is where the late Queen traditionally spent ChristmasCredit: sandringham1870/Instagram
Where is Sandringham Estate?
Located in Norfolk, Sandringham Estate was bought by as a country home for Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and his soon-to-be wife, Alexandra of Denmark in 1862.
The Grade II-listed house was then passed down to the late Queen‘s father, George VI, in 1900, who passed it onto her.
To this day, the impressive property continues to be privately owned by the Royal Family.
None of the Royal Family live permanently at Sandringham Estate, but the property has historically been their preferred residence for Christmas and New Year,.
In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II gave her first televised Christmas message from the estate,.
This came 25 years after the first radio broadcast from the house, made by her grandfather, Edward VIII.
The Sandringham Estate covers 20,000 acres of land, and even boasts a sprawling country park.
According to the estate’s website, more than 200 people make their living from the estate, including gamekeepers, gardeners, farmers, as well as workers for Sandringham’s sawmill and its apple juice pressing plant.
The house is a Grade II listed building and the landscaped gardens, park and woodlands are on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Each monarch who has lived in Sandringham has developed the grounds to their taste and infused a bit of their personality.
On its website, it says: “A densely planted shrubbery with a shade woodland walk was instigated by Queen Elizabeth II in the late 1960s.”
Her Majesty brought a collection of Rhododendron, Camellia, and Magnolia trees from Windsor, another of her favourite residences.
They were planted in Sandringham in the hope that they would create “more interest, shelter, and privacy in the garden”.
After taking over the estate, King Charles has implemented several changes to the estate as well.
Meghan and Harry sat down for a ‘nothing off limits’ interview with Oprah WinfreyCredit: CBS
OPRAH: We can’t hug, everybody is double- masked and has face shields. You look lovely. Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?
Meghan: We do this time. I’ll wait for my husband to join us and we can share that with you.
Oprah: That would be really great. Before we get into to it, I just want to make clear to everybody that, even though we’re neighbours, I’m down the road, you’re up the road, we’re using a friend’s place. There has not been an agreement, you don’t know what I’m going to ask, there is no subject that’s off limits and you are not getting paid for this interview.
Meghan: All of that’s correct.
Oprah: I remember sitting in the chapel — thanks for inviting me, by the way. I so recall this sense of magic. I never experienced anything like it. When you came through that door, you seemed like you were floating down the aisle. Were you even inside your body at that time?
Meghan: I’ve thought about this a lot. It was like having an out-of- body experience I was very present for. The night before, I slept through the night entirely, which is a bit of a miracle, and then woke up and started listening to Going To The Chapel, to make it fun and light and remind ourselves this was our day. We were both aware in advance of that this wasn’t our day, this was the day planned for the world.
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The two-hour chat saw them lift the lid on the Royal Family and MegxitCredit: CBS
Oprah: Everybody who gets married knows you’re really marrying the family. But you weren’t just marrying a family, you were marrying a 1,200-year-old institution, you’re marrying the monarchy. What did you think it was going to be like?
Meghan: I would say I went into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the Royal Family. It wasn’t part of something that was part of conversation at home. It wasn’t something that we followed. My mum even said to me a couple of months ago, ‘Did Diana ever do an interview?’ Now I can say. ‘Yes, a very famous one’, but my mum doesn’t know that.
Oprah: But you were aware of the royals and, if you were going to marry into the royals, you’d do research about what that would mean?
Meghan: I didn’t do any research about what that would mean.
Oprah: You didn’t do any research?
Your Prince Harry and Meghan Markle questions answered
Meghan: No. I didn’t feel any need to, because everything I needed to know he was sharing with me. Everything we thought I needed to know, he was telling me.
Oprah: So, you didn’t have a conversation with yourself, or talk to your friends about what it would be like to marry a prince, who is Harry, who you had fallen in love with . . . you didn’t give it a lot of thought?
Meghan: No. We thought a lot about what we thought it might be. I didn’t fully understand what the job was: What does it mean to be a working royal? What do you do? What does that mean? He and I were very aligned on our cause- driven work, that was part of our initial connection. But there was no way to understand what the day-to- day was going to be like, and it’s so different because I didn’t romanticise any element of it. But I think, as Americans especially, what you do know about the royals is what you read in fairytales, and you think is what you know about the royals. It’s easy to have an image that is so far from reality, and that’s what was so tricky over those past few years, when the perception and the reality are two different things and you’re being judged on the perception but you’re living the reality of it. There’s a complete misalignment and there’s no way to explain that to people.
Oprah: With every family things get serious when you’re brought in to meet the grandmother or the mother. The grandmother is the matriarch and, in your situation it’s the Queen.
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Oprah promised the Sussexes had no prior knowledge of what they would be askedCredit: ITV
Meghan: She was one of the first people I met. The real Queen.
Oprah: What was that like? Were you worried about making the right impression?
Meghan: There wasn’t a huge formality the first time I met Her Majesty The Queen. We were going for lunch at Royal Lodge, which is where some other members of the family live, specifically Andrew and Fergie, and Eugenie and Beatrice would spend a lot of time there. Eugenie and I had known each other before I knew Harry, so that was comfortable and it turned out the Queen was finishing a church service in Windsor and so she was going to be at the house. Harry and I were in the car and he says, ‘OK, well my grandmother is there, you’re going to meet her’. (I said) ‘OK, great’. I loved my grandmother, I used to take care of my grandmother. (He said) ‘Do you know how to curtsey?’ ‘What?’ ‘Do you know how to curtsey?’ I thought genuinely that’s what happens outside, that was part of the fanfare. I didn’t think that’s what happens inside. I go, ‘But it’s your grandmother’. He goes, ‘It’s the Queen!’
Oprah: Wow!
Meghan: And that was really the first moment the penny dropped?
Oprah: Did you Google how to curtsey?
Meghan: No, we were in the car. Deeply, to show respect, I learned it very quickly right in front of the house. We practised and walked in.
Oprah: Harry practised?
Meghan: Yeah, and Fergie ran out and said, ‘Are you ready? Do you know how to curtsey? Oh, my goodness, you guys’. I practised very quickly and went in, and apparently, I did a very deep curtsey, and we just sat there and we chatted and it was lovely and easy and I think, thank God, I hadn’t known a lot about the family. Thank God, I hadn’t researched. I would have been so in my head about all of it.
Oprah: (What) you’re sharing with us is that you were no more nervous as a regular person who goes to meet somebody’s grandmother.
Meghan: I had confused the idea. I grew up in LA, you see celebrities all the time. This is not the same but it’s very easy, especially as an American, to go, ‘These are famous people’. This is a completely different ball game.
(Cut to them and Oprah at their house)
Oprah: What are you feeling here (their home)? What’s the word?
Meghan: Peace.
Oprah: Peace?
Meghan: Yeah.
(Oprah narrates) The day after our interview, I stopped over to Harry and Meghan’s new home.
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Meghan said her 2018 royal wedding ‘wasn’t our day, this was the day planned for the world’Credit: Getty
Meghan: Hi, Guy (dog).
Oprah: Hi, Guy.
Meghan: Yeah, Guy’s been — Guy’s been through everything with me.
Oprah: Yeah, from the beginning, from the very first date, yeah?
Meghan: If Guy, I mean, I had him in Canada. I got him from a kill shelter in Kentucky.
Oprah: Yeah?
(In Harry and Meghan’s hen coop)
Meghan: Hi, girls!
(Oprah narrates) We put on wellies to feed the hens Meghan and Harry recently rescued from a factory farm. ‘I love your little designer house here. Archie’s chick inn. Oh, how cute is that.’
Harry: She’s always wanted chickens.
Meghan: Well, you know, I just love rescuing.
Oprah: So, this is a part of your new life? What are you most excited about?
Meghan: Whoop! You’re OK . . .
Oprah: What are you most excited about in the new life? What are you most excited about? Here, chick, chick, chick, chick.
Meghan: I think just being able to live authentically.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: Right? Like this kind of stuff. It’s so, it’s so basic, but it’s really fulfilling. Just getting back down to basics. I was thinking about it — even at our wedding, you know, three days before our wedding, we got married . . .
Oprah: Ah!
Meghan: No one knows that. But we called the Archbishop, and we just said, ‘Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us’. So, like, the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and that was the piece that . . .
Harry: Just the three of us.
Oprah: Really?
Harry: Just the three of us.
Meghan: Just the three of us.
(Back to Oprah)
Oprah: You know, the wedding was the most perfect picture, you know, anybody’s ever seen. But through that picture that we were all seeing, behind the scenes, obviously, there was a lot of drama going on. And soon after your marriage, the tabloids started offering stories that painted a not-so-flattering picture of you in your new world. There were rumours about you being ‘Hurricane Meghan’.
Meghan: I hadn’t heard that.
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She said she didn’t research the Royal Family before she married HarryCredit: AFP and licensors
Oprah: OK.
Oprah: So, there were rumours about you being Hurricane Meghan, for the departure of several high-profile palace staff members. And there was also a story — did you hear this one? — about you making Kate Middleton cry?
Meghan: This I heard about.
Oprah: You heard about that. OK.
Meghan: This was . . . that was . . . that was a turning point.
Oprah: That was a turning point?
Meghan: Yeah.
Kate made me cry days before wedding, but I got blamed… that was hard.
(Oprah narrates) Six months after Harry and Meghan’s wedding, headlines began to swirl about a rift between Meghan and her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. It was reported that Meghan had left Kate “in tears” over the bride-to-be’s “strict demands” over flower-girl dresses.
Meghan: The narrative with Kate — which didn’t happen — was really, really difficult and something that . . . I think that’s when everything changed, really.
Oprah: You say the narrative with Kate, it didn’t happen. So, specifically, did you make Kate cry?
Meghan: No.
Oprah: So, where did that come from?
Meghan: (Sighs)
Oprah: Was there a situation where she might have cried? Or she could have cried?
Meghan: No, no. The reverse happened. And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologising. And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it. What was shocking was . . . what was that, six, seven months after our wedding?
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: That the reverse of that would be out in the world.
Oprah: The story came out six, seven months after it actually happened?
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: So, when you say . . .
Meghan: I would have never wanted that to come out about her ever, even though it had happened. I protected that from ever being out in the world.
Oprah: So, when you say the reverse happened, explain to us what you mean by that.
Meghan: A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining — yes, the issue was correct — about flower-girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings. And I thought, in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, that it didn’t make sense to not be just doing whatever everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.
Oprah: This was a really big story at the time, that you made Kate cry. Now you’re saying you didn’t make Kate cry, Kate made you cry. So, we all want to know, what would make you cry? What . . . what were you going through? You were going through all of the anxiety that brides go through putting their wedding together and going through all of the issues with your father: Was he coming? Was he not coming?
Meghan: Mmm.
