The royal mantra of “never complain and never explain” has worked pretty well for the Queen during her 68-year reign. Its simple principle is that the monarchy functions best when its inner workings are kept from the masses. The golden rule for survival was first adopted by the Queen Mother and has been passed all the way through to the new generation of royals led by Prince William.
But it seems that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, never got the memo. Or if they did, the couple opted to throw it out a window at their $19.3 million nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom home in Montecito, California.
Their decision to talk to American talk show host Oprah Winfrey was a deliberate challenge to the household’s preference for drama to play out behind closed doors. The very private is now very public and all sides will struggle to put this genie back in the bottle.
“What they have done is a real betrayal,” says royal biographer Penny Junor. “I just don’t understand why they spoke to Oprah, I really don’t. They have lobbed this grenade into everything that Harry has known.
“This was a mistake and Harry will regret it. He may be angry at the moment and he may be fine for Meghan to do a bit of bloodletting, but ultimately this is his family and his father and brother’s futures. And he has attempted to sabotage that.”
Historian Alexandra Churchill puts it this way: “Essentially it’s the shit that happens…
