Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey will ‘rock the establishment at its very core,’ a royal author has claimed.
Australian entertainment journalist and media executive Dylan Howard, who wrote Royals at War – the explosive book on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s shocking exit from royal life – shares his views on Channel 5’s The Markles Vs Monarchy, which will air on Saturday at 9pm.
Speaking in the documentary, he says the decision to go ahead with the interview is ‘almost like Harry driving a wedge with a sledgehammer through his relationship with William.’
A number of snippets from the interview, which which will air on US network CBS on Sunday at 1am GMT and ITV in the UK at 9pm Monday, suggest the couple will spare no detail when talking about their troubles with royal life.
Author of Royals at War Dylan Howard has said the interview Prince Harry, left, 35 and Meghan Markle, right, 39 have given to Oprah Winfrey will ‘rock the establishment at its very core’ in a Channel 5 documentary airing on Saturday on Channel 5
Speaking in the documentary, Howard explains: ‘William, as a strong advocate of everything the royal family means, is obviously going to be dragged into this.
‘I expect this is not only to reverberate throughout the United-States and England, but will also rock the establishment at its very core.’
He also claims that ‘honest’ Meghan Markle will not hesitate to answer questions the royal family will find ‘uncomfortable’ – adding that she doesn’t care about the repercussions this could have on monarchy in the UK.
Howard also goes on to discuss the couple’s decision to move to LA following the announcement they were stepping back as royals, and says the Queen has ‘no choice’ but to strip them of their titles.
Howard said that Prince William, pictured in a conversation with the Football Association, was an advocate of everything the royal family stood for and would likely be dragged in his brother’s interview
The Australian broadcaster, pictured, said Meghan Markle would answer questions that the royal family will find uncomfortable, but that she’s is ‘open’ and ‘honest’ and won’t care about the consequences for the royals
‘The action of Harry and Meghan the United-States go against the very grain of the royal rulebook,’ he says. ‘There is a delicious irony, where they live in Los Angeles, the heart of the paparazzi.
At the same time in London, they fight these legal arguments. And it mustn’t be lost on the royal family itself. It’s almost cringe-worthy to an extent.
‘As they embark on their brand-building exercise, we’re only gonna see earthquake after earthquake shattering Buckingham Palace.’
He also expresses sympathy for the Queen, saying the chances of the couple’s second child meeting his great grandparents in England is ‘next to zero.’
Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton racing each other in 2017. Howard said Harry and Meghan’s brand-building exercise would create ‘earthquake after earthquake’ for Buckingham Palace
‘This is disheartening and heartbreaking,’ he adds.
Speaking of Meghan Markle, Howard claims the Duchess of Sussex is at the core of the royals’ brand-building exercise, and the deals struck with Netflix and Spotify, and that it will not be surprising to see her acting again in the future.
A video clip from Meghan and Harry’s interview – which was filmed last month in California, and has been licensed by CBS owner ViacomCBS to be shown in 63 countries in addition to Britain and the US – saw the Duchess say she could not be expected to stay silent if the royal family played a part in ‘perpetuating falsehoods’ about her and Prince Harry.
ITV has faced furious backlash at its decision to push ahead with broadcasting the interview while Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather Prince Philip recovers from heart surgery in hospital – where he is set to remain ‘for a number of days’.
The explosive tell-all interview will air on CBS at 1am GMT on Monday and will be broadcast on ITV at 9pm on Monday
Howard said the couple’s decision to live in ‘the heart of the paparazzi’ Los Angeles while fighting legal battles in London was ‘cringeworthy’
The interview will first be shown by CBS in the US at 1am UK time on Sunday night. Meanwhile Buckingham Palace said at 1pm today that a special Commonwealth programme would be aired just hours beforehand on the BBC.
The Queen and the Royal Family have turned their attention to the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic for the show which will be on BBC One in the UK and globally on the BBC’s YouTube channel from 5pm on Sunday.
Ahead of Harry and Meghan’s sit-down, the Queen, in an audio message, will pay tribute to the way in which communities across the ‘family of nations’ have ‘come together’ in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Buckingham Palace, which is bracing itself for dramatic revelations from the Sussexes on Sunday night, said the one-hour programme will also celebrate ‘Her Majesty’s lifetime commitment to the Commonwealth’. The Queen, who has reigned for nearly 70 years, is Head of the Commonwealth – a voluntary association of 54 nations.
Harry and Meghan were accused of being disrespectful to the monarch’s life of duty when their Megxit departure was finalised two weeks ago, with their camp saying: ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.’
The Markles vs Monarchy airs on Saturday at 9pm on Channel 5.