Oprah: And there was a confrontation over the . . . the dresses?
Meghan: It wasn’t a confrontation, and I actually don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that, because she apologised.
Oprah: OK.
Meghan: And I’ve forgiven her.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do but that happened to me. And the people who were part of our wedding going to our comms team and saying, ‘I know this didn’t happen.’ I don’t have to tell them what actually happened.
Oprah: OK.
Meghan: But I can at least go on the record and say she didn’t make her cry. And they were all told the same . . .
Oprah: So, all the time the stories were out that you had made Kate cry . . . you knew all along, and people around you knew that that wasn’t true?
Meghan: Everyone in the institution knew it wasn’t true.
Oprah: So, why didn’t somebody just say that?
Meghan: That’s a good question.
Oprah: Hmm.
Meghan: I’m not sharing that piece about Kate in any way to be disparaging to her. I think it’s really important for people to understand the truth.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: But also I think, a lot of it, that was fed into by the media. And I would hope that she would have wanted that corrected, and maybe in the same way that the Palace wouldn’t let anybody else.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: Negate it, they wouldn’t let her, because she’s a good person. And I think so much of what I have seen play out is this idea of polarity, where if you love me, you don’t have to hate her. And if you love her, you don’t need to hate me.
Oprah: Mm-hmm. You know, there were several stories that compared headlines written about you to those written about Kate.
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Meghan said the Queen was one of the first people she metCredit: Getty
Meghan: Mmm.
Oprah: Since you don’t read things, let me tell you what was said.
Meghan: OK.
Oprah: There were stories where Kate was being praised for holding her baby bump.
Meghan: Oh, gosh, have I done it since we’ve been sitting down?
Oprah: Yes, you’ve been doing it the whole time.
Meghan: Probably. OK.
Oprah: Kate was praised for cradling her baby bump, and the headline about you doing the same thing said, ‘Meghan can’t keep hands off her baby bump for pride or vanity’.
Meghan: What does it have to do with pride or vanity?
Oprah: Well, I’m just — I’m just telling you about the stories, OK?
Meghan: OK, I hear you.
Oprah: Then there was a whole online piece about this: ‘Kate eating avocados to help with morning sickness’.
Meghan: (Laughs) I heard — OK, I heard about the avocado one.
Oprah: But you were eating avocados . . .
Meghan: And fuelling murder, apparently.
Oprah: Wolfing down a fruit linked to water shortages, illegal deforestation and environmental devastation. There was, seems . . . there seems to be . . . there was a . . .
Meghan: That’s a really loaded piece of toast. (Laughter) I mean . . . you have to laugh at a certain point, because it’s just ridiculous.
Oprah: That’s good: ‘That’s a loaded piece of toast.’ It’s about deforestation and . . .
Meghan: Oh, man!
Oprah: Oh, wow! So, do you think there was a standard for Kate in general and a separate one for you? And if so, why?
Meghan: I don’t know why. I can see now what layers were at play. Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: And, again, they really seemed to want a narrative of a hero and a villain.
Oprah: Yeah. You came in as the first mixed-race person to marry into the family, and did that concern you in being able to fit in?
Meghan: Mmm.
Oprah: And did that concern you in being able to fit in? Did you think about that at all?
Meghan: I thought about it because they made me think about it.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: Right? But at the same time now, upon reflection, thank God all of those things were true. Thank God I had that life experience. Thank god I had known the value of working. My first job was when I was 13, at a frozen yoghurt shop called Humphrey Yogart.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
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Meghan revealed Kate Middleton made her cry days before her weddingCredit: AP:Associated Press
Meghan: I’ve always worked. I’ve always valued independence. I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women’s rights. I mean, that’s the sad irony of the last four years . . . is I’ve advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then I was silent.
Oprah: Were you silent? Or were you silenced?
Meghan: The latter.
Oprah: So, how does that work? Were you told by the comms people, or the, I don’t know, the institution? Were you told to keep silent? How were you told to handle tabloids or gossip? Were you . . . were you told to say nothing?
Meghan: Everyone from . . . everyone in my world was given very clear directive, from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating, to always say, ‘No comment’. That’s my friends, my mom and dad.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: And we did.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: I did anything they told me to do — of course I did, because it was also through the lens of, ‘And we’ll protect you’. So, even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn’t see — but my friends would call me and say, ‘Meg, this is really bad’ — because I didn’t see it, I’d go, ‘Don’t worry. I’m being protected’.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: I believed that. And I think that was . . . that was really hard to reconcile because it was only . . . it was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to under-stand that not only was I not being protected, but they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.
Oprah: So, are you saying you did not feel supported by the powers that be, be that The Firm, the monar-chy, all of them?
Meghan: It’s hard for people to distinguish the two because there’s . . . it’s a family business, right?
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: So, there’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution. Those are two separate things. And it’s important to be able to compartmentalise that, because the Queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me. I mean, we had one of our first joint engagements together. She asked me to join her, and I . . .
Oprah: Was this on the train?
Meghan: Yeah, on the train.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: We had breakfast together that morning, and she’d given me a beautiful gift, and I just really loved being in her company. And I remember we were in the car . . .
Oprah: Can you share what the gift was? Or . . .
Meghan: Yes. She gave me beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace. And we were in the car going between engagements, and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth. And it was chilly, and she was like, ‘Meghan, come on’ and put it over my knees as well.
Oprah: Oh, nice.
Meghan: Right. Just moments of . . . and it made me think of my grand-mother, where she’s always been warm and inviting and . . . and really welcoming.
Oprah: So, OK, so she made you feel welcomed?
Meghan: Yes.
Oprah: Did you feel welcomed by everyone? It seemed like you and Kate . . . at the Wimbledon game where you were going to watch a friend play tennis . . .
Meghan: (Laughs)
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Meghan, pictured while pregnant in March 2019, said she was silenced when she started dating HarryCredit: Splash News
Oprah: Was it what it looked like? You are two sisters-in-law out there in the world, getting to know each other. Was she helping you, embracing you into the family, helping you adjust?
Meghan: I think everyone welcomed me.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: And, yeah, when you say, ‘Was it what it looked like?’, my under-standing and my experience of the past four years is it’s nothing like what it looks like. It’s nothing like what it looks like. And I . . . and I remember so often people within The Firm would say, ‘Well, you can’t do this because it’ll look like that. You can’t’. So, even, ‘Can I go and have lunch with my friends?’ ‘No, no, no, you’re oversaturated, you’re every-where, it would be best for you to not go out to lunch with your friends’. I go, ‘Well, I haven’t . . . I haven’t left the house in months’.
I mean, there was a day that one of the members of the family, she came over, and she said, ‘Why don’t you just lay low for a little while, because you are everywhere right now’. And I said, ‘I’ve left the house twice in four months. I’m everywhere, but I am nowhere’. And from that standpoint, I continued to say to people, ‘I know there’s an obsession with how things look, but has anyone talked about how it feels? Because right now, I could not feel lonelier’.
Oprah: Hmm. You were feeling lonely, even though your prince . . . you’re in love, you’re with him.
Meghan: I’m not lonely . . . I wasn’t lonely with him.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: There were moments that he had to work or he had to go away, there’s moments in the middle of the night. And so, there was very little that I was allowed to do.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: And so, yeah, of course that breeds loneliness when you’ve come from such a full life or when you’ve come from freedom. I think the easiest way that now people can understand it is what we’ve all gone through in lockdown.
Oprah: Yeah, well, everybody can certainly relate now.
(Cuts to footage of interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby in South Africa in October, 2019)
Meghan: . . . asked if I’m OK, but it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.
Bradby: And the answer is, would it be fair to say, ‘Not really OK’, as in it’s really been a struggle?
Meghan: Yes.
(Back to Oprah)
Oprah: Well, I would have to say, in South Africa, when the reporter stopped and asked, ‘Are you OK . . ?’
Meghan: Mmm.
Oprah: And, whooo, we all felt that. Why did that question strike such a nerve? What was going on with you, internally at that time?
Meghan: That was the last day of the tour. You know, those tours are . . . I’m sure they have beautiful pictures and it looks vibrant, and all of that is true. It’s also really exhausting. So, I was fried, and I think it just hit me so hard because we were making it look like every-thing was fine. I can understand why people were really surprised to see that there was pain there.
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She said she was told she would be protected from the mediaCredit: Reuters
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: Because we were doing our job. Our job was to be on and to smile. And so, when he asked me that, I guess I had felt that it had never occurred to anyone that I, that I wasn’t OK, and that I had really been suffering. And I had known for a long time and had been asking the institution for help for quite a long time.
Oprah: Help for what?
Meghan: After we had gotten back from our Australia tour — which was about a year before that — and we talked about when things really started to turn, when I knew we weren’t being protected. And it was during that part of my pregnancy, especially, that I started to understand what our continued reality was going to look like.
Oprah: What kind of protection did you want that you feel you didn’t receive?
Meghan: I mean, they would go on the record and negate the most ridiculous story for anyone, right? I’m talking about things that are super-artificial and inconsequential. But the narrative about, you know, making Kate cry, I think was the beginning of a real character assassination. And they knew it wasn’t true. And I thought, well, if they’re not going to kill things like that, then what are we going to do?
It had never occurred to anyone that I wasn’t OK…I was really suffering, and asked for help.
Meghan: Separate from that, and what was happening behind closed doors was, you know, we knew I was pregnant. We now know it’s Archie, and it was a boy. We didn’t know any of that at the time. We can just talk about it as Archie now. And that was when they were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or a princess — not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol — and that he wasn’t going to receive security.
Oprah: What?
Meghan: It was really hard.
Oprah: What do you mean?
Meghan: He wasn’t going to receive security. This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy, where I’m going, ‘Hold on a second’.
Oprah: That your son — and Harry, Prince Harry’s son was not going to receive security?
Meghan: That’s right, I know.
Oprah: How . . . but how does that work?
Meghan: How does that work? It’s like, ‘No, no, no. Look, because if he’s not going to be a prince, it’s like, OK, well, he needs to be safe, so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince or a princess — whatever it’s going to be . . . ‘But if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect their protec-tion, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder. You’ve allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe’.
Oprah: So, how do they explain to you that your son, the grandson, the great-grandson of the Queen . . .
Meghan: Mm-hmm.
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Meg shocked the world when she admitted she was struggling in an interview with ITV’s Tom BradbyCredit: ITV
Oprah: . . . is not going to have . . . he wasn’t going to be a prince? How did they tell you that? And what reasons did they give? And then say, ‘And so, therefore, you’re not . . . you don’t need protection’.
Meghan: There’s no explanation.
Oprah: Hmm.
Meghan: There’s no version. I mean, that’s the other piece of that . . .
Oprah: Who tells you that?
