Prince William is concerned any private conversations with his brother will be ‘plastered over American TV’ after Meghan Markle’s broadcaster friend Gayle King revealed his ‘unproductive phone call with Prince Harry’, sources told Vanity Fair.
The CBS presenter yesterday revealed Harry, 36, had spoken to William, 38, and their father Prince Charles for the first time following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Despite the Sussexes insisting their explosive tell-all would be their ‘final word’ on royal affairs, Ms King, 66, said the couple had told her about Harry’s phone calls with his family over the weekend.
Today she spoke out once again, claiming the pair had a deal with CBS and ITV to postpone their bombshell interview if Prince Philip, 99, had died during his month-long stay in hospital.
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace has no plans to comment beyond the statement issued last week by the Queen, but there is concern within the family that the Sussexes ‘want to keep fuelling the soap opera’, sources told Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl.
Prince William (pictured) is concerned any private conversations with his brother will be ‘plastered over American TV’ after Meghan Markle’s broadcaster friend Gayle King revealed his ‘unproductive phone call with Prince Harry’, sources have claimed
On Tuesday, the CBS presenter, who attended Meghan’s $500,000 baby shower in 2019, revealed Harry, 36, had spoken to William, 38, and their father Prince Charles for the first time following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey (pictured)
One source close to Prince William claimed: ‘There’s a lack of trust on both sides which makes moving forward very hard. William is now worried that anything he says to his brother will be plastered over American TV.’
Elsewhere, an insider said the family is concerned that the story is becoming more like a soap opera, even as Prince Philip returns to Windsor Castle from a month-long stay in hospital following a successful heart operation.
A family friend said: ‘It seems the Sussexes seem to want to keep fuelling this story at a time when the royals are trying to protect Prince Philip from the headlines.’
The source added that Meghan and Harry’s approach seemed to be a ‘very strange way’ to heal the rift within the family.
The publication said it is understood Harry has been in contact with the Queen since the interview aired and that they regularly talk about Prince Philip’s health.
Despite the Sussexes insisting their explosive tell-all would be their ‘final word’ on royal affairs, Ms King (pictured), 66, said the couple had told her about Harry’s phone calls with his family over the weekend
On Tuesday, Ms King told her viewers that she spoke to the Sussexes who told her that Harry had talked to the Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales over the weekend.
But she said the conversations were ‘not productive’ and Harry and Meghan were keen for the ‘royals to intervene and tell the Press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant’.
Ms King, 66, who is also close friends with Oprah, failed to give any examples of the stories she was referring to, but added that Meghan has ‘documents to back up everything that she said on Oprah’s interview’.
The broadcaster’s comments came on the same day that Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip, 99, was reunited with the Queen at Windsor Castle after leaving King Edward VII’s Hospital in London following a 28 day-stay for treatment.
In further revelations, Ms King yesterday claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a deal with CBS and ITV to postpone their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey if Prince Philip had died.
The monarchy was plunged into crisis while Harry’s grandfather Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital following the allegations of racism made by the Sussexes, who faced calls to postpone the interview because he was unwell.
The couple accused an unnamed royal, not the Queen or Prince Philip, of raising concerns about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone would be before he was born, and Meghan also claimed she begged for help while suicidal.
Now, Ms King has revealed on her radio show on US network SiriusXM: ‘Well, just so you know, they had done that interview before Prince Phillip went into the hospital.
‘If something, God forbid, had happened to him, the interview would not have run at this particular time. But the interview was done and was scheduled before he went into the hospital. But a lot of people have raised that point.’
Prince Philip was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on February 16, before moving two weeks later to another hospital in the capital, St Bartholomew’s, where he had a successful heart operation on March 3.
Two days later he was transferred back to King Edward VII’s to recuperate and continue his treatment, and left on Tuesday before being driven to Windsor Castle where he was reunited with the Queen after a month apart.
Ms King also said: ‘I think that Harry and Meghan both have been through so much for the past three years and they really have tried to work it out privately. They really have tried to get help, and nothing was working.
‘So I think they wanted people to have some understanding about why they made the decision that they made and what they’ve been going through, and I do think that they accomplished that. I do. I think it was very brave of her and Harry to reveal what they did. It’s unheard of, and it certainly has been a “bombshell”, is the word.
‘There were six or seven that night. I stopped counting at six. It was bombshell, after bombshell, after bombshell, but I do believe it was an honest conversation. I’m hoping it will lead to change.’
The fact the Sussexes chose to reveal sensitive discussions between senior members of the Royal Family met with an icy response from Buckingham Palace.
Prince Philip, who is set to celebrate his 100th birthday in June, is seen waving on Tuesday as he arrives back at Windsor Castle
‘None of the households [the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] will be giving a running commentary on private conversations,’ said a senior royal source.
It was clear, however, that both the Windsors and senior officials see it as a severe betrayal of trust and unhelpful to attempts to rebuild bridges. Prince William, when he was questioned by a TV reporter on a public engagement last Thursday, said he had not yet spoken to his younger brother, but vowed he would.
He also insisted the Royal Family were not racists after Meghan claimed one member had raised ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ her baby’s skin would be, and suggested there was an attempt to deprive Archie of a title and security because he was of mixed race.
The duchess also said she had been given so little support by the Palace that she suffered suicidal thoughts.
Harry said he felt ‘really let down’ by his father, accused him of cutting him off financially and refusing to take his calls, while also revealing the gulf with William.
Prince Charles and Camilla visit a vaccination pop-up centre at Finsbury Park Mosque in North London on Tuesday. In his Oprah interview, Harry said he felt ‘really let down’ by his father, accused him of cutting him off financially and refusing to take his calls
The Queen responded to the Oprah interview with a deeply personal message saying that while ‘some recollections vary’, the issues raised, particularly that of race, were ‘concerning’ and would be taken seriously.
Significantly, however, she emphasised that from now on the difficulties would be addressed by the family privately.
There have been a handful of stories published in the UK media reporting that Charles and William felt hurt by what Harry had said, but with very little detail on what was taking place behind the scenes.
That was turned on its head on Tuesday when Ms King decided to speak out on her prime-time morning show on CBS, the same channel that broadcast the Oprah interview.
She said on CBS This Morning: ‘Well I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling, and it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.
‘The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive. But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.’