Frustrated over the revelations made in the recent Oprah tell-all interview, Prince Charles initially sought to release a “point by point” response to various statements made by his son and daughter-in-law, newly surfaced reports have detailed.
Katie Nicholl, the royal expert for pop culture outlet Entertainment Tonight, revealed on Wednesday that Prince Charles was so upset with the remarks made by Harry and Meghan that he wanted to write up a detailed response to each claim made during the much-anticipated interview.
"My understanding is that Prince Charles did want to issue a more detailed statement [in response] to the Oprah interview, and possibly address some of those issues point by point,” Nicholl said.
“But there was an evening to think about things and in the end, it was decided that a shorter statement would be better, [and] that going at things point by point could be potentially more damaging and give more ammunition for the row to continue."
According to Nicholl, both Prince Charles and Prince William were among the royals interested in setting the record straight and “correct[ing] some of the things that the couple had said."
The bombshell interview revealed a variety of behind-the-scenes issues, from the Duchess of Cambridge making Meghan cry to the more shocking details that questions were raised about the complexion of their firstborn child’s skin tone. Also highlighted was the lack of protection that Meghan allegedly failed to receive from the royal family, as tabloids carried out a campaign against her that was filled with colonial undertones.
However, within those revelations were also tidbits about the gray relationship between Harry and his father, who reportedly stopped speaking to him after the pair stepped away from working royal life. Harry also alleged that Charles financially cut him and his family off after they stepped down as senior royals.
Nicholl noted that “Prince Charles was particularly frustrated by the suggestion that financially he just cut the couple off,” explaining that “if you speak to sources in Charles' camp, that wasn't the case.”
“He did continue funding them for quite some time after they moved first to Canada, and then to America," the royal expert stated, before adding that “there was at one point the feeling that they did want to address more than just the issue of race."
Additionally, Nicholl emphasized that there does not appear to be a breakdown within the senior royals, and that the group have recently been “really working as a unit together” in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the departure of Harry and Meghan from royal duties.
“I think there isn't discord there. I think they're coming at this from the same place and working together as a team,” she noted.
In the wake of the explosive tell-all, the royal family issued a rare statement and indicated that it would be privately addressing racial issues that were raised and revealed to the public. The statement from Buckingham Palace was followed up by remarks from Prince William who stated his family is “very much not racist.”