Meghan: I heard a lot of it through Harry and then other parts of it through conversations with . . .
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: . . . family members. And it was a decision that they felt was appropriate. And I thought, well . . .
Oprah: Was the title . . . was him being called a prince, Archie being called a prince, was that important to you?
Meghan: If it meant he was going to be safe, then, of course. All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment that I don’t personally have, right? I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess. I’ve always just still been Meghan, right? So, for me, I’m clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff. And the most important title I will ever have is Mom. I know that.
Meghan: But the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be . . . You know, the other piece of that conversation is, there’s a convention — I forget if it was George V or George VI convention — that when you’re the grandchild of the monarch, so when Harry’s dad becomes king, automatically Archie and our next baby would become prince or princess, or whatever they were going to be.
Oprah: So, for you, it’s about protection and safety, not so much as what the . . . what the title means to the world.
Meghan: That’s a huge piece of it, but, I mean, but . . .
Oprah: . . . and that having the title gives you the safety and protection?
Meghan: Yeah, but also it’s not their right to take it away.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: Right? And so, I think even with that convention I’m talking about, while I was pregnant, they said they want to change the convention for Archie.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: Well, why?
Oprah: Did you get an answer?
Meghan: No.
Oprah: You still don’t have an answer?
Meghan: No.
Oprah: You know, we had heard — the world, those of us out here reading the things or hearing the things — that it was you and Harry who didn’t want Archie to have a prince title. So, you’re telling me that is not true?
Meghan: No, and it’s not our decision to make, right?
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: . . . even though I have a lot of clarity on what comes with the titles, good and bad — and from my experience, a lot of pain.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: I, again, wouldn’t wish pain on my child, but that is their birthright to then make a choice about.
Oprah: OK, so it feels to me like things started to change when you and Harry decided that you were not going to take the picture that had been a part of the tradition for years and . . .
Meghan: We weren’t asked to take a picture. That’s also part of the spin, that was really damaging. I thought, ‘Can you just tell them the truth? Can you say to the world you’re not giving him a title, and we want to keep him safe, and that if he’s not a prince, then it’s not part of the tradition? Just tell people, and then they’ll understand?’
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: But they wouldn’t do that.
Oprah: But you were . . . you both, obviously, were aware that had been a part of the tradition? And there was a . . . was there a specific reason why you didn’t want to be a part of that tradition? I think many people interpreted that as you were both saying, ‘We’re going to do things our way. We’re going to do things a different way’.
Meghan: That’s not it at all. I mean, I think what was really hard . . . so, picture, now that you know what was going on behind the scenes, right? There was a lot of fear surrounding it. I was very scared of having to offer up our baby, knowing that they weren’t going to be kept safe.
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She said ‘I was fried, and I think it just hit me because we were making it look like everything was fine’Credit: BackGrid
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 . . . what are those thoughts? Why do you think that is? Do you think it’s because of his race?
Meghan: (Sighs)
Oprah: And I know that’s a loaded question, but . . .
Meghan: But I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time . . . so 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?
Meghan: And . . .
Oprah: Who . . . who is having that conversation with you? What?
Meghan: So . . .
Oprah: There is a conversation . . . hold on. Hold up. Hold up. Stop right now.
Meghan: There were . . . there were several conversations about it.
Oprah: There’s a conversation with you . . ?
Meghan: With Harry.
Oprah: About how dark your baby is going to be?
Meghan: Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.
Oprah: Whoo. And you’re not going to tell me who had the conversation?
Meghan: I think that would be very damaging to them.
Oprah: OK. So, how . . . how does one have that meeting?
There were conversations …about no security, no title… and how dark his skin might be when he’s born.
Meghan: That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him. And I think . . .
Oprah: Whoa.
Meghan: It was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations.
Oprah: Because they were concerned that if he were too brown, that that would be a problem? Are you saying that?
Meghan: I wasn’t able to follow up with why, but that — if that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right? Especially when — look, I — the Commonwealth is a huge part of the monarchy, and I lived in Canada, which is a Commonwealth country, for seven years. But it wasn’t until Harry and I were together that we started to travel through the Commonwealth, I would say 60 per cent, 70 per cent of which is people of colour, right?
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: And growing up as a woman of colour, as a little girl of colour, I know how important representation is. I know how you want to see someone who looks like you in certain positions.
Oprah: Obviously.
Meghan: Even Archie. Like, we read these books, and now he’s been — there’s one line in one that goes, ‘If you can see it, you can be it’. And he goes, ‘You can be it!’ And I think about that so often, especially in the context of these young girls, but even grown women and men who, when I would meet them in our time in the Commonwealth, how much it meant to them to be able to see someone who looks like them . . .
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Meghan and Harry, who introduced Archie in May 2019, said there were concerns about how dark their baby’s skin would beCredit: AFP
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: . . . in this position. And I could never understand how it wouldn’t be seen as an added benefit . . .
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: . . . and a reflection of the world today. At all times, but especially right now, to go — ‘how inclusive is that, that you can see someone who looks like you in this family, much less one who’s born into it?’
(Oprah narrates) When Meghan joined the Royal Family in 2018, she became the target of unrelenting, pervasive attacks. Racist abuse online aimed at Meghan Markle. There were undeniable racist overtones. This stands apart from the kind of coverage we’ve seen of any other royal.
There was constant criticism, blatant sexist and racist remarks by British tabloids and internet trolls. We have seen the racism towards her play out in real time. Referring to her as ‘straight outta Compton’. The daily onslaught of vitriol and condemnation from the UK Press became overwhelming and, in Meghan’s words, ‘almost unsurvivable’. (Back to Oprah)
Oprah: You’d said in a podcast that it became ‘almost unsurvivable’, and that struck me, because it sounds like you were in some kind of mental trouble. What was actually going on? ‘Almost unsurvivable’ sounds like there was a breaking point.
Meghan: Yeah, there was. I just didn’t see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just, like, I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out. And, again, I wasn’t seeing it, but it’s almost worse when you feel it through the expression of my mom or my friends, or them calling me crying, just, like, ‘Meg, they’re not protecting you’. And I realised that it was all happening just because I was breathing.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: And, look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he’s suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. And I . . . I just didn’t . . . I just didn’t want to be alive any more. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember — I remember how he just cradled me. And I was — I went to the institution, and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that, ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution. And I called . . .
Oprah: So the institution is never a person. Or is it a series of people?
Meghan: No, it’s a person.
Oprah: It’s a person.
Meghan: It’s several people. But I went to one of the most senior people just to . . . to get help. And that — you know, I share this, because there’s so many people who are afraid to voice that they need help. And I know, personally, how hard it is to not just voice it, but when you voice it, to be told no.
Oprah: Whoo.
Meghan: And so, I went to human resources, and I said, ‘I just really — I need help’. Because in my old job, there was a union, and they would protect me. And I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said, ‘My heart goes out to you, because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution’.
Oprah: Mmm.
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They refused to name who had ‘those conversations’Credit: PA:Press Association/PA Images
Meghan: This wasn’t a choice. This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically, ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare’. And people going, ‘Oh, yes, yes, it’s disproportionately terrible what we see out there to anyone else’. But nothing was ever done, so we had to find a solution.
Oprah: Wow! ‘I don’t want to be alive any more,’ that’s . . .
Meghan: I thought it would have solved everything for everyone, right?
Oprah: So, were you thinking of harming yourself? Were you having suicidal thoughts?
Meghan: Yes. This was very, very clear.
Oprah: Wow.
Meghan: Very clear and very scary. And, you know, I didn’t know who to even turn to in that. And one of the people that I reached out to, who’s continued to be a friend and confidant, was one of my husband’s mom’s best friends, one of Diana’s best friends. Because it’s, like, who else could understand what’s . . .what it’s actually like on the inside?
Oprah: Did you ever think about going to a hospital? Or is that possible, that you can check yourself in some place?
Meghan: No, that’s what I was asking to do.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: You can’t just do that. I couldn’t, you know, call an Uber to the palace.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: You couldn’t just go. You couldn’t. I mean, you have to understand, as well, when I joined that family, that was the last time, until we came here, that I saw my passport, my driver’s licence, my keys. All that gets turned over. I didn’t see any of that any more.
Oprah: Well, the way you’re describing this, it . . . it’s like you were trapped and couldn’t get help, even though you’re on the verge of suicide. That’s what you are describing. That’s what I’m hearing.
Meghan: Yes.
Oprah: And that would be an accurate interpretation, yes?
Meghan: That’s the truth.
Oprah: That’s the truth.
Meghan: You know, and if you think about . . . it was one of the things that . . . it stills haunts me is this photograph that someone had sent me. We had to go to an official event. We had to go to this event at the Royal Albert Hall, and a friend said, ‘I know you don’t look at pictures, but, oh, my God, you guys look so great . . .’
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: . . . and sent it to me. And I zoomed in, and what I saw was the truth of what that moment was, because right before we had to leave for that, I had just had that conversation with Harry that morning, and it was the next day that I talked to the institution.
Oprah: You had the conversation ‘I don’t want to be alive any more’?
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: Whoo.
Meghan: No, and it was . . . it wasn’t even, ‘I don’t want to’.
Oprah: And then, you . . ?
Meghan: It was like, ‘These are the thoughts that I’m having in the middle of the night that are very clear . . .’
Oprah: Yes, clarification.
Meghan: ‘. . . and I’m scared, because this is very real. This isn’t some abstract idea. This is methodical, and this is not who I am’. But we had to go to this event, and I remember him saying, ‘I don’t think you can go’. And I said, ‘I can’t be left alone’.
Oprah: Because you were afraid of what you might do to yourself?
Meghan: And we went, and that . . .
Oprah: I’m so sorry to hear that.
Meghan: . . . and that picture, if you zoom in, what I see is how tightly his knuckles are gripped around mine. You can see the whites of our knuckles, because we are smiling and doing our job, but we’re both just trying to hold on. And every time that those lights went down in that Royal Box, I was just weeping, and he was gripping my hand.
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Pregnant Meghan was pictured at the Albert Hall in 2019 on the day she said she felt like taking her lifeCredit: PA:Press Association
Oprah: Wow.
Meghan: And then, it was, ‘OK, intermission’s coming, the lights are about to come on, everyone’s looking at us again’, and you have to just be on again.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: And that’s, I think, so important for people to remember is you have no idea what’s going on for someone behind closed doors. You have no idea. Even the people that smile the biggest smiles and shine the brightest lights, it seems, to have compassion for what’s actually potentially going on.
Oprah: I know. The public is looking at you. And to think that you, earlier in the day, had said to Harry that you didn’t want to be alive any more.
Meghan: Yeah. And just hours before, just sitting on the . . . the steps in our cottage . . .
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: . . . just sitting there and then going, ‘ok, well, go upstairs and put your make-up bag in your sink and try to pull yourself together’.
