British royal family has on Tuesday publicly responded for the first time to the shocking allegations made by Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Royal Family said they were “saddened” and would address the issues privately as a family.
According to the palace statement, released on behalf of Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, the royals were “saddened” to learn of “the full extent” of the difficulties the couple faced after Meghan married into the family.
The statement added;
The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.
During the interview, Harry and Meghan alleged members of the family raised “concerns” about “how dark” son, Archie’s skin colour would be, even before he was born.
Winfrey later said Harry asked her to note neither his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, nor his grandfather Prince Phillip, who has been hospitalized for weeks, made the racist comments.
Apart from this allegation, the couple made other shocking allegations in the two-hour special on CBS that aired Sunday in the U.S. and Monday in the U.K.
The interview, skillfully handled by the veteran broadcaster, was watched by 17.1 million viewers in the U.S. More than 12 million viewers watched the U.K. transmission, according to figures released by ITV on Tuesday.
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Meghan told Winfrey that she struggled with thoughts of suicide after marrying into the royal family.
She expressed that she approached people within the Royal “institution” for help after she had entertained suicidal thoughts, but was turned down.
Additionally, the couple revealed that they had been cut off financially from the Royal Family and dishing out some good news, they revealed the gender of their second child, a baby girl.
The Sussexes spoke of the pressures of royal life and also said they had been prompted to leave the U.K., and to step back from their roles as working royals early last year, because of hostility from the British tabloid press that they said the palace had failed to defend them from.
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Before the statement, there had been a wall of silence from the royal family about the interview.
The palace was said to have held “crisis talks,” according to British media reports, including the BBC, with senior royals reported to have had urgent discussions over how to limit the fallout from the interview.
