Prince Harry + Duchess Meghan
Queen Mum would have simply ignored her after the Oprah interview
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan
© Samir Hussein / Getty Images
Queen Mum, Queen Elizabeth’s mother, was adamant. If she didn’t like something, she closed her eyes to it. That’s exactly how she would have treated her great-grandson Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan, says an expert.
For Queen Elizabeth, † 96, one of the many royal rules was particularly important: “Never complain, never explain”. Means that as a member of the British royal family you don’t talk about private problems in public. There is only one member of the British royal family who followed this rule even more strictly: Queen Mum, †101, the mother of Queen Elizabeth.
Harry and Meghan are breaking the Queen’s rules
But as we all know, Prince Harry, 38, and Duchess Meghan, 41, in particular, have long since stopped following this rule. After they resigned as high-ranking members of the royal family and emigrated to the United States, the legendary TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, 68, in March 2021, in which the couple spoke about the difficult relationship with the royal family, alleged racism in the family and Meghan’s unpacked suicidal thoughts, for headlines.
One wondered how the Queen, King Charles (then Prince Charles), 73, Prince William, 40, and the rest of the Royal Family would react to these allegations. And while William, for example, could not resist at least briefly denying the accusation of racism, the Queen remained silent despite the media spectacle.
© Georges De Keerle / Getty Images
Queen Mum had no mercy
According to royal expert and author Hugo Vickers, Queen Mum would have gone a step further. He told The Sun that the Queen’s mother would have simply ignored Meghan and Harry after an initial shock: “I think the Queen Mother would have been absolutely appalled by Meghan’s and Harry’s interview with Oprah. Basically, there were a lot of things what was said there is not true and very easy to disprove. I’m sure she would be very unhappy.” Queen Mum was someone who simply “hidden” situations and even people as if nothing had ever happened. “I think that’s how she would feel about Meghan and Harry – they would be ignored, they would be ignored.”
But not only because of the interview with Oprah, Queen Mum would have been very disappointed in her great-grandson. According to Hugo Vickers, the naming of his and Meghan’s daughter would have bothered her a lot. “She would have thought it would be extremely rude for Meghan to name her child Lilibet. It’s the Queen’s pet name and very, very few people are allowed to use it.”
Sources used: thesun.co.uk, mirror.co.uk