Oprah: Nobody should have to go through that.
Meghan: And, you know, Harry and I are working on this mental health series for Apple, and we — yes, so — we, we, we hear a lot of these stories. Nobody should have to go through that. It takes so much courage to admit that you need help.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: It takes so much courage to voice that. And as I said, I was ashamed. I’m supposed to be stronger than that.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: I don’t want to put more on my husband’s shoulders. He’s carrying the weight of the world. I don’t want to bring that to him. I bring solutions. To admit that you need help, to admit how dark of a place you’re in.
Oprah: You’ve said some pretty shocking things here, revealing . . .
Meghan: I wasn’t planning to say anything shocking.
Oprah: OK.
Meghan: I’m just telling you what’s happened.
Oprah: OK.
Meghan: I’m sorry if it’s shocked you! It’s been a lot.
Oprah: I’m a little shocked.
Meghan: It’s been a lot.
Oprah: How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today? Are you afraid of a backlash or their reaction?
Meghan: I mean, I think I’m not going to live my life in fear. You know, I think so much of it is said with an understanding of just truth.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: But I think, to answer your question, I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: That at a certain point, you’re going to go, ‘But, you guys, someone just tell the truth’. And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, I’ve lost . . . there’s a lot that’s been lost already.
Oprah: Mmm.
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Now she is expecting her second child and says she knows life is worth living
Meghan: And I grieve a lot. I mean, I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name. I mean, there’s the loss of identity. But I’m still standing, and my hope for people in the takeaway from this is to know that there’s another side.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: To know that life is worth living.
Oprah: OK. I’m so glad you see that now. We are going to take a break, y’all, and Harry’s going to join us.
Meghan: (Laughter)
(Ads and back to Oprah)
Oprah: So, hi.
Harry: Hello.
Oprah: Thanks for joining us.
Harry: Thanks for having me.
Oprah: You’ve been watching on the side, yeah?
Harry: Some of it.
Oprah: Yes. I want to say, first of all, let’s say congratulations . . .
Harry: Thank you.
Oprah: . . . for the new addition to your family. Meghan said she wanted to wait until you were here to tell us, is it a boy or is it a girl?
Meghan: You can tell her.
Harry: No, go for it.
Meghan: No, no.
Harry: It’s a girl.
Oprah: (Squeals)
Meghan: It’s a girl.
Harry: Yes!
Oprah: You’re going to have a daughter. Wow.
Meghan: It’s a girl.
Oprah: When you realised that and saw it on the ultrasound, what . . . what . . . what was your first thought?
Harry: Amazing. Just grateful, like any — to have any child, any one or any two would have been amazing. But to have a boy and then a girl, you know, what more can you ask for? But now, you know, now we — we’ve got our family. We’ve got, you know, the four of us and our two dogs, and it’s great.
Oprah: Done. Done? Two is it?
Harry: Done.
Meghan: Two is it.
Oprah: Two is it.
Meghan: Two is it.
Oprah: And when’s the baby due?
Meghan: In summertime.
Oprah: This summertime?
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: So, you all have been living in sunny California now for . . .
Meghan: Since March.
Oprah: Since March, OK.
(Oprah narrates) In late 2019, Prince Harry and Meghan left the UK And moved to Canada. The couple says they chose Canada, a commonwealth of Britain, with the intention of continuing to serve the Queen. After their move, Harry and Meghan say security normally provided by the Royal Family was cut off. By March 2020, just days before the Covid lockdown began, Meghan, Harry and Archie relocated to Los Angeles, where media mogul Tyler Perry offered them his home as a temporary refuge. He also provided security.
Three months later they bought their own home and settled in the Santa Barbara area. Last spring, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex created their own foundation and media content company called Archewell.
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In late 2019 Harry and Meghan left the UK and moved to CanadaCredit: BackGrid
Oprah: And so you stayed at Tyler Perry’s house for several months.
Harry: Three months, I believe.
Meghan: Yeah, because we didn’t have a plan. We needed . . . we needed a house and he offered security as well, so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we are going to do.
Harry: The biggest concern was that while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, I then got told at short notice security was going to be removed. By this point, courtesy of the Daily Mail, the world knew exact . . . our exact location. So suddenly it dawned on me, ‘Hang on a second. The borders could be closed. We’re going to have our security removed. Who knows how long lockdown’s going to be? The world knows where we are. It’s not safe. It’s not secure’.
Meghan: Well, and also . . .
Harry: We probably need to get out of here.
Oprah: So, what security did you have at the time that was going to be removed?
Harry: We had our UK security.
Oprah: So you got word from overseas?
Harry: Yeah.
Oprah: That ‘we’re taking away your security’. Why were they doing that?
Harry: Their justification is a change in status, of which I pushed back and said, ‘Well, is there a change of threat or risk?’ And after many weeks of waiting, eventually I got the confirmation that no, the risk and threat hasn’t changed but due to our change of status, (by) which we would no longer be official working members of the Royal Family, they’re obviously . . . what we proposed was sort of part-time, or at least as much as we could do without being fully consumed because of, I think, what most of you guys have covered already.
Meghan: We actually didn’t talk about that. It’s been so spun in the wrong direction, as though we quit, we walked away, we . . . all the conversations of the two years before we finally announced it.
(Oprah narrates) In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan announced they would step back as senior members of the Royal Family. The swiftness with which they’ve taken this decision, only 18 months after they got married, has taken everyone by surprise, from the Queen all the way down.
The bombshell news sparked a worldwide media frenzy dubbed ‘Megxit’ by the British Press. Many reporters and viral posts blamed Meghan for the decision. In an official statement, Queen Elizabeth said: ‘Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.’ (Back to Oprah)
Oprah: OK, let me ask the question.
Meghan: Yeah?
Oprah: So, over a year ago, you shocked the world. You announced you were stepping back as senior members of the Royal Family. And then the media reported that you had ‘blindsided’ the Queen, your grandmother. So here’s a time to set the record straight. What was the tipping point that made you decide you had to leave?
Harry: Yeah, it was desperate. I went to all the places which I thought I should go to, to ask for help. We both did.
Meghan: Mm-hmm.
Harry: Separately and together.
Oprah: So you left because you were asking for help and couldn’t get it?
Harry: Yeah, basically. But we never left.
Meghan: We never left the family and we only wanted to have the same type of role that exists, right? There’s senior members of the family and then there are non-senior members. And we said, specifically, ‘We’re stepping back from senior roles to be just like several . . .’ I mean, I can think of so many right now who are all . . . they’re royal highnesses, prince or princess, duke or duchess . . . who earn a living, live on palace grounds, can support the Queen if and when called upon. So we weren’t reinventing the wheel here. We were saying, ‘OK, if this isn’t working for everyone, we’re in a lot of pain, you can’t provide us with the help we need, we can just take a step back. We can do it in a Commonwealth country’. We suggested New Zealand, South Africa . . .
Harry: Take a breath.
Meghan: Canada.
Oprah: Yeah. And you wanted to take a breath from what specifically? Let’s be clear.
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By March 2020, just days before lockdown, the family had relocated to LACredit: The Mega Agency
Harry: From this . . . this constant barrage. My biggest concern was history repeating itself and I’ve said that before on numerous occasions, very publicly. And what I was seeing was history repeating itself. But more, perhaps. Or definitely far more dangerous because then you add race in and you add social media in. And when I’m talking about history repeating itself, I’m talking about my . . . my mother.
Harry: When you can see something happening in the same kind of way, anybody would ask for help, ask the system of which you are a part of — especially when you know there’s a relationship there — that they could help and share some truth or call . . . call the dogs off, whatever you want to call it. So to receive no help at all and to be told continuously, ‘This is how it is. This is just how it is. We’ve all been through it’ . . . and I think the biggest turning point for me was the . . . and it didn’t take very long. It was actually right at the beginning . . . was, OK, this union . . . us, me, being . . . having a girlfriend was going to be a thing. Of course it was. But I . . . I never expected, or I never thought . . .
Oprah: Because she was mixed race?
Harry: No, just . . . just the two of us to start with. I hadn’t really thought about the mixed-race piece because I thought, well . . . well, firstly, you know, I’ve spent many years doing the work and doing my own learning. But my upbringing in the system, of which I was brought up in and what I’ve been exposed to, it wasn’t . . . I wasn’t aware of it to start with. But, my god, it doesn’t take very long to suddenly become aware of it.
Oprah: Yeah, because you said you really weren’t aware of unconscious bias and all that that represents . . .
Harry: No.
Oprah: Until you met Meghan.
Harry: Yeah. You know, as sad as it is to say, it takes living in her shoes — in this instance, for a day, or those first eight days — to see where it was going to go and how far they were going to take it.
Oprah: And get away with it?
Harry: And get away with it and be so blatant about it. That’s the bit that shocked me. This is . . . we’re talking about the UK Press here, right? And this . . . the UK is my home. That is . . . that is where I was brought up. So yes, I’ve got my own relationship that goes back a long way with the media. I asked for calm from the British tabloids — once as a boyfriend, once as a husband and once as a father.
Oprah: So when I ask the question, ‘Why did you leave?’ the simplest answer is . . ?
Harry: Lack of support and lack of understanding.
Oprah: So, I want clarity. Was the move about getting away from the UK Press? Because the Press, as you know, is everywhere. Or was the move because you weren’t getting enough support from The Firm?
Harry: It was both.
Oprah: Both.
Harry: Yeah.
Oprah: Did you blindside the Queen?
Harry: No. I’ve never blindsided my grandmother. I have too much respect for her.
Oprah: So where did that story come from?
Harry: I hazard a guess that it probably could have come from within the institution.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: So, I remember when you talked to her several times about this over . . .
Harry: Two years.
Meghan: Two years. But even the night before, days before, with the statement coming out, I remember that conversation.
Oprah: So, how do you know she wasn’t blindsided? Because the way it was presented through the Press is that suddenly you made this announcement. She didn’t know it was coming.
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Harry insisted the Queen wasn’t blindsided by MegxitCredit: AFP or licensors
Harry: No, I . . . when we were in Canada, I had three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father and — before he stopped taking my calls — and he said, ‘Can you put this all in writing what your plan is?’
Oprah: Your father asked you to put it in writing.
Prince Harry: Yeah. He asked me to put it in writing and I put all the specifics in there, even the fact that we were planning on putting the announcement out on January 7.
Oprah: So you just said that your dad stopped taking your calls. Why did he stop taking your calls?
Harry: Because I took matters in . . . by that point, I took matters into my own hands. It was like, ‘I need to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody. It’s really sad that it’s gotten to this point but I’ve got to do something for my own mental health, my wife’s and for Archie’s as well’. Because I could see where this was headed.
