One year after the couple’s dramatic interview with the host appeared to add to the family’s rift, Oprah Winfrey has come under fire for stating she believes that “burying the dead” would help Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally “make peace” with the royals.
After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties and relocating to the US in early 2020, the couple’s relationship with the royal family—particularly Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton with whom Harry and Meghan were pictured on Saturday in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death—appeared to fracture.
While raising their two children in a $14 million house in Los Angeles, California, Harry, 37, and Meghan, 41, subsequently opened up about their choice on Oprah’s show.
They made a number of shocking allegations, such as that Kate once caused Meghan to cry over a flower girl outfit prior to her wedding to Harry, and that some anonymous royal raised “concerns and talks” about how dark Archie’s complexion would be before he was born.
The 68-year-old TV personality on Sunday discussed the differences between Prince Harry and Prince William and expressed her optimism that the untimely passing of their grandmother may bring the two back together.
“I think there’s a chance for peacemaking in all families – you know, my father passed away recently, this summer – and when all families get together for a shared rite, the ritual of, you know, burying your dead. And maybe that will be there as well,” she said.
Commentators are now speculating why Oprah has reentered the ongoing Royal Family scandal given her alleged contribution to fostering a greater rift between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of The Firm.
When the pair withdrew from royal life, her statements prompted harsh condemnation on social media, with many people blaming her for escalating the already-present tensions.
‘Oprah forgets she started this. Maybe an apology would help with the peacemaking,’ a reader said.
One user added: ‘Oprah, you had plenty of opportunities to ask real questions and dispute some of the things said. But, you didn’t. And trying to convince the public that this wasn’t choreographed to the nth degree? Come on, Sis. You can’t fool us anymore.’
Others expressed disgust: ‘Hey @Oprah, if you cared for that family you wouldn’t have given them a platform to badmouth the RF family. After your interview, the anger between them widened. So stop the BS talk.’
‘Oprah has a cheek, when she provided the platform for Meghan to trash our Queen and Royal Family – and encouraged her!’ another user wrote.
The Queen, who ruled the United Kingdom for more than 70 years, died ‘peacefully’ in her sleep last Thursday at 96. Her family has maintained a strong unity since her passing.
The two brothers and their spouses visited the throngs of distraught admirers gathered outside Windsor Castle on Saturday, the first time they had been spotted together since March 2020.
The Oprah interview was shown in March 2021, and there, Meghan addressed prior claims that she had made Kate cry before she wed Prince Harry, stating, “No, the contrary happened.
She gave little information regarding the conflict, but stated that it had to do with the flower girls’ gowns.
It was a particularly trying week leading up to the wedding, and she was unhappy about something, she said to Oprah, adding, “I don’t say it to be derogatory to anyone, because it made me weep, and it truly hurt my feelings.”
But she acknowledged her mistake, expressed regret, and delivered flowers and a note of apology.
In the Oprah interview, Meghan also claimed that she was “silenced” by the royal family and that she was “given a very explicit command to always say, “No comment” from the minute the public discovered she and Harry were dating.”
‘I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women’s rights, and that’s the sad irony of the last four years – I’ve advocated for so long for women to use their voice,’ she continued.
She said that she felt that “other family members” were being “protected” but she wasn’t.
‘It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family,’ she stated. ‘They weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’
Meghan said that several of the royals expressed worries about how dark Archie’s complexion would seem because she is part black while she was expecting her first child.
‘In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem the conversation of, he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,’ she said.
The Queen or Prince Phillip were not the ones who voiced concerns about Archie’s skin tone, according to Prince Harry, who revealed this to Oprah in a private conversation.
After joining the royal family, Meghan also admitted to having suicidal thoughts, telling Oprah, ‘I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. That was a clear and real and frightening and constant thought.’