Royal ‘Oprah’

When Priyanka Chopra warmly wished her best friend Meghan Markle “a happy married life” at her beautiful wedding stating in an emotional letter that “the marriage stood for change and hope”, little did our Bollywood-turned-Hollywood star PeeCee envisage how dramatic events would later unfold in Meghan’s royal marriage. And unfold it did… like an undiluted full-fledged blue-blood drama… almost like those OTT TV saas-bahu soaps that keep the viewers gaping in sheer shock. Absolutely scandalous so much so that it even prompted a spoof video that originated in Pakistan making all this blue-blood brouhaha, a typical saas-bahu saga.

Yes, we are talking about Prince Harry and Meghan Markel’s explosive ‘tell-all’ interview to Oprah Winfrey which shockingly brought the real truth in the forefront on how Meghan was treated extremely shabbily by the royal family, how they said her son Archie couldn’t have the royal title - in fact even before his birth, Meghan claimed that somebody from the royal family made snide comments on the baby’s colour making allusions to her intra-racial heritage… This volatile interview brought the closeted problems out of the royal palaces of the blue bloods into the open for the world to see. Sheer outrageous, said the royals, while the world tut-tutted that Princess Diana too had given an almost similar troubled interview and nothing had changed over the decades, Meghan Markle was being treated exactly in the same way.

Hollywood actor Meghan Markle’s love story with Prince Harry was something like a fairy tale. The gorgeous red-headed Prince Harry practically whisked his beautiful bride into a romantic sunset brushing aside all the problems that came their way. Meghan was from an intra-racial family and was also a divorcee… everything the “conservative” royal family frowned upon. But since the royal family “looked” so supportive during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage, one did imagine that the blue-bloods had done away with the antiquated laws of yore. In fact, in the absence of Meghan’s father, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle in a stunning Givenchy gown, accompanied by her father-in-law, Prince Charles, as they made their way to the altar at St. George’s Chapel. After climbing up the steps and making her initial entrance solo, she linked arms with the Prince of Wales before heading down the aisle. Indeed, what a beautiful moment!

However, within the next year itself after the grand royal wedding, one started hearing hushed whispers that Prince William’s wife, the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle were having problems with each other and supposedly “Meghan’s” acerbic words had even made Kate cry at times. However, Meghan set the record straight that it was not her who made problems but problems were created for her just before her wedding.

Issues were blown out of proportions so much so that tabloids printed many a story on how both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were extremely unhappy amongst the royals. Things came to a boil when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle along with their son Archie moved to Canada signing off their royal heritage.

In the jaw-dropping interview, Meghan for the first time outlined her ordeal, struggle and the issues that had weighed on her. In a sit-down interview that spanned two hours, she spoke at length about how she felt cornered and even experienced suicidal thoughts. “That’s the sad irony of the last four years is I have advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then I was silent,” the 39-year-old told Oprah. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she added.

Though Meghan spoke out candidly about the issues that plagued her, she didn’t take any names. But she did clarify that she had a great relationship with the Queen who was always very warm to her and her husband Prince Phillips. However, she kept mum about the rest of the royals.

Why did Meghan Markle give this tell-all interview to Ophrah Winfrey at this juncture, everybody wondered? Was it the money aspect? Ophrah however, right at the start of the interview clarified, “Before we get into it, I just want to make it clear to everybody that even though we’re neighbours... that 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,” to which Meghan responded, “That is correct.” Meghan and Harry reportedly did not earn from the interview. Instead, Oprah Winfrey’s production house Harpo Productions is said to earn millions from the interview. CBS paid around $7-9 million to Harpo for the interview rights, as mentioned in a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Meghan said that she had suicidal thoughts when working as a senior royal. Harry, too, opened up about his fractured relationship with his brother and father. In one of the most damning bits, they claimed that an unnamed member of the royal family expressed concerns about “how dark” their son Archie was going to be. Harry said that the royal family cut him off financially shortly after he and Meghan stepped back as senior royals. Harry also said that the Netflix and Spotify deals were also signed out of financial necessity. “All I wanted was enough money to get security and keep my family safe,” he said during the interview. The duo was reportedly helped by media mogul Tyler Perry when they moved from Canada to Los Angeles in 2020. Perry offered them one of his Hollywood mansions to stay for free, they said in the interview. He also offered them his security. They said they decided to leave the location after it became known to the wider public. “We didn’t have a plan. We needed a house and he offered his security as well, so it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we were going to do,” said Meghan to Oprah.

The tabloids and the media had a field day airing excerpts of Meghan’s interview until the royals were obliged to give an official comment. The Queen said she was saddened by what Meghan expressed while Prince Williams insisted that he hadn’t spoken to his brother but he would do so soon. Pretty wishy-washy but that’s the way the royals have always operated. So for now, let’s just wait ‘n’ watch as we truly believe there is more drama that will soon unfold. Watch this space for more.