Meghan: To have sat back and not said that for so long, it just feels really . . .
Oprah: To have been silenced all this time.
Meghan: Yeah.
Harry: Been three and a half, four years. Or longer, actually.
Meghan: We were saying . . . gosh, it must have been years ago we were sitting in Nottingham (Nottingham Cottage, where Harry lived as a bachelor and when first married) . . . I was sitting in Nottingham Cottage and The Little Mermaid came on. Now, who watches . . . who as an adult really watches The Little Mermaid? But it came on and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just here all the time, so I may as well watch this’. And I went, ‘Oh, my god! She falls in love with the prince and because of that, she has to lose her voice’.
Oprah: Mmm.
Meghan: But by the end, she gets her voice back.
Oprah: Gets her voice back.
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: And this is what happened here? You feel like you got your voice back?
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: So, you . . . you’re stepping back out of frustration and you just need to get out. And, you know, you heard Meghan share with us all . . .
Harry: Mm-hmm.
Oprah: The moment that she came to you, had the courage enough to say out loud . . .
Harry: Mm-hmm.
My father said: Can you put your plan in writing? Then he stopped taking my calls. I’d taken matters into my own hands.
Oprah: ‘I don’t want to live any more.’
Harry: Mm-hmm.
Oprah: And you didn’t know what to do?
Harry: I had no idea what to do. I wasn’t . . . I wasn’t prepared for that. I went . . . I went to a very dark place as well. But I . . . I wanted to be there for her and . . .
Meghan: Also, we didn’t leave right that minute, right?
Harry: I was terrified.
Meghan: We still . . . that’s almost a year after.
Oprah: So then did you tell other people in the family, ‘I have to get help for her. We need help for her’?
Harry: No. That’s just not a conversation that would be had.
Oprah: Why?
Harry: I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them.
Oprah: Oh.
Harry: And I don’t know whether . . . I don’t know whether they’ve had the same . . . whether they’ve had the same feelings or thoughts. I have no idea. And it’s a very trapping environment that a lot of them are stuck in.
Oprah: You were ashamed of admitting that Meghan needed help?
Harry: Yeah.
Oprah: Mmm.
Harry: I didn’t have anyone to turn to.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Harry: You know, we’ve got some very close friends that . . . that have been with us through this whole process but for the family, they very much have this mentality of, ‘This is just how it is. This is how it’s meant to be. You can’t change it. We’ve all been through it’.
Oprah: ‘We’ve all been through the pressure. We’ve all been through being exploited’?
Harry: Yes. But what was different for me was the race element, because now it wasn’t just about her, but it is about what she represents. And therefore it wasn’t just affecting my wife. It was affecting so many other people as well. And that’s . . . that was the trigger for me to really engage in those conversations with Palace . . . senior Palace staff and with my family to say, ‘Guys, this is not going to end well’.
Oprah: And when you say ‘end well’, what did you mean?
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He said he spoke to his father and grandmother multiple times before they broke the newsCredit: Getty
Harry: For anyone it’s not going to end well. Because the way that I saw it was there was a way of doing things but for us — for this union and the specifics around her race — there was an opportunity, many opportunities, for my family to show some public support.
Oprah: Mmm.
Harry: And I guess one of the most telling parts — and the saddest parts, I guess — was over 70 Members of Parliament, female Members of Parliament, both Conservative and Labour — came out and called out the . . . the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about
Meghan. Yet no one from my family ever said anything over those three years. And that . . . that hurts. But I also am acutely aware of where my family stand and how scared they are of the tabloids turning on them.
Oprah: Turning on them for what? They’re the Royal Family.
Harry: Yes, but it’s . . . there is this invisible . . . what’s termed or referred to as the ‘invisible contract’ behind closed doors between the institution and the tabloids, the UK tabloids.
Oprah: How so?
Harry: Well, it is . . . to simplify it, it’s a case of if you . . . if you as a family member are willing to wine, dine and give full access to these reporters, then you will get better press.
Oprah: What do you care about better press if you’re royal?
Harry: I think everyone needs to have some compassion for . . . for them in that situation, right? There is a level of control by fear that has existed for generations. I mean, generations.
Oprah: But who’s controlling whom? It’s the institution. From our point of view, just the public. It’s . . .
Harry: Yeah but the institution survives based on that, on that perception. So actually, if you don’t . . .
Oprah: So you’re saying there’s this relationship that Meghan was speaking of . . . it’s like, symbiotic. One lives or thrives because the other exists.
Meghan: Mmm.
Oprah: That’s what you’re saying.
Harry: That’s the . . . that’s the idea.
Meghan: Well, see, I think there’s a reason that these tabloids have holiday parties at the Palace. They’re hosted by the Palace, the tabloids are. You know, there is a construct that’s at play there. And because from the beginning of our relationship, they were so attacking and inciting so much racism, really, it changed our . . . the risk level, because it went . . . it wasn’t just catty gossip. It was bringing out a part of people that was racist in how it was charged. And that changed the threat. That changed the level of death threats. That changed everything.
Oprah: So, tell me this: You said a moment ago, it hurts that your family has never acknowledged the role that racism played in here. Did you think she was well received in the beginning?
Harry: Yes. Far better than I expected. (Laughter) But, you know, my grandmother has been amazing throughout. You know, my father, my brother, Kate and . . . and all the rest of the family, they were, they were really welcoming. But it really changed after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour.
Meghan: That’s when we announced we were pregnant with Archie. That was our first tour.
Harry: But it was also . . . it was also the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.
Oprah: I’m thinking, because I watch The Crown OK? I watch The Crown. Do you all watch The Crown?
Meghan: (Laughs)
Harry:: I’ve watched some of it. You’ve watched some of it?
Meghan: I’ve watched some of it.
Oprah: But there’s this . . . I think it was the fourth season, actually, where there is an Australian tour. So, is that what you’re talking about? It brought back memories of that? The Australian tour.
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Harry said he was ‘trapped within the system’ until he met MeghanCredit: Getty
Harry: Yeah.
Oprah: Where your father and your mother went there, and your mother was bedazzling. So, are you saying that there were hints of jealousy?
Harry: Look, I just wish that we would all learn from the past. But to see the . . . to see how effortless it was for Meghan to come into the family so quickly in Australia and across New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and just be able to connect with people in such a . . .
Oprah: But . . .
Harry: I know, I know, I know, I know. But it’s . . .
Oprah: Why, I mean, why wouldn’t everybody love that? Isn’t that what you want? You want her to come into the family and to, as the Queen said at one point, the way that Meghan had basically, not her words, been assimilated into the family.
Harry: Yeah, I think, you know, as we talked about, she was very much welcomed into the family, not just by the family, but by the world.
Oprah: Yeah.
Harry: Certainly by the Commonwealth. I mean, here you have one of the greatest assets to the Commonwealth that the family could have ever wished for.
Oprah: I just can’t . . . I’m kind of going back to this. So, then, you’re in Canada because you had stepped back. Your Firm says you’re no longer going to have protection. So, did you ask for that? Because did you want . . . were you trying to have it both ways? You wanted to step back but also keep your foot in royal business, it seems.
Harry: It’s interesting that you talk about it being, you know, ‘Have it both ways’ on the . . . on the security element. I never thought that I would have my security removed, because I was born into this position. I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me. That was what completely changed the whole plan.
Oprah: So, that you as Prince Harry are going to have your security removed.
Meghan: Yeah. And I even . . . and I even wrote letters to his family saying, ‘Please, it’s very clear the protection of me or Archie is not a priority. I accept that. That is fine. Please keep my husband safe. I see the death threats. I see the racist propaganda. Please keep him safe. Please don’t pull his security and announce to the world when he and we are most vulnerable’. And they said it’s just not possible.
Oprah: Mm-hmm. I think what we really have got to clear up here is because one of the stories that continues to live, either through rumours or social media, out in the world, is that you, Meghan, are the one who manipulated, calculated, and are responsible for this Megxit.
Meghan: Oh, my gosh. It’s amazing how they can use Meg for everything.
Oprah: Yes. There are even stories that you knew all along that this was going to happen. You went through the whole process, and it was all intentional to build your brand.
Meghan: Can you imagine how little sense that makes? I left my career, my life. I left everything because I love him, right? And our plan was to do this for ever.
Harry: Yes.
Meghan: Our plan . . . for me, I mean, I wrote letters to his family when I got there, saying, ‘I am dedicated to this. I’m here for you. Use me as you’d like’. There was no guidance, as well, right? There were certain things that you couldn’t do. But, you know, unlike what you see in the movies, there’s no class on how to . . . how to speak, how to cross your legs, how to be royal. There’s none of that training. That might exist for other members of the family. That was not something that was offered to me.
Oprah: So, nobody tells you anything?
Meghan: No.
Oprah: Nobody prepares you?
Meghan: Nobody even . . .
Harry: There’s . . .
Meghan: Sorry, but even down to, like, the National Anthem. No one thought to say, ‘Oh, you’re American. You’re not going to know that’. That’s me late at night, Googling how . . . what’s the National . . . I’ve got to learn this. I don’t want to embarrass them. I need to learn these 30 hymns for church. All of this is televised. We were doing the training behind the scenes, because I just wanted to make them proud.
Oprah: OK, but here’s the question: Do you think you would have left or ever stepped back were it not for Meghan?
Meghan: Hm.
Harry: No. The answer to your question is no.
Oprah: You would not have?
Harry: I wouldn’t have . . . I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped as well. I didn’t see a way out.
Oprah: She felt trapped, you were trapped?
Harry: Yeah, I didn’t see a way out.
Oprah: But you’d this life, your whole life. This has been your life your whole life.
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He claimed William and Charles are also trapped but ‘they don’t get to leave’Credit: Instagram
Harry: Yeah, but, you know, I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped.
Oprah: Mmm.
Harry: But the moment that I met Meg, and then our worlds sort of collided in the most amazing of ways, and then to see how . . .
Oprah: Please explain how you, Prince Harry, raised in a palace and a life of privilege — literally, a Prince . . . how you were trapped.
Harry: Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.
Oprah: Well, OK, so the impression of the world — maybe it’s a false impression — is that, for all these years before Meghan, you were living your life as a royal, Prince Harry . . . the beloved Prince Harry and that you were enjoying that life. We didn’t get the impression that you were feeling trapped in that life.
Harry: Enjoying the life because there were photographs of me smiling while I was shaking hands and meeting people? Like, I’m sure you guys have covered some of that. That’s . . . that’s a part of the job. That’s a part of the role. That’s what’s expected. No matter who you are in the family, no matter what’s going on in your personal life, no matter what’s just happened, if the bikes roll up and the car rolls up, you’ve got to get dressed, you got to get in there. You wipe your tears away, shake off whatever you’re thinking about and you got to be on your A-game.
