On Sunday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down with Oprah Winfrey in a two-hour special focused on being members of the British Royal Family, sparking ongoing discussions about their revelations worldwide.
The couple shared details including Meghan Markle’s first meeting with the Queen, Prince Harry’s relationship with his brother Prince William, and the racism Markle experienced during her time in the U.K.
U.K.-based journalist Afua Adom says Buckingham Palace remains “stoic and silent as ever,’ and predicts there won’t be any comment from the palace in the next 24 hours as the interview isn’t airing in the United Kingdom until Monday.
“So many people have watched it and are bleary-eyed today because of that. … To say that there’s a media frenzy is putting it lightly,” she says.
When it comes to predicting how the Royal Family will react to the interview in the next upcoming days, royal historian and commentator Carolyn Harris says she thinks the family will avoid addressing specific claims.
“What we will see is perhaps William and Catherine having more public engagements involving their mental health charities. … I would agree that it’s unlikely that the Royal Family is going to publicly engage directly with the interview itself.”
Out of the many revelations the couple shared, Adom says what she didn’t expect was Markle revealing that someone in the family questioned the colour of her baby’s skin tone prior to the birth of Archie.
“We know about the … systemic racism that is prevalent here in the U.K. and the racist undertones that the press has had when they have been talking about Meghan … but I didn’t think it would be as demanding and as blatant as it was,” she says.
Harris adds there is a consistent theme of a lack of mentorship for new members of the family, pointing to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, as an example of someone who said being in the Royal Family was no fairytale.
“There seemed to be a real absence of the kind of support and mentorship that was needed for someone stepping into this very high profile role in an institution with over 1,000 years of history.”
READ MORE: ‘Almost unsurvivable’: Meghan Markle breaks silence on mental health struggle
Prince Charles has also been down this road before as Prince Harry pointed out in the interview, says Adom, adding she would have thought he would have had more empathy for his son and Markle.
“It’s quite disappointing and surprising that Prince Charles can play his tradition, much better than he should have.”
On whether Oprah with Meghan and Harry changed people’s hearts and minds on the Royal Family, Harris says the public’s opinion on the Queen will remain unchanged.
“Both Harry and Megan spoke very warmly of their personal relationship with the Queen … but I think there will be critical scrutiny directed towards Prince Charles,” she says, pointing to Prince Harry’s comments about his father not taking his calls and cutting them off financially.
Adom adds there are some people that agree with the family’s views and the Queen is an age-old institution.
“The Royal Family are older than dust. They are not just going to go away because of Meghan and Harry’s revelations,” she says. “They will survive this. They probably won’t change.”
Stream the full 2-hour special now on the free Global TV App or at GlobalTV.com.
Watch Harris’ and Adom’s full interview with ‘The Morning Show’ in the video above.
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