Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s friend is warning that the couple’s first sit-down TV interview after stepping down as senior royals is going to be explosive.
British broadcaster Tom Bradby, who interviewed the couple for their October documentary in Africa, wrote in an op-ed in the Sunday Times on January 12, “I have some idea of what might be aired in a full, no-holds-barred, sit-down interview and I don’t think it would be pretty.”
His comments came a day before Harry is set to meet with the Queen, his father, Prince Charles, and brother Prince William at the monarch’s Sandringham estate for crisis talks about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new roles in the British royal family.
The couple announced via Instagram on Wednesday, January 8, that they plan to step down as senior royals, split their time between the U.K. and North America and become financially independent.
Their announcement sent shockwaves through Harry’s family and across the world.
In his piece titled “Harry and Meghan’s escape from the poisonous palace,” Bradby warned that the family needs to broker a “meaningful peace deal” with Harry and Duchess Meghan, “because a protracted war could be very bloody indeed.”
He also explained that the couple’s desire to quit the royal family began with “damaging things” that were “said and done at the time of their wedding” in May 2018.
“The atmosphere soured hard and early, but few meaningful attempts were made by anyone to heal the wounds,” he continued, adding that “there is no doubt Harry and Meghan feel they have been driven out.”
The couple opened up to the ITV news anchor in Harry & Meghan: An Africa Journey, with Harry admitting that he and William have had a falling out and are no longer as close as they used to be. Meghan also appeared close to tears at one point in her conversation with Bradby, admitting that she’s struggled with life as a new royal, wife and mother amid hounding by the British press. She thanked the journalist for asking about her mental and physical health, adding, “Not many people have asked if I’m OK, but it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes.”
Bradby wrote that he and others encouraged Meghan and Harry to take some time off and try to repair their relationships with Harry’s family.
“My understanding is that William did try [to make amends], but the impression I have, for the moment at least, is that things have gone too far to be retrieved,” the journalist admitted.
The New York Post’s Page Six reported on Thursday, January 9, that Gayle King, who attended Meghan’s Manhattan baby shower and visited the royal couple after they welcomed son Archie in May, is a front-runner to score the first TV interview with Harry and Meghan.
The News at Ten anchor wrote that the interview could cast a shadow over the royal family because Harry and Meghan appeal “to a young, multicultural demographic that, to put it kindly, is not the family’s strongest suit. It is not just that they might lose this group, but that it could actively turn against them.”
“I suspect the royal family would carry British public opinion still — perhaps only just,” in the wake of a tell-all interview, Bradby added. “But its international standing is a key part of its value to the British state. If that were to be tarnished, it could be very damaging indeed.”
