Meghan Markle vs royal family: From recent tell-all to Diana chat, these TV moments were torpedoes for the palace
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sent shockwaves across the globe as they sat down for a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The couple was seen making a string of bombshell allegations. However, this is barely the first time a royal interview has grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. Walter Bagehot, a 19th-century journalist, had once 'warned' that monarchy and publicity don't always mix. “Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it," he wrote, according to The Independent. "Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic."
But as fate would have it, the 'culprits' have mostly been within the royal family itself. Long before the 1990s, the British public heard Prince Charles allegedly describing on phone his wish to be a tampon so he could be inside the trousers of to-be-wife Camilla Parker Bowles, who responded by telling the prince "you're an idiot." But while that conversation may not have been intended for public consumption, there have been a number of organized broadcasts that haven't been particularly majestic for the Windsors.
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In light of the latest PR nightmare, MEAWW has selected three of the most controversial royal telly moments to date. Among our picks is the Sussexes' recent appearance on television, Prince Andrew's trainwreck Newsnight interview in 2019, as well as Princess Diana's 1995 Panorama episode with Martin Bashir.
Harry, Meghan, and Oprah (2021)
The majority of royal family observers weren't expecting the couple's first joint sit-down interview to go quietly. However, very few expected how far Harry and Meghan would go as they opened up to Winfrey about their experiences within 'the Firm'.
Harry and Meghan made a string of stunning claims about their time as senior royals, including that Meghan once contemplated suicide, but was refused support from palace officials due to "how it would look".
During the interview, Meghan also claimed there were “concerns and conversations” in the months leading up to the birth of their son about whether Archie deserved a royal title, and also “how dark” his “skin might be when he is born.” According to the former Hollywood actress, the concerns were relayed to her through Harry but he declined to share the source.
Oprah later clarified that the Queen and Prince Philip were not involved in the "conversations" mentioned during the interview, which garnered over 12.4 million views.
Princess Diana with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (1995)
The interview saw Diana casually confirming to the public how her marriage with Prince Charles was essentially over and that rumors about infidelity were indeed true. “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," she famously told Bashir in November 1995. At least 22.8 million viewers tuned in to listen to the scathing account of how her fairytale marriage with Charles had turned into a nightmare for those involved.
Not only did Diana speak candidly about her marriage, but also opened up about her eating disorder, her affair with James Hewitt, about self-harm, and also about living alone like a prisoner princess. While the world was divided into pro-Charles and pro-Diana factions at the time, the interview remains controversial with recent allegations that Bashir had used subterfuge to gain access to the distressed princess.
Prince Andrew speaking to Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight (2019)
"Squalid and hilarious" for all the wrong reasons, Prince Andrew's interview preceded claims that he ignored the palace and some of his own advisers because "only he could clear the air for good" over his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, The Independent noted. However, the interview didn't go as he expected.
The Queen's second son made bizarre claims that included him meeting Epstein because he was "too honorable," not being able to sweat because of an "adrenaline rush" during the Falkland war, as well as denying that his arm was around a woman in a photo of him with his arm around a woman.
Despite his senior royal position, the interview and the backlash that followed led to him "stepping back from royal duties for the foreseeable future." That said, Prince Andrew has denied any wrongdoing.