Oprah: Mm-hmm. What would you think your mum would say about this stepping back, this decision to step back from the Royal Family? How would she feel about this moment?
Harry: I think she would feel very angry with how this has panned out, and very sad. But, ultimately, she’d . . . all she’d . . . all she’d ever want is for us to be happy.
Oprah: You wanted freedom from . . . from that life? You wanted freedom to make your own money. You wanted freedom to make deals with Netflix and Spotify. But you also wanted to serve the Queen?
Harry: Yeah, we didn’t want to . . . we didn’t want to give up, or we didn’t want to turn our backs on the associations and the people that we . . . that we’ve been supporting.
Meghan: But also, Oprah, it exists.
Harry: Yeah, it exists. But, also, the Netflix and the Spotify, they’re all . . . that was never part of the plan.
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: Because you didn’t have a plan?
Meghan: We didn’t have a plan.
Harry: We didn’t have a plan. That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford . . . afford security for us.
Oprah: Wait. Hold . . . hold up. Wait a minute. Your family cut you off?
Harry: Yeah, in the first half, the first quarter of 2020. But I’ve got what my mum left me, and, without that, we would not have been able to do this.
Oprah: OK.
Harry: So, you know, touching back on what you asked me, what my mum would think of this, I think she saw it coming. And I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process. And, you know, for me, I’m . . . I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side. Because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago, because it’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other.
Oprah: What’s your relationship like now with your family?
Harry: I’ve spoken more to my grandmother in the last year than I have done for many, many years.
Oprah: Do you all have Zoom calls?
Harry: We did a couple of Zoom calls with Archie.
Meghan: Sometimes, yes, so they can see Archie.
Oprah: Yeah.
Harry: My grandmother and I have a really good relationship . . .
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Harry said he thinks Diana would be angry ‘with how this has panned out’Credit: Getty
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Harry: . . . And an understanding. And I have a deep respect for her. She’s my Colonel-In-Chief, right? She always will be.
Oprah: Your relationship with your father? Is he taking your calls now?
Harry: Yeah. Yeah, he is. There’s a lot to work through there, you know? I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like, and this is . . . and Archie’s his grandson. And . . . but, at the same time, you know, I, of course I will always . . . I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. And . . . and I will continue to . . . to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship. And, but they only know what they know, and that’s the thing. I’ve tried to . . .
Meghan: Or what they’re told.
Harry: Or what they’re told. And I’ve tried to educate them through the process that I have been educated.
Oprah: Because is it like being in a big royal bubble?
Harry: Yeah.
Oprah: Yeah. And your brother? Relationship? Much has been said about that.
Harry: Yeah, and much will continue to be said about that. You know, as I’ve said before, I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But we . . . you know, we’re on . . . we’re on different paths.
Oprah: Well, what is particularly striking is what Meghan shared with us earlier, is that no one wants to admit that there’s anything about race or that race has played a role in the trolling and the vitriol, and yet Meghan shared with us that there was a conversation with you about Archie’s skin tone.
Harry: Mm-hmm.
Oprah: What was that conversation?
Harry: That conversation I’m never going to share, but at the time . . . at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked.
Oprah: Can you . . . can you tell us what the question was?
Harry: No. I don’t . . . I’m not comfortable with sharing that.
Oprah: OK.
Harry: But that was . . . that was right at the beginning, right?
Oprah: Like, what will the baby look like?
Harry: Yeah, what will the kids look like?
Oprah: What will the kids look like?
Harry: But that was right at the beginning, when she wasn’t going to get security, when members of my family were suggesting that she carries on acting, because there was not enough money to pay for her, and all this sort of stuff. Like, there was some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard.
Oprah: So, in conclusion, if you’d had the support, you’d still be there?
Harry: Without question.
Meghan: Yeah.
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He said ‘I think she saw it coming, and I certainly felt her presence throughout this process’Credit: Getty
Harry: I’m sad that . . . that what’s happened has happened, but I know, and I’m comfortable in knowing, that we did everything that we could to make it work. And we did everything on the exit process the way that . . . the way that it should have been done.
Meghan: With as much respect.
Harry: With as much respect.
Meghan: And, oh, my God, we just did everything we could to . . . to protect them.
Oprah: So, what do you say to the people who say you came here, you made these multimillion-dollar deals and that you’re just money-grabbing royals?
Harry: First off, this was never the intention.
Oprah: Mm-hmm.
Meghan: Yeah.
Harry: And we’re certainly not complaining. We . . . our life is great now. We’ve got a beautiful house. We’ve got a beautiful . . . I’ve got a beautiful family. And the dogs . . . the dogs are really happy. But at the time, during Covid, the suggestion by a friend was, ‘What about streamers?’
Meghan: Yeah, we genuinely hadn’t thought about that before.
Harry: We hadn’t thought about it. So there were all sorts of different options. And, look, from my perspective, all I needed was enough money to be able to pay for security to keep my family safe.
Oprah: Mm. How will you use Archewell as a means of speaking to things that are important to you in the world?
Meghan: I think in creating . . . I mean, life is about storytelling, right? About the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we’re told, what we buy into. And . . . and for us to be able to have storytelling through a truthful lens, that hopefully is uplifting, is going to be great knowing how many people that can land with. And being able to give a voice to a lot of people that are under-represented and aren’t really heard.
Oprah: Any regrets?
Meghan: This morning, I woke up earlier than H and saw a note from someone on our team in the UK saying the Duke of Edinburgh had gone to the hospital.
Oprah: Yeah.
Meghan: But I just picked up the phone and I called the Queen just to check in.
Oprah: You check in?
Meghan: Just like, I would . . . you know . . . that’s what we do. It’s like, being able to default to not having to every moment go, ‘Is that appropriate?’
Oprah: Yeah.
Harry: For so many in my family, what they do is . . . there’s a level of control in it, right? Because they’re fearful of what the papers are going to say about them.
Oprah: Yeah.
Harry: Whereas with us, it was just, like, just be . . . just be yourself. Just be genuine. Just be authentic. Just go and do what it is. If you get it wrong, you get it wrong. If you get it right, you get it right.
(Oprah narrates) On February 19, 2021, Buckingham palace released a statement announcing it was agreed that Prince Harry and Meghan would not return as working members of the Royal Family. Harry and Meghan’s royal patronages and Prince Harry’s honorary military titles would be returned to the Queen. The Queen’s statement was released after our interview took place. (Back to Oprah)
Oprah: Your exit agreement with the Royal Family, it’s . . . that is coming up at the end of this month.
Harry: The decision is, I think. Yeah, I mean, the decision — what, as of last week, or whatever it was — is that they will be removing everything.
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The Sussexes said they have no regrets about stepping backCredit: AFP or licensors
Oprah: Are you hurt by that decision?
Harry: I am hurt. But at the same time I completely respect my grandmother’s decision. I would still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role.
Oprah: Could you be as satisfied now, doing this through your own organisation, Archewell?
Meghan: Well, we . . . this is what we’re doing, right? We’re still doing it. We’re still going to always do the work. But I also think it’s important for you or everyone to know this decision that was made about patronages and all of that was before anyone knew that we were sitting down with you.
Harry: Yeah.
Meghan: I think that it’s . . . I can only imagine . . .
Oprah: I heard a story that you’re getting punished now. Those were being taken away because you did sit down with me.
Meghan: Yeah, but that was . . . those letters, those conversations, that was . . . that was finalised before anyone even knew that we were going to sit down. So that’s just not true.
Oprah: All right, tell me this. Harry, what delights you now in your everyday experience and the things that you actually cherish in your life here with Archie and Meghan?
Harry: This year has been crazy for everybody. But to have outdoor space where I can go for walks with Archie, and we can go for walks as a family and with the dogs, and we can go on hikes — we’ll go down to the beach, which is so close — all of these things are just . . . I guess, the highlight for me is sticking him on the back of the bicycle in his little baby seat and taking him on these bike rides, which is something I was never able to do when I was young. I can see him on the back and he’s got his arms out and he’s like, ‘Whoo!’ chatting, chatting, chatting, going, ‘Palm tree! House!’ and all this sort of stuff. And I do . . . I think to myself . . .
In some ways it’s just the beginning. Greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read…
Oprah: What’s his new favourite word? What’s his favourite word now?
Meghan: Oh my gosh, he’s on a roll. In the past couple weeks it has been hydrate, which is just hysterical.
Harry: But also, whenever everyone leaves the house, he’s like, ‘Drive safe’.
Meghan: ‘Drive safe’.
(Oprah laughs)
Harry: Which is really . . .
Meghan: He’s not even two yet!
Oprah: You said that your brother was trapped. You said that you love your brother and always will love your brother. You didn’t tell me what the relationship is now, though.
Harry: The relationship is space at the moment. And, you know, time heals all things, hopefully.
Oprah: Any regrets?
Harry: No. I mean . . . no, I think we’ve done . . . I’m really proud of us, you know? I’m so proud of . . . I’m so proud of my wife. Like, she safely delivered Archie during a period of time which was so cruel and so mean. And every single day, I was coming back from work, from London, I was coming back to my wife crying while breastfeeding Archie. That’s coming from someone who wasn’t reading anything. And as she touched on earlier, if she had read anything, she wouldn’t be here now. So we did what we had to do — and now we’ve got another little one on the way.
Meghan: I have one. My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected. I believed that. And I regret believing that because I think, ‘had I really seen that that wasn’t happening, I would have been able to do more’. But I think I wasn’t supposed to see it. I wasn’t supposed to know. And . . . and now, because we’re actually on the other side, we’ve actually not just survived but are thriving. You know, this . . . I mean, this is miracles. I . . . yeah, I think that all of those things that I was hoping for have happened . . . and this is in some ways just the beginning for us. You know, we’ve been through a lot. It’s felt like a lifetime. (Laughs.) A lifetime.
Oprah: So, your story with the prince does have a happy ending?
Meghan: It does.
Harry: Yeah.
Meghan: Yeah. (Laughs.) It really did.
Oprah: It has a happy ending because you made it so.
Meghan: Yeah, greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read.
Oprah: Greater than any fairytale.
Meghan: Yeah, yeah.
Oprah: What you’ve described here today — being trapped and not even being aware of it and all the things that had transpired, and then she comes into your life and then you’re doing therapy — do you think in some way she saved you?
Harry: Yeah. Without question. There was . . . there was a bigger purpose. There was other forces at play, I think, throughout this whole process. I’m the last person to think, ‘Ooh!’ You know? But it’s undeniable when these things have happened, where the overlap is. So yeah, she did. Without question she saved me.
Meghan: And I would . . . I would . . . I mean, I think that’s lovely. I would disagree. I think he saved all of us, right? He ultimately called it and was like, ‘We’ve got to find a way for us, for Archie’. And you made a decision that saved . . . certainly saved my life and saved all of us. But, you know, you need to want to be saved.
