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 way of fact to substantiate her really damaging allegations about neglect, racism and indifference from the Royal Family and palace staff. Kate making her cry? The press being horrid? Prince Charles keeping them short of funds? The Royal Family, according to Harry, refusing to call out ‘the colonial undertones’ in the coverage of his wife? Damaging, devastating assertions, but the ones that don’t relate to Meghan’s own feelings are at the very least disputable.

The explosive stuff was the assertion of racism in the Royal Family and a conversation between Harry and one of his relatives about how dark skinned his baby might be. It’s quite possible it happened but it’s also quite possible the conversation was very different in tone from what we’re being told. And who was the Royal in question? We’re not told; it was a conversation with Harry which he helpfully relayed to his wife. But having planted the bombshell he’s too reticent to share further details. Sorry, you can’t do that. There’s now endless speculation about the identity of the culprit. When Oprah asked, Prince Harry replied: ‘That conversation I’m never going to share, but at the time, it was awkward’.

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