“William and Kate were in total shock after hearing what Meghan and Harry said,” a source told Us Weekly. “What shocked them the most was Meghan’s suicidal thoughts and their quotes on a royal family member mentioning Archie’s skin color. William and Kate knew about some of their troubles with palace aides but nothing to this extent.”
“William is devastated by this interview,” Nicholl told the outlet, adding, “Don’t forget that the Duchess of Cambridge is being dragged into this whole saga and William will hate that, and…relationship between father and son is of course at an all-time low. I think that the idea that Kate’s being dragged into this will be upsetting for Kate, who behind the scenes has tried really hard to be a peacemaker between William and Harry. She has been deeply saddened by the brothers’ falling-out. Don’t forget she was incredibly close to Harry herself.”
In conclusion: Don’t anticipate a shortage of royal drama anytime soon.
The Queen is to extend a personal olive branch to Harry and Meghan as she takes charge of the fallout from their bombshell television interview.
With senior royals still 'reeling' following a series of explosive allegations by the couple, she has issued a 'three-line whip' to prevent staff discussing the situation publicly.
It is understood that she intends to try to pour oil on troubled waters by reaching out to her grandson and his wife in California instead.
It is expected that they will speak on the phone in the next few days.
Although Harry and Meghan were informed of Buckingham Palace's statement on the issue prior to its release on Tuesday evening, this was done through officials.
But the Queen believes now is the time for a more personal approach.
The 94-year-old monarch's determination to seize the initiative is deemed to be a sensible one. Other family members, notably the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, have been left deeply upset by the way in which they were attacked by the couple.
Harry said he felt let down by his father, who, he claimed, refused to take his calls over the whole Megxit saga, and admitted there was still a huge gulf between him and his brother.
He also accused an unnamed member of his family of racism and said the lack of support he and his wife received from the other royals was behind their decision to quit the UK.
William is also likely to be understandably protective of his wife, Kate, who was accused by Meghan of making her cry during a bridesmaid dress fitting ahead of the royal wedding.
And as someone who has campaigned on the issue of mental health, he will be finding allegations that Meghan was driven to consider suicide by her treatment by the family tough to swallow.
However both Harry and Meghan made a point of trying to 'ring fence' his grandparents from criticism, with the duchess saying how 'wonderful' and generous the Queen had been and boasting of being able to call her without needing to speak to officials.
Harry also insisted he hadn't 'blindsided' her with their decision to step down from royal duties as he had too much respect for his 'colonel in chief'.
And he told Oprah to make clear in publicity for the show that the unidentified family member who Meghan claims expressed 'concern' about how 'dark' their child would be was neither of his grandparents.
Courtiers now hope and believe the Queen's approach will help to 'de-toxify' such a volatile situation.
'It is difficult to underestimate how shell-shocked everyone is by what has happened,' a source told the Daily Mail.
'People are literally reeling from what has happened and some staff would dearly love to publicly rebut some of what has been said about them.
'But the Queen has taken a very measured, sensible approach. She is leading by example. This is a matter for her and the family to deal with.'
Buckingham Palace had no advance warning that Harry and Meghan had decided to sit down for an explosive 'tell all' with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey and were not shown the two-hour programme in advance.
And although they had not been expecting to receive an easy ride, they were stunned at the ferocity of the allegations hurled in their direction.
And although they had not been expecting to receive an easy ride, they were stunned at the ferocity of the allegations hurled in their direction.
There was significant internal debate as to whether to rebut many of them, but instead the Queen personally opted for a 'compassionate but firm' approach, saying: 'The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
'The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.'
A resurfaced email allegedly from Meghan Markle highlights just how unsupported the Duchess of Sussex felt by the royal family, just days after Meghan and Prince Harry's bombshell tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
For Harper's Bazaar, royal editor-at-large Omid Scobie, who is also the author of Meghan and Harry's biography Finding Freedom, further elaborated on an incident with Kate Middleton that Meghan spoke about during the highly anticipated March 7 interview on CBS.
In the special, Meghan talked about how the British tabloids said that she had made Kate cry during a disagreement over flower girl dresses for her wedding to Harry in 2018. However, the Duchess told Oprah that reverse was true: Kate had made her cry, and eventually apologized for it.
Now, Omid has shared an alleged email from Meghan to one of her aides, which notes how the royal family, as Meghan and Harry discussed, did nothing to squash the rumors of this particular situation—despite choosing to shut down false claims about other members of the family.
When Kensington Palace asked Meghan and Harry to sign off on a statement that said Prince William was not bullying the couple before they decided to step away from their royal family duties, Meghan allegedly replied to her aide, "Well, if we're just throwing any statement out there now, then perhaps KP can finally set the record straight about me [not making Kate cry.]"
Of the Kate situation, Meghan told Oprah that what Kate said, which she kept vague, "made me cry and it really hurt my feelings," adding, "I thought, in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, that it didn't make sense to not be just doing whatever—what everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot."
Meghan Markle wants to know precisely who’s calling her a bully — and she’s demanding that Buckingham Palace name names.
The duchess wants to see all documents, emails, and text messages related to the bullying probe begun against her by the Queen, The Mail on Sunday reported.
Meanwhile, both sides of the bullying row appear to be lawyering up.
Buckingham Palace is mulling bringing in an independent law firm to investigate the allegations, according to another story in The Sun.
And the former “Suits” actress and lapsed royal is assembling her own legal team to quash what a source on her side is calling a “calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” the Mail on Sunday reports.
Former aides of Markle and Prince Harry are eager to help with the probe ordered up last week by the queen.
Markle has been accused of creating a toxic work environment and allegedly reducing staffers to tears when she lived at Kensington Palace after marrying Prince Harry in May 2018, according to a Times of London article published on March 2.
n one alleged incident, a royal aide told a colleague “I can’t stop shaking” as they anticipated a confrontation with the Duchess, the Times reported.
Buckingham Palace initially said it was launching its own investigation into the duchess, but now appears interested in fostering at least the appearance of an independent probe.
The bullying claims came days before Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on CBS last Sunday.
Prince Harry still seems pretty upset about losing his Royal security privileges, and ya can't blame him ... especially because cops say he and Meghan Markle had an unwanted visitor on their property TWICE during the holidays.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a 37-year-old man named Nickolas Brooks was caught trespassing at the Montecito, CA home of the Duke on Duchess on Christmas Eve, but Barbara County Sheriff's officers let him off with a warning.
We're told the warning didn't work because cops say Brooks showed up on the property again on Dec. 26 ... so this time he was arrested.
Our sources say Brooks drove all the way from Ohio, but it's unclear what he wanted from Harry and Meghan ... or if they were even home at the time of his visits.
Brooks has been charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.
The incidents might seem like no big deal, but they highlight a much bigger point Harry suggested during last week's bombshell TV interview with Oprah -- he's worried about the safety of his family.
Harry told Oprah when he and Meghan left their senior royal roles and moved to North America ... Buckingham Palace stripped them of their UK security team.