THE author of a bombshell book on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle says the couple have ‘every right to tell their story’ to Oprah Winfrey.
Omid Scobie, who co-wrote Finding Freedom, defended the pair in an interview on Good Morning Britain – and says he believes they’re still upholding their battle for privacy, despite the chat.
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He spoke to Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard after the Queen launched an unprecedented probe into allegations Meghan and Harry bullied their staff.
“This is two hours for the couple to share their side of the story,” he said.
“I go back to what privacy actually means – it’s the ability to keep certain aspects of you life private, and the ability to give authorisation to share certain things elsewhere.”
It comes amid claims:
- Meghan’s Oprah interview has plunged the Royal Family into ‘the worst crisis in decades’ after she ‘called them liars’
- ‘At least 10 former aides’ will support the palace’s bullying probe
- Meghan was ‘broken by Megxit’ – and the Oprah chat will ‘free her’, pals claim
- The Duchess ‘blamed Kate and Camilla’s aides for leaking stories about her’
- She and Harry ‘want to be out of the spotlight apart from when it suits them’
He said viewers will likely be “really surprised” to hear more of the couple’s interactions with the Queen and Prince Philip.
It comes after Prince Harry revealed in an interview with James Corden that he, his wife and their son Archie had “Zoomed them a few times”, while the Queen gifted Archie a waffle maker for Christmas on Meghan’s advice.
“We heard Harry talk about that a little bit on James Corden, and I think people will be really surprised to hear more stories about that warm relationship on the interview with Oprah,” Mr Scobie said.
“When Harry and Meghan talk about ‘The Firm’ or ‘the institution’, they’re not attacking the Royal Family – they’re talking about the machine of the monarchy, and I think any Royal Family member is able to distinguish the two.”
The Duchess used the phrase “The Firm” in the latest teaser clip of the couple’s upcoming interview with Winfrey, released earlier this week.
The 30-second snippet features Meghan accusing the Royal Family of “perpetuating falsehoods” and telling the interviewer “there’s a lot has been lost”.
In the clip, Winfrey asks Meghan: “How do you feel about the Palace hearing you speak your truth today?”
A visibly-emotional Meghan replies: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.”
It’s not yet known what “falsehoods” the Duchess is referring to, as the interview was recorded before claims emerged in The Times this week that she drove two personal assistants out of the household and undermined the confidence of a third.
Meghan strongly denies the allegations.
Mr Scobie said he hadn’t heard any claims of bullying during his extensive interviews for the book – and said there’s “sadness” at the allegations in Team Sussex.
“I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know people that were working closely to them, and that’s through several generations of their teams working at Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace,” he said.
“I myself haven’t come across stories of bullying.
“I’d seen people frazzled and frustrated at being caught in the middle of the Sussexes and institution on a regular basis.
“I also understand that anyone’s experience and what they share as their experience during employment needs to be heard, and so of course, like any responsible business, there has to be an investigation, but at the same time it is an unprecedented moment for the palace to announce to the entire world that there would be an HR investigation.”
He also claimed the palace’s stance on the matter was unfair.
“This is an institution that has remained dead silent at all times on the Prince Andrew accusations,” he said.
“‘No comment’ was given to me time and time again when I asked questions about allegations on a lack of cooperation against FBI, but when Harry and Meghan accused – or when they were suspicious of staff leaking stories, their complaints fell deaf ears.
“It does feel like we have slightly uneven playing field here, and if there are investigations, they need to happen across the board.”
Meghan and Harry’s chat with Oprah is set to be aired on UK screens at 9pm on Monday – but deals have been struck across the globe for broadcast rights, with the interview likely to run more than 17 countries, including Australia, Switzerland and Belgium, as well as sub-Saharan Africa.
Kate said the interview is “not going to create a warm relationship” with the Royal Family because “it’s not the way they operate”.
Mr Scobie replied: “I think who they want to speak to are the millions of people around the world who have spent the past three or four years reading stories about them, and featuring anonymous source quotes about them.
“This is the first time they actually get to tell their side of their story.
“The last time they actually sat down for an on-camera interview was of course their engagement interview – we’ve seen a couple of moments here and there since.
“This is really their first opportunity, I think, for the world to understand what it was they went through. That is still very much a mystery.”
