Good news, drama lovers: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning yet another tell-all interview, after their last sit-down with Oprah Winfrey created shock waves around the world. Royal insiders say it’s all about damage control, after a new book by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown blasted them as “addicted to drama”, and criticised them for causing “maximum mayhem” in the royal family.
“These latest claims have really gotten under Meghan’s skin,” says an insider close to the 40 year old, who along with Harry, 37, ditched the royal life for an £11.2million mansion in California back in 2020.
“She’s told her team that something needs to be done. She’s so sick of the negative headlines and she’s desperate to come out fighting with some major damage control. Meghan feels as though doing another chat with Oprah is the best way to change the narrative and counter all the other negative claims she’s read about herself recently. She’s been in contact with Oprah’s people already.”
The new book – The Palace Papers: Inside The House Of Windsor – The Truth And The Turmoil – includes countless interviews with palace insiders, as well as years of research from royal journalist Tina. It details the Duke and Duchess quitting royal life, with Tina calling it a “disaster for both sides”.
In interviews last week, Tina, who was also a biographer of Princess Diana’s, said that meeting Meghan gave “unhappy” Harry the tools to leave The Firm, adding, “Meghan certainly saw the deals that were there to be made because they were royals. It’s as though she couldn’t resist everything that was on offer on the celebrity buffet.”
She went on to say, “I actually think there is a Harry-shaped hole in the royal family now. And Harry was beloved, actually, by the British people. And people adored Meghan when she came into the mix. So, it was actually very, very sad for everybody that it went so wrong.”
Tina also claimed the couple are “addicted to drama” and warned that Harry seems to have been “completely and utterly taken over by Meghan and his whole personality has changed”. She went on to say, “I do question how it will end. [Maybe] he’ll wake up and realise he’s living in Goop and he has to get the hell out, go down the pub and see his friends.”
Brown added that former Suits actress Meghan is unlikely to ever return to the UK for more than a brief visit – even when the Queen dies – saying, “She disliked England.”
Adding to Meghan’s fury were comments from former US president Donald Trump, in conversation with Piers Morgan.
In an interview for Piers Morgan Uncensored, Trump called the couple’s marriage a “ticking time bomb”, that will explode when “Harry decides he’s had enough of being bossed around” or “when she decides that she likes some other guy better”.
Trump continued, “Poor Harry is being led around by his nose. And I think he’s an embarrassment. I won’t use the full expression, but Harry is whipped like no person I think I’ve ever seen.”
And heat’s source says Meghan – who’s mum to Archie, three this week, and Lilibet, 11 months – is not taking any of these new claims about her well. “She’s seriously annoyed about Tina’s book,” says the insider.
“This is a renowned journalist who’s taken very seriously, both in the UK and the US. Meghan can’t just ignore this and write her off like she would do with her usual critics. She and Harry are also both really angry about everything Trump has been saying. It feels as though they’re taking more of a public bashing than ever right now.”
Despite this, we’re told Harry is not keen on his wife’s Oprah plan. “He says they should be wary of another tell-all, as the first one caused his family so much pain and anguish,” says the source. “He thinks they should just lay low for a bit, but Meghan doesn’t seem to be listening. She’s adamant that they shouldn’t be silenced, and is already compiling a whole list of things she wants to get off her chest.”
The insider adds, “If Oprah thought the last chat was juicy, she has no idea what’s coming…”