Royal family

Thursday

Peter Hunt

William has revealed the princes’ pain

The institution waited two days before responding to the Oprah interview with a statement that acknowledged the allegations around race were concerning, but it omitted any condemnation of racism. In just twelve seconds this morning, Prince William tackled the central charge head on.  The brothers are riven, in their trenches and communicating via chat show hosts and off the record briefings to newspapers TV doorstepping — shouting a question at someone without prior agreement while armed with a camera and microphone — can be a fruitless task. Doing it when the target is a royal is a soulless endeavour. This morning, at a school in east London, fortune favoured the

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

In defence of Meghan, the demonised duchess

The words pouring on Meghan’s head are written for a witch, because that is the natural progress of the story. The royal family are our national myth and sacrifice: our small flesh gods, without whom we would have to have a serious political system requiring serious engagement, instead of which we have this. Interlopers are sanctified if they comply and demonised if they don’t. It is a sort of trial by ordeal, it’s-a-royal-knockout — how much can you take? All interlopers get it — Prince Philip was once considered a dangerous moderniser — but the women have it worse. Sir Timothy Laurence might wonder where his made-up feud with his

Charles Moore Charles Moore

So did Harry and Meghan get married in their ‘backyard’?

I have been slow in the uptake. When I saw the Duchess of Sussex complain in her interview clips about how her son had not been given a title and then move on to the alleged racism of an alleged speculation by an unnamed but probably royal person about the possible skin colour of the child she was expecting, I did not immediately see the connection. The full interview makes it clear. Meghan is saying that Archie was not allowed to be a prince because of his skin colour. Oprah: ‘Do you think it’s because of his race?’ Meghan: ‘We have in tandem the conversation of “He won’t be given

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

‘My’ truth about Meghan and Harry

Caroline Rose Giuliani, the daughter of the former mayor of New York, Rudy, has been talking to the press about one of her hobbies. Apparently she likes nothing more than playing the role of a ‘unicorn’ — the third partner in a sexual liaison. She explained: ‘Finding the strength to explore these more complicated, passionate aspects of my personality became the key to harnessing my voice and creative spark, which in turn helped me better cope with depression, anxiety, and the lingering cognitive effects of adolescent anorexia.’ This is a fascinating approach to curing eating disorders, I think. Caroline’s dad, if you remember, is unable to tuck his shirt into

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Battle royal: Harry and Meghan’s modern brand of revenge

Remember the Heads Together campaign? It was back in 2017. Prince William, his wife Kate and his brother Prince Harry, who’d recently begun dating a conspicuously woke actress called Meghan Markle, launched a charitable endeavour to raise awareness about mental health. The princes gave interviews in which they ‘opened up’ about their struggles. Such public emoting made fuddy-duddy monarchists nervous, yet a new generation of royal PR operatives and suck-ups saw the future. The royals were appealing to a younger audience, cleverly rebranding the monarchy for a new age in which it is OK to not be OK. Move over, stiff-lipped oldies, the Windsors were moving on. Then Harry married

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Harry and Meghan’s interview, Piers Morgan’s resignation and Biden’s pets in the doghouse

Home The world was agog, some in tears, some in synchronised toe-curling, as the Duchess of Sussex and her husband shared their sufferings with Oprah Winfrey. In America 17 million watched; in Britain 11 million. The Duchess spoke of Disney’s Little Mermaid; seeing it, she had exclaimed: ‘Oh my God she falls in love with the prince and because of that she loses her voice.’ She said that three days before her wedding at Windsor, she had been married ‘in our backyard’, with just three of them, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. She said she had considered suicide and that the royal family had taken her passport, keys and driving

Wednesday

Alec Marsh

You’ll miss Piers Morgan when he’s gone

Why is anybody offended by Piers Morgan? That’s the point. It’s his job to be offensive. It’s his job to say out loud what many in society are thinking but lack either the courage or the platform to voice. He is the Wat Tyler of the Whatsapp age. Now of course you won’t always agree with him — perish the thought — but the fact of his existence within the mainstream media ensures the expression of opinions that polite society might find distasteful. There is something almost dialectic about Morgan’s performances. His job is to provoke, and in their response the viewer better knows his or her own mind. But

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Can Harry and Meghan back up their incendiary allegations?

