The Royal Family's First Social Media Post After The Oprah Tell-All Isn't What Fans Might Expect
Ever since Oprah Winfrey's highly anticipated tell-all interview with royal couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle premiered on March 7, 2021, just about everyone has been waiting to hear a statement about the jaw-dropping sit-down from Buckingham Palace. After hours of silence, the royal family's Instagram account released its first post since the interview aired, but the message is not quite what many people anticipated.
The post, which went up on March 8, 2021, makes no mention of the interview at all. Instead, it is a post celebrating Commonwealth Day, a holiday that commemorates the 54 independent nations of the Commonwealth. The photo is a simple close-up of the queen signing a message to the Commonwealth. No mention of Harry or Meghan. Not even a sly reference. From the outside looking in, it appears that in the world of the royal family, there is nothing going on but business as usual. While there may be radio silence coming from the palace, the British media is having a field day.
Much has been said about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah interview
Unsurprisingly, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's two-hour special has gotten a lot of attention from the press in the U.K. The Daily Express (via Newsweek) called it "self-serving," In an op-ed for the Daily Mail, Piers Morgan said it was "a disgraceful diatribe of cynical race-baiting propaganda designed to damage the Queen ... and destroy the Monarchy." On Good Morning Britain (via TMZ), Morgan sparred with activist Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu when she said, "The royal family as an institution is rooted in colonialism, racism, and white supremacy. The legacy's right there." Morgan fired back, accusing her of spewing lies. "I think what you just said about the Queen is disgusting," Morgan said, to which Mos-Shogbamimu bluntly replied, "You're disgusting."
One of the overlying topics of Meghan and Harry's interview was Meghan's treatment by British media, especially compared to what was written about Kate Middleton. In a clip that aired Monday on CBS This Morning, Meghan said that while Kate has been subjected to nasty coverage, it's not like the coverage she herself has received. "Rude and racist are not the same thing," Meghan told Oprah Winfrey. On top of that, Meghan claimed she was not offered the resources to maintain her image that Kate was. "[Kate also has] a press team that goes on the record to defend [her], especially when they know something's not true," Meghan said, "and that didn't happen for us."
Will Meghan and Harry's interview change the British monarchy?
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry described the royal family as cold and basically dysfunctional in their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, with the duke going as far as saying that along with the rest of his family, he was "trapped" in the system and it was only because of his wife that he was able to escape.
"My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave," Harry said (via Us Weekly), adding that he has "huge compassion" for their difficulties as well. "No matter who you are in the family, no matter what's going on in your personal life, no matter what's just happened..." he explained, "You wipe your tears away, shake off whatever you're thinking about, and you've got to be on your 'A' game."
So where does that leave Harry and his family now? Will things change? As history has proven before this, it's unlikely that anything will change in the British monarchy. After all, the televised sit-down echoed the infamous 1995 BBC interview with Harry's mother, Princess Diana — and it seems clear that the monarchy did not learn all that much from its mistakes as, decades later, Meghan fell subject to similar and often even worse treatment by the press than Diana did. In both cases, neither woman seemed to feel especially protected by the monarchy.
That doesn't mean, however, that the family will be able to completely walk away from the Oprah interview consequence-free.
The interview might cause problems for the future king
Even though Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's bombshell tell-all will likely not affect Queen Elizabeth II — the couple only had positive things to say about Her Royal Highness — the interview could have implications for Prince Charles, who is next in line for the British throne. After all, some of the things that Harry said about his father have raised some eyebrows, including Charles' alleged lack of support, and the fact that he stopped picking up Harry's calls after he and Meghan announced they were stepping down as senior members of the royal family in January 2020.
Author and royal historian Robert Lacey believes Charles' response will "affect [his] future kingship, especially in the Commonwealth countries." He told the Guardian that the interview represented "an enormous clash of cultures and values, a clash of generations, a psychological clash between the stiff upper lip and the wobbly lower chin," adding that he isn't sure young Australians or Canadians will want a king "who refused to take calls from his son when he was in emotional distress." With all the bombshells Harry and Meghan revealed, the monarchy definitely needs to choose their words wisely when they do finally respond.