Oprah: Well, thank you for sharing your love story. We can’t wait for the big day some time this summer.
Meghan: Yes, indeed.
Oprah: Sometime this summer.
Meghan: Yeah.
Oprah: Thank you both for trusting me to share your story.
Meghan: Thank you for giving us the space to do it.
Harry: Yeah, thank you.
Oprah: This conversation doesn’t end here. There was so much more that we couldn’t fit into this special.
Body language expert reveals the hidden messages in Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview
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Part of the late Princess Diana’s enduring legacy, decades after her untimely death, is her persona as “the people’s princess.” Former UK prime minister Tony Blair coined the nickname after her death in tribute to Diana’s relatability and humble nature, especially opening herself up to ostracized communities and advocating for them. Boy George, in his recently released autobiography, seems to agree, saying that Diana came through for him when “my reputation was ragged.”
In his new memoir Karma, which hit shelves on Tuesday, the iconic performer shared the story of meeting the princess in the late ‘80s. He came to an event and was told by the host, nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow, that Diana wanted to meet him. One problem: He wasn’t on the official guest list. At the time, he was making headlines for his struggle with heroin addiction. The former Culture Club frontman was “shooed away” by a palace official, he wrote, per People, and went to the bar to hang out.
All hope was not lost, however: Diana, “broke protocol and approached me,” Boy George writes. She complimented his outfit, which was covered in a myriad of safety pins, saying that it must have “taken forever.”
“I didn’t do it myself, love,” he joked back.
Diana also met Boy George’s mother, Dinah, and the two hit it off.
“They spent 10 minutes chatting,” he writes. “She told Mum I was a true survivor.”
In her life, Diana was an advocate for many social causes, but especially the gay community. By one account, in the late ‘80s Diana once disguised herself as a male model and crashed a gay bar with Queen frontman Freddie Mercury after a Golden Girls marathon. She was also loud in her support for HIV and AIDS treatment, working to lift the stigma around the disease. Famously, she very publicly shook hands with an AIDS patient in 1987 when she attended the opening of the UK’s first HIV/AIDS ward at London’s Middlesex Hospital. Her younger son, Prince Harry, has championed the cause as well, carrying on her legacy.
During National HIV Testing Week in the UK in 2022, Harry spoke of continuing his mother’s work on the issue.
“What my mom did, and what so many other people did at that time, was to smash that wall down. To kick the door open and say, ‘No. When people are suffering, then we need to learn more, and if there’s a stigma that’s playing such a large part of it, then what we really need to do is talk about it more,’” he said. “That kind of made people feel a little bit uncomfortable to start with. But stigma thrives on silence. We know that. What my mom started all those years ago was creating empathy and understanding…but also curiosity, which I think was really powerful.”
It’s hard out here for a prince. In the name of some cousinly teasing last month, Mike Tindall gifted Prince William a royal blush just ahead of Christmas when he revealed on his podcast that he calls the heir “One Pint Willy.” Apparently, Tindall bestowed the cheeky title of lightweight upon the royal, owing to his lack of tolerance for alcohol. Now Tindall has had to pay a royal apology for his admission.
“He apologized to me about that,” William said Thursday of the nickname during a visit to Leeds’ Headingley Stadium, where he chatted with ex-rugby pros Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield about their work raising money and awareness of motor neurone disease—and Tindall’s sassy comment. Burrow, the host of the podcast where Mike made his admission, was diagnosed with MND in 2019. He had Tindall, an ex-professional rugby player himself, on his Seven: Rob Burrow podcast in December.
“He’s not the best of drinkers,” Tindall confided of his cousin-in-law while on the show, explaining his moniker for the prince. “It’s out there now, sorry, sir.”
His wife, Zara Tindall, cousin to William and his brother Prince Harry, knew from the moment it left her husband’s mouth that there was going to be some fallout from divulging the nickname.
“You’re in so much trouble!” she warned him.
Indeed, William shared Thursday that Mike had begged his forgiveness for the silly share. According to the Mirror, William told Burrow about the fallout of Tindall’s joke.
“It was you who got the nicknames out of him,” he said. “He apologized to me about that. When I saw him, I said, ‘Mike, when you’re not going to mention your nicknames doesn’t mean you mention mine, it’s not fair.’ I’m sure it’s quite fun with Mike.”
Indeed, William’s family, including wife Kate Middleton and their three children, appears to enjoy a very fun relationship with the Tindall crew: Princess Charlotte was recently spotted sharing a sweet moment with her cousin Mia Tindall on Christmas morning, and the families have revealed that they compete in games when they get together.
The real reason for William’s visit to the players’ former stomping grounds, however, wasn’t to clarify his capabilities at the pub: He bestowed Burrow and Sinfield with their Order of the British Empire honors. Both now officially bear “CBE” after their names, for commander.
“I’ve brought a special couple of things up with me to give you today,” he said at beginning of the surprise ceremony. “I did check with Kevin to make sure you didn’t want to go down to London to receive this, but I brought your CBEs up here to give to you today if that’s okay, while you’re in your home, in Leeds, surrounded by your family and friends. I thought today was a good day.”
He thanked both men for their inspiration, fundraising, and advocacy surrounding the condition.
“The most amount of thank yous and congratulations for all the inspirational work you’ve done, Rob,” he continued. “You’ve been amazing and everyone’s so proud of you. We’ve been following your case and all the money you’ve been raising, and you’re changing people’s lives with MND.”
When he gave Sinfield his CBE, William said of his work with his teammate, “Your brotherly bond and relationship between the two of you has been so amazing to watch—an inspiration to everyone to go, like, this is how we help each other. The groundswell you’ve created in terms of fundraising and looking after each other and for MND is huge.”
Now there’s something to raise a (single) pint to.
The late Queen’s youngest son recently extended the lease of Bagshot Park, for another 150 years, so it looks like they won’t be moving anytime soon.
The family has lived in the palatial dwelling since 1999, the same year that the royal couple tied the knot.
And thanks to a number of TV appearances over the years, royal fans have been able to get a sneak peek inside the stunning home and grounds.
The history
The Grade II-listed building has a whopping 120 rooms and boasts 51 acres of beautiful countryside.
The surrounding grounds sit within the Windsor Great Park – located around 30 miles from London – and they house a private lake.
There are also multiple stables, which is handy for Lady Louise, who not only loves horse-riding, like the late Queen, but also enjoys carriage-driving.
There are various different gardens, pathed walkways and an extensive driveway leading to the front of the house.
The home has belonged to the royal family for more than 200 years, and was originally built for King Charles I in 1609.
It initially stood as a series of small lodges, which were later demolished in 1877.
The house was then rebuilt in 1879 for Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.
The grounds were leased to the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth in 1998 for 50 years, although he has since extended it, at a rumoured cost of £5million.
Sophie has often fondly spoken about the home she shares with her family.
In a previous interview, she praised how close their home was to Windsor Castle – a favoured home of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Speaking with SkyNews, she said: “We’re a lot more fortunate because we live so close to the Queen, so when she spends a lot of time at Windsor on the weekends, our children are more fortunate because they can go over and have tea with her on a regular basis.”
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Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh and Prince Edward at a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth IICredit: Rex
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Prince Edward, Lady Louise and James Viscount Severn at Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday ParadeCredit: Getty
On the inside
Like most royal couples, Edward and Sophie have kept the interior of their home private.
But thanks to numerous televised interviews in recent years, royal fans have been able to catch a glimpse inside the royal protperty.
In a recent conversation with Naga Munchetty for the BBC, Sophie welcomed the newsreader into one of their living rooms.
It had cream-panelled walls, a sage green carpet and a lavish marble fireplace. The room was also furnished with green striped chairs and polished wooden furniture.
In another conversation with the Thames Valley Air Ambulance during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sophie appeared to be sitting in the kitchen.
Behind her was a navy-blue cupboard with glass panels, revealing various china tea sets.
For another on home-schooling, Sophie sat ahead of intricately carved wooden doors.
Prince Edward has also helped add to the picture, revealing what may be his office or study, fitted with an expansive wooden bookcase.
A Private Space
Unfortunately, while some royal residences like Windsor Castle and Sandringham are open to the public, Bagshot Park is not.
However glimpses of the residence, entrance drive and lodge are visible from nearby roads.
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The expansive grounds are said to hold a private lake and multiple stablesCredit: Alamy
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The pair are clearly fond of a wooden design, with carved doors throughout their homeCredit: YouTube
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Prince Edward’s office has a vast bookcase and wooden featuresCredit: YouTube
While Kate and William were born in the same year, the Princess of Wales is five months and two days older than her husband.
The couple are based at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor having relocated there in the summer of 2022.
However, they also have a country home in Norfolk called Anmer Hall.
Kate is particularly fond of the rural getaway and as well as spending most of the school holidays there, she chooses to celebrate her birthday at the house every year.
The royal couple’s love story started when they first crossed paths in 2001, when they went to university together at St. Andrews.
The pair went on to become friends and it was more than a year before things turned romantic between them.
In October 2010, it was announced that Kate and William were engaged after a proposal in Kendal.
The loved-up Prince said at the time: “We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided it was the right time, really.
“We’d been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn’t a massively big surprise, but I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya.”
The official statement said: “official statement reading: “The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.
“The wedding will take place in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.”
When were Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children born?
Wills and Kate announced in December 2012 that they were expecting their first child together.
On July 22, 2013, Kate was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital, where William himself was born, and emerged with a son – Prince George.
In September 2014, the royal couple announced that Kate was pregnant again, which resulted in the birth of Princess Charlotte at the same hospital on May 2, 2015.
On September 4, 2017, Kate and William revealed that they were expecting their third child.
On the morning of April 23, 2018, Kensington Palace tweeted that the Duchess was in labour and it was announced that she had delivered a baby boy at 11.01 am.
Kate Middleton may not be somebody many associate with being ‘an open book’, so to speak – the royal family is known for its fairly rigid approach to sharing opinions (royals are expected to remain politically neutral, for example) – but the Princess of Wales has quietly let her actions speak for her on a number of occasions.
Of course, the future Queen of England has given plenty of important speeches during her royal life, championing worthwhile causes such as early years development, motherhood, mental health and addiction.
But official engagements aside, Kate has shown an even more authentic side of herself in more subtle, under-the-radar moments. Be it showing a more relatable side of her personality, or privately lending her support at times of great unease, here are the moments when Kate Middleton’s actions spoke even louder than her words.
Visit to the Sarah Everard vigil
In March 2021, women across the UK were reeling following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, who had been walking home from a friend’s house on the evening of her attack. When a vigil dedicated to the memory of Sarah – which was officially cancelled due to covid restrictions – was held in Clapham Common, the Princess of Wales was among the the many people to attend and pay her respects.