Well! On the bright side, Oprah Winfrey got her money’s worth. Also on the bright side, Prince Harry is sixth in line to the throne so bear in mind folks last night’s interview by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex does not, really, matter in the great scheme of things. On the final bright note, Meghan makes Wallis Simpson, the last American divorcee to marry into the Royal Family, look relatively good. And that’s about the limit of the positive aspects of last night’s self-revelations, of which I should say I’ve heard only extracts. They tell us a great deal about Meghan’s perspective but not an awful lot in the

Stephen Arnell

The interview on screen: from Frost/Nixon to Basic Instinct

Whilst not exactly (to paraphrase Richard Burton as Marc Anthony in Cleopatra) the ‘biggest thing to hit Rome since Romulus & Remus’, Oprah Winfrey’s recent interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was certainly A Big Deal. With over 17 million viewers watching in the States and 11.3m here, the renegade former royals cannot be ignored.  High-stakes interviews have long been a favourite subject of movies. The onscreen celebrity interview is obviously not a recent creation, with the phenomenon depicted in films as far back as Sunset Boulevard, Champagne for Caesar (both 1950), A Face in the Crowd (1957) and of course Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). But as these films

Tuesday

Joanna Rossiter

The royal family is in a perilous position

Whatever you think of the Sussex saga, it’s clear that Buckingham Palace are waking up to more uncomfortable reading this morning. The coverage of the allegations made by the Sussexes is not going to die down anytime soon and the public is now poised to see how the Palace reacts. While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did everything in their power to twist the knife during their two-hour tell-all with Oprah, the royal family’s well-intentioned actions last week may have worsened their predicament. It’s easy for the press to pooh-pooh Meghan Markle’s Little Mermaid metaphors but there can be no denying that the Sussexes have inflicted serious reputational damage

Nick Tyrone Nick Tyrone

Labour has stumbled into the royal culture war

Given Starmer’s aim of getting red wall voters back on side, Labour should not have touched the Harry and Meghan debate with a bargepole. It is a massively loaded cultural issue that can only hurt them. And yet it seems they couldn’t help themselves. Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, has said in a television interview that Meghan’s claims of racism should be ‘fully investigated’ by the Palace. This is exactly the kind of move that leaves only confustion when trying to work out about what Starmer is trying to accomplish. I feel like I’m the only person who lives in Great Britain who doesn’t really care that much either way

Monday

James Forsyth

Can Boris sustain his royal silence?

Boris Johnson is clearly determined to avoid being dragged into this Harry and Meghan story. At his press conference this afternoon, he said that he has the ‘highest admiration for the Queen’ but emphasised that he wouldn’t be commenting on the story. One can understand why Boris Johnson doesn’t want to get involved in this intra-family row; it is hard to see how Keir Starmer’s opining on the matter is going to help him politically.  But Johnson’s line might prove difficult to hold. The racism charge against the royal family is incendiary. It is worth noting that Oprah Winfrey has said that Harry has told her that neither the Queen nor

Steerpike Steerpike

Fact check: did Harry and Meghan have a secret wedding?

Oh dear. Not content with having claimed that baby Archie was denied his rightful title, last night’s interview with the Sussexes saw them boast of having conducted a secret marriage with the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before the public ceremony in May 2018. Meghan told Oprah: ‘You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that. We called the Archbishop and we just said “Look this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us”.’  She added that they exchanged personal vows during a backyard ceremony in the grounds of Kensington Palace – ‘just the two of us’. Prince Harry meanwhile

Steerpike Steerpike

Minister’s Sussex snub

What does No. 10 think about Harry and Meghan’s Palace intrigue? Perhaps we can glean some insight from the comments of environment minister and close friend of Boris and Carrie.  Zac (now Lord) Goldsmith is the first minister to publicly criticise the spurned royal couple, tweeting that ‘Harry is blowing up his family’. The Duchess of Sussex also comes in for criticism — with Goldsmith writing ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’. Mr S wonders who ever else could that sentiment apply to? Update: A message of support from Truss?

