It’s really no surprise Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had the royal family on the edge of their seats ahead of their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. But according to the latest leaks from behind palace walls, the hardest hit was Prince William, who was literally “sick with worry.” Hmm…
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down for a candid conversation in a CBS tell-all which aired in March 2021, shortly after they exited their roles as working royals and moved to California.
The interview would end up revealing allegations of mistreatment and racism the Sussexes reportedly had to deal with from the prestigious family, including conversations about the couple’s then-unborn son Prince Archie‘s skin color. Innerestingly, Harry has since denied ever accusing the royals of being racist, but rather of exhibiting unconscious bias.
Related: Prince William Makes HOW Much A Year As Duke Of Cornwall?!
It was a tumultuous time for the entire royal family, but it seems Will may have been feeling the most guilty going in — because he was so worried he couldn’t eat, per sources!
In a heated debate on Dan Wootton‘s GB News on Tuesday, Mail on Sunday‘s Editor-at-Large, Charlotte Griffiths, declared:
“I’ve heard this for a long time now from many different sources … in the lead-up to that Oprah interview, William was quite literally sick with worry. He was not eating, and he became — not reclusive — but he definitely was hiding away. He went to a royal residence for a period of time to cut himself off from the world. He was just in bits, basically.”
Later, the reporter stressed how serious the situation was, adding:
“Literally, he couldn’t eat for a week before the Oprah interviews.”
All because he was worried about what Harry would say? Jeez. Does this mean he thought he had a reason to be nervous?! Despite all this anticipation, Harry went pretty easy on his older brother, compared to others, in the Oprah sit-down — much unlike he did in Spare! Was he worried something else would be revealed? Like the story about him hitting Harry? Something else??
Unlike Will, Princess Catherine, AKA Kate Middleton, got “steely” as she was ready to step in to “protect” her husband, Charlotte shared:
“And what Kate was doing was standing by her man. Kate was like, ‘I’ve got to stick up for this guy and protect him. He’s being destroyed by this,’ and that probably made her quite steely, even though she has this reputation for being shy. But when it comes to protecting her husband, she’s going to step in and protect him.”
This comes after it was revealed Kate and William fought to make sure Queen Elizabeth II‘s statement after the TV special hit back as hard as possible at the racism claims.
Related: Harry & William Appear (Sort Of) Together Honoring Princess Diana
In an excerpt of the paperback edition of Valentine Low‘s book Courtiers, he claimed the Prince and Princess of Wales campaigned for the inclusion of the phrase “some recollections may vary” in the statement. As Perezcious readers know, Elizabeth said at the time:
“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. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
The phrase in question was key to showing the royal family did not stand by everything their estranged relative had declared. It was the shadiest line by far in the response — and it almost didn’t make it into the official press release, Valentine wrote:
“It had a much milder version. The debate was, do your rise entirely above it and offer the olive branch of (Harry and Meghan being) ‘much loved members of the family’? Or is there some moment when you have to intervene and offer a view?”
Thanks to the Cambridges, a more aggressive version was published:
“They wanted it toughened up a bit. They were both of one mind that we needed something that said that the institution did not accept a lot of what had been said.”
Kate and Will’s plan worked! And we could likely be seeing more strategic moves like this in the future. According to Low’s source, the mother of three is now “playing the long game” as she knows she’ll be queen one day. So, she’s preparing for her big moment when she’s really in charge. And, let’s just say, that doesn’t bode well for Harry or Meghan if all this is true! If William and Kate haven’t softened to the couple at this point, who knows if the feud will ever resolve itself…
To hear more from Charlotte on what insiders have said about the lead-up to the Oprah interview, take a listen to the full interview (below):
Thoughts? Why do you think William was SO nervous about the tell-all? Did he think Harry was going to call him out for something specific? Something much more embarrassing?? Send us your guesses (below)!
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