Kate was spotted alone, with a bunch of daffodils, which she laid in memory of Sarah. She is also thought to have sent a private letter to Sarah’s family. As well as a mark of respect, her appearance was seen by many as a show of solidarity to highlight the importance of women’s safety.
Secret work experience
It emerged in 2019 that Kate had secretly spent time working at a London hospital, shadowing midwives at the Kingston Hospital Maternity Unit in order to learn more about care for women and children.
The Princess managed to complete her work experience without any fuss, and no photographs were taken.
Private gestures
Kate kept a special promise to a grieving family she met in 2020 by planting a sunflower in memory of nine-year-old Fraser Delf during a visit to a hospice she supports. She had previously told parents Stuart and Carla that she would pay tribute to their son, and fulfilled her promise just days later at a Norfolk hospice.
WPA Pool
Showing she gets stage fright, and owning it
Kate has previously spoken about how nervous she gets with public speaking – and despite being a seasoned speech-giver these days, she was recently caught on camera taking some calming deep breaths before speaking at a military event, as she took over the role of Colonel of the Irish Guards.
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The clip circulated around social media, with many reacting positively to Kate’s ‘relatable Queen’ moment.
Off-camera conversations with the public
There are times when Kate has shown her human side by being her down-to-earth self with members of the public – and though they are not officially recorded, sometimes snippets of conversations are caught by onlookers.
In January 2023, she was approached by a man who asked her for a selfie during a public engagement, quickly telling her that he was “really nervous”. She was heard responding: “Please don’t worry, that’s okay. We all get nervous.”
Okay fine, that’s technically words as well actions, we suppose – but an insight into Kate’s personality all the same.
It’s a drawing that, evidently, not even a mother could love, but royal art collectors have a shot at winning a childhood masterpiece purported to be created by the late Queen Elizabeth II at auction nonetheless.
A drawing thought to be crayoned by Elizabeth when she was somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6, dubbed “very poor” by her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is currently being auctioned by RR Auction in a sale set to end Jan. 10 as part of the “Fine Autograph and Artifacts” collection.
The sketch, which was created in the fine medium of red crayon, is purportedly of the young Elizabeth’s vision for a new building at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. It was included in a letter from her mother to Peter Pan scribe and playwright J.M. Barrie in the early 1930s, along with some backhanded art critique from her mother and pleas to keep the young princess’ architectural ideas private.
The drawing is bundled with the handwritten four-page letter from the Queen Mother to Barrie, as well as the original envelope. From the letter’s text, the queen had found out at the last minute that the writer was making a speech about the hospital, and her daughter demanded that she include her original artwork, with what the Queen Mother seems to feel are extraneous windows. (Everyone’s a critic.)
In the letter’s short text, written on letterhead bearing the Piccadilly London address and seal of the Duke and Duchess of York (the titles and residence Princess Elizabeth’s parents held before the unexpected 1936 accession of King George VI), she calls the drawing “very poor” not just once, but two times, and then even adds a post-script: “If you can manage it—will you not let the Press photograph this.”
Bidding for the unsigned drawing and critical letter is currently at more than $2,000.
The letter reads:
“My dear Sir James, I am so sorry that I did not realize that you were making your speech tonight, I am hurriedly sending round a very poor house I fear. Elizabeth insisted on putting in a roof with lots of little windows for the nursery maids. Please Sir James will you not appeal in her name at all, as I have such difficulties over it, and I am not sure what it is that you wish to say. It is not that I would not feel proud to have her name mentioned by you, only I have had trouble keeping her name apart from charities etc. But I expect that you only wish to say that she drew a picture for you of what the hospital should look like. Please forgive me for saying all this, but you can imagine what troubles I get into! However, I hope that this very poor drawing may be of some little use. I write this in great haste after having met Cynthia [Lady Asquith] who told me that your dinner is tonight.”
Even the royal family isn’t immune to taking a moment at the dawn of a new calendar year to reminisce about the 365 days prior. For Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, that meant sharing an Instagram caption with musings about the “ups and downs” of 2023, a year that saw her publish a new novel, welcome a new grandchild, and embrace the reconstructed left breast she affectionately refers to as “Derek,” a result of surgery after her breast cancer diagnosis this year.
“I am 64 and just getting started,” she wrote alongside a snap of herself lounging on a bed in a grass green gown, staring resolutely into the middle distance.
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Ferguson made a surprise appearance with the royal family on Christmas Day, participating in the crew’s traditional walk from their estate at Sandringham to church for the first time in three decades. She accompanied her disgraced ex-husband, Prince Andrew, as well as the couple’s daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. This is the second year that Andrew has rejoined the fold of Christmas festivities after the shock of allegations of sexual assault and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. (Andrew settled a lawsuit with accuser Virginia Giuffre out of court in early 2022, acknowledging in a statement that Giuffre had suffered as an “established victim of abuse,” though he did not admit culpability.)
Though Sarah and Andrew divorced in 1996, they still live together at the Royal Lodge in Windsor and remain close. Eugenie once called her parents “the best divorced couple I know.”
In her recap post, Ferguson also celebrated the sales of her latest historical romance novel (the late Queen Elizabeth was a fan of her prior work, according to Fergie), her new grandchild (Eugenie’s second son with Jack Brooksbank,Ernest), and the many, many people she met in her adventures as a royal.
“I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday celebrations today,” she wrote. “2023 hasn’t been without its ups and downs, trials, lessons, laughter, miracles and joy. I made the Sunday Times Top 5 bestseller list for my historical romance novel, A Most Intriguing Lady! I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I beat breast cancer and now I have got a Derek on my left. I have a new grandchild!!! I have had the pleasure of meeting some very inspiring people from around the world with beautiful stories to tell. I have discovered within myself that I, too, have more stories to tell. I am 64 and just getting started. I hope everyone takes time to reflect and to look forward with love and positivity. Happy New Year, #2024!”
In Royal Family news, King Charles is reportedly set to snub his nieces Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice for a promotion to working royals.
This is because he is reportedly eyeing up Lady Louise Windsor as an addition to the working royals roster – once she has finished her studies, that is.
Eugenie and Beatrice have been tipped for working royal roles (Credit: SplashNews.com)
Royal Family news: King Charles to snub Eugenie and Beatrice?
The King is eyeing up some new royals to add to the working royal roster next year. However, he is set to overlook Eugenie and Beatrice, according to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams.
Beatrice and Eugenie have been tipped for working royal roles in the past. Earlier this year, it was reported that emergency meetings had been held over whether to get the sisters to help out with some of the engagements and ease the burden on other working royals.
However, Richard doesn’t think Charles will end up adding them to the royal work rota.
Speaking on GB News, he reasoned that it was because their father, Prince Andrew, is in “disgrace” that they’re not going to get a look in.
“I think it would have been a different situation if Andrew had not been in disgrace. But as it is, I don’t think that is likely,” he said.
Lady Louise could land a promotion (Credit: CoverImages.com)
Royal Family news: King Charles to gift Lady Louise Windsor with a promotion?
However, there is one royal who could be getting a call-up soon – Lady Louise Windsor.
The 20-year-old is currently studying at St Andrews University – the same uni that William and Kate met in the early noughties.
“There might be the possibility of Lady Louise Windsor [becoming a working royal] once she has finished her studies,” Fitzwilliams then told the news outlet.
However, Eugenie in particular could play a different role for the King. Andrew’s youngest daughter is very close to Prince Harry – and could be used to help bridge the gap between the Sussexes and the royals.
“Princess Eugenie knows what she is doing. The fact she is close to the Sussexes could be an advantage. You need a foot in both camps. One day they will hope for a peaceful resolution so that could be very useful,” Fitzwilliams added.
ED! has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.
Will William and Harry make up? (Credit: CoverImages.com)
William ‘won’t be mending rifts’ in 2024
In other royal news, a reconciliation between Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry doesn’t look to be on the cards in 2024, according to a psychic.
Speaking on behalf of SpinGenie, astrologer Inbaal Honigman, doesn’t forsee any reunions between Harry and William in her tarot cards.
“We’ll be hearing more directly from the heir to the throne in 2024. The communicative Queen of Swords card says that he will be taking speaking roles more regularly. He will be giving speeches and talks, communicating directly with the press and those around him,” Inbaal said.
“His cards are successful and sociable, centering William himself as the main character in this era,” she later said.
“There doesn’t appear to be any mending of family rifts indicated in his Tarot reading for 2024.”
The moment the Princess of Wales and Duchess of Sussex performed matching curtsies at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II has gone viral after fans resurfaced footage from the historic event on TikTok.
Kate and Meghan’s curtsies have both become the subjects of multiple social-media posts over the past year, since both Meghan and Prince Harry discussed the gestures in documentary and memoir projects.
Curtsies are traditional forms of reverence, offered by female members of the royal family to the monarch and their consort twice each day, upon greeting and saying goodbye. The gesture takes the form of a brief bend to the knee and bowing of the head. Fans and royal watchers are quick to spot curtsies at official events and engagements throughout the year.
The Duchess of Sussex (left) and Princess of Wales (right) dressed in black, attending the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London, September 19, 2022. The royals’ curtsies offered on the day have featured in a new viral video. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Karwai Tang/WireImage
A number of curtsies were on display during the official mourning period for Queen Elizabeth following her death at the age of 96 in September 2022.
All senior members of the royal family gathered in London for the state funeral, including Harry and Meghan. The couple were visiting Britain at the time from their home in California to attend charity events.
Uploaded to TikTok by user @itsmeren026 on December 28, the footage from the Westminster Abbey funeral in London of the late queen has gone viral. It shows Meghan and Kate performing a final curtsy to the monarch’s coffin alongside Queen Camilla and Princess Charlotte, Kate’s daughter.
The five women—in addition to the Duchess of Edinburgh, who is not seen in the clip—performing their curtsies became a widely shared image at the time of the funeral. It marked one of the last such gestures they would be seen publicly offering to Elizabeth.
Captioned “The royals last bow and curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II,” the latest clip has been viewed over 367,000 times in 24 hours on the platform and received more than 14,500 likes and almost 200 comments, many of which have praised the royals.
“MEGHAN curtsy was beautiful,” wrote one TikTok user.
“Kate showing how it’s done!” posted another, with a further comment reading: “Strange how Megan managed a proper curtsey and not the travesty she demonstrated in the Netflix show.”
This comment references a controversy that was sparked by Meghan in her 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan. There, she described first thinking that being asked to curtsy to her partner’s grandmother was a “joke.”
In the Netflix docuseries, the duchess reenacted her first curtsy with an exaggerated bow. Although likely to have been a piece of self-deprecation to entertain viewers, it was interpreted by some as disrespect towards Queen Elizabeth and British customs.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