Tanya Gold Tanya Gold

Prince Harry is right about the Royals

Monarchy is madness, a national delusion in which adults behave as children and project onto the objects of their desire. (Children make excellent monarchists. They believe whole-heartedly). You look at monarchy and see what you want to see: a wholesome family (really?); a powerful nation in, say, 1912 (not anymore); the security that comes from an ideal of unity embodied in a single woman (flimsy). Sometimes delusion runs out. It has no choice. It did last night, when Prince Harry, in conversation with Oprah Winfrey, called his family ‘trapped’. His father and his brother couldn’t leave, he said. He could and he was happy that he did. Royal men are

Peter Hunt

What the Oprah interview means for the monarchy

An institution that weathered and survived the abdication crisis and the aftermath of the death of Diana Princess of Wales is now left reeling by a two-hour long programme on primetime American television. It’s a broadcast in which the grandson of a queen and his wife made crystal clear that marrying into the British royal family in the 21st century is no fairytale. It’s a one-sided account of Megxit that will incense those who insist they did try to help the newest Windsor The claim of racism is one that will endure. No Palace spin can erase it from the collective memory. The charge is that one of Harry’s relatives asked

Steerpike Steerpike

Meghan and Harry’s interview: Seven bombshell claims

The Royal Family is waking up to a series of allegations set to rock the monarchy following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah. The two-hour show aired in the United States overnight – and will appear on ITV this evening. But with the main lines set to dominate the news agenda all day, Mr S has rounded up the biggest bombshells so far from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 1. Meghan claims Archie was subjected to racist comments The most shocking moment in the interview was Meghan Markle’s claim that a member of the royal family made racist comments about Archie’s skin colour. The Duchess of Sussex alleged that an unnamed royal in

Thursday

Tina Brown

Hollywood can’t believe Harry’s dissed Queen Oprah

Santa Monica is a soothing place to be locked down. I moved here from New York for four months in November with my two adult kids after I lost my beloved husband, Harry Evans. I couldn’t face the task of finishing a book in our empty country house where for years we’d shown each other our pages at the end of the day and laughed over chicken pot pie. Meanwhile in Manhattan, I was tired of pretending that freezing outdoor dining, with buses barrelling past, was like sitting on the sidewalk at Les Deux Magots in Paris. With the California sun on my back at breakfast, and the orange trees

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: A Covid Budget, a Cotswold meteor and Angelina Jolie sells Churchill’s painting

Home First-dose coronavirus vaccinations totalled more than 20 million. A study suggested that in the over-eighties, a single dose of either the Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation. Hospital admissions of 8,452 in the week ending 27 February were 22 per cent down on the week before that. At dawn on 28 February, total UK deaths (within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus) had stood at 122,705, including 2,340 in the past week, down by 32.3 per cent on the week before that. Six people with the Brazilian variant of coronavirus were detected in Britain, but one could not be traced.

Sunday

Alec Marsh

Princess Eugenie and the perilous business of baby names

Naming a child turns out to be one of the hardest things you can do. The secret to nailing it is to avoid choosing something outlandish or freakish at one extreme – but then sidestep the trap of settling on something profoundly mundane at the other. Unless you are a rock star or a tech billionaire, for instance, it best to avoid the following: Tree-stump, Treble Clef, or a non-verbal sign that was formerly adopted by the artist Prince when he was still a going concern – these are not the imprimatur available to the majority of us who have to occupy terra firma. And yet… and yet, you don’t