Harry and meghan

Monday

Tanya Gold

Prince Harry is right about the Royals

Monarchy is madness, a national delusion in which adults behave as children and project onto the objects of their desire. (Children make excellent monarchists. They believe whole-heartedly). You look at monarchy and see what you want to see: a wholesome family (really?); a powerful nation in, say, 1912 (not anymore); the security that comes from an ideal of unity embodied in a single woman (flimsy). Sometimes delusion runs out. It has no choice. It did last night, when Prince Harry, in conversation with Oprah Winfrey, called his family ‘trapped’. His father and his brother couldn’t leave, he said. He could and he was happy that he did. Royal men are

Peter Hunt

What the Oprah interview means for the monarchy

An institution that weathered and survived the abdication crisis and the aftermath of the death of Diana Princess of Wales is now left reeling by a two-hour long programme on primetime American television. It’s a broadcast in which the grandson of a queen and his wife made crystal clear that marrying into the British royal family in the 21st century is no fairytale. It’s a one-sided account of Megxit that will incense those who insist they did try to help the newest Windsor The claim of racism is one that will endure. No Palace spin can erase it from the collective memory. The charge is that one of Harry’s relatives asked

Steerpike Steerpike

Meghan and Harry’s interview: Seven bombshell claims

The Royal Family is waking up to a series of allegations set to rock the monarchy following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah. The two-hour show aired in the United States overnight – and will appear on ITV this evening. But with the main lines set to dominate the news agenda all day, Mr S has rounded up the biggest bombshells so far from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. 1. Meghan claims Archie was subjected to racist comments The most shocking moment in the interview was Meghan Markle’s claim that a member of the royal family made racist comments about Archie’s skin colour. The Duchess of Sussex alleged that an unnamed royal in

Thursday

Ross Clark

Did Harry and Meghan’s wedding really raise £1bn in revenue?

Without going into the ins and outs of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s withdrawal from royal life, still less the merits of the Duchess’s privacy case against the Mail on Sunday, a claim made by her lawyers this morning cannot be allowed to pass without comment. They claim: ‘This contribution of public funds towards crowd security was far outweighed by the tourism revenue of over £1 billion that was generated from the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex which went directly into the public purse.’ Should we really be thankful to the Duke of Duchess of Sussex for stuffing the UK’s coffers as a result of

Friday

Peter Hunt

The Queen has crushed Harry’s ‘Sussex Royal’ delusion

It’s taken just 44 days for a royal pipe dream to well and truly bite the dust. Last month, Harry and Meghan tried to bounce the ancient institution into giving them a ‘progressive new role’ as part-time royals, part-time money makers. Harry’s 93-year-old grandmother doesn’t take kindly to being bounced or indeed being blindsided. With government regulations and royal rules on her side, the Queen has imposed her final restriction on the couple embarking on a self-imposed exile. Sussex Royal can be no more. A freshly branded website will have to be re-branded. Their supporters will argue it’s no great loss. Like Boris and Oprah, Harry and Meghan have global