Harry and Meghan drop major truth bombs

There’s a reason, perhaps, that the Royals wryly refer to themselves as “The Firm.” It’s not just a joke about them being a hierarchical institution, like any other corporation. It’s also an accurate self-description: they are the ones, after all, who shall remain implacable in public, like set concrete, no matter what the scandal, disaster or controversy.

Back in 1969, the Royal Family commissioned a TV documentary film be made to show the ordinary lives of the monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, Anne, Charles and all the rest sitting down for lunch, watching the telly and such. It was meant to show the Royals as normal, everyday folks, during a time of intense economic struggle and political strife. It was meant to soften their image.

The Royal Family special aired on the BBC exactly one time. And was then shelved forever. While the public loved it, and it lifted public approval of the royals, the family itself hated it. Apparently, being too “normal” was considered as bad as being too “different” and out of touch.

And so last week we had the feverish buildup to Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with anticipation as frenzied as any Super Bowl teaser. Online chatter was fierce, for and against, and preemptive stories leaked in the UK press about Meghan “bullying” Buckingham Palace staff.

Across the pond, James Corden — the kinder, gentler face of Britain’s celeb gossip machinery — had worked days before to humanize Harry by picking him up in a Hollywood tour bus, asking him about the difficulties of “stepping back” from the Royal Family and living under the British press (Harry calls The Crown “fictional,” while what he and Meghan are going through is “fact.”)

Then came the much-anticipated two-hour broadcast with Oprah, who apparently lives nearby the Sussexes’ $14 million estate in Southern California. (She clarified no money was paid for the interview.)

It was jaw-dropping. Truth grenades were hurled. But as you’d imagine, the revelations only intensified a swirling brew of controversy.

Here are four highlights:

Archie was denied a title, and Harry and Meghan were denied security.

We learn that Meghan and Harry were told their first child, Archie, would have no title (due to his place in the line of succession), and therefore no royal security protection. This was a non-starter for the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and one of the reasons, they admit, for stepping back from Palace duties — which itself meant they would no longer any receive any personal security.

Oh, and Harry revealed he’d been “cut off” by the Palace from any financial support (fortunately, his mom Diana had left both sons a tidy inheritance).

On a positive note, Meghan is now expecting their second child (it’s a girl!), and Oprah gently suggested their situation now — ensconced in Southern California with hired 24/7 security protection and several Spotify and Netflix deals in the pipeline — is a kind of “happy ending.”

Er, not really. Maybe it’s more like a fresh start. And it’s a bit ironic bringing up fairy tales, given Princess Diana’s celebrated TV interview decades ago in which she summed up her royal marriage with “the fairytale had come to an end.” But this is California, so… onward and upward!

Meghan felt suicidal during her first pregnancy.

Besieged by nasty press, and newly pregnant, we learn that the Duchess of Sussex felt there was nowhere to turn for emotional help. She notes that as soon as you join “the institution” (as it’s also called), “they take away your passport, your car keys, your driver’s license.” Sounds like a Scientology retreat, or a Tom Cruise thriller based on a John Grisham book.

When Meghan grew “lonelier” inside the Palace and needed to talk with someone, she was reportedly told not to go out due to ”oversaturation” in the media. (She likens it to being under “lockdown.”)

We hear she visited Buckingham Palace Human Resources (yes, such a thing exists), fearing her condition was growing “un-survivable,” and was told they couldn’t help her because she wasn’t a “paid employee of the institution.”

In short, she felt any support she’d been “promised” before marrying was quickly replaced by a tight-lipped suggestion from middle-management types that she just “accept” things and get on with it. (This definitely scans. The scene as described by Meghan can’t help reminding viewers of Diana’s plight in the last season of The Crown — which, of course, Harry will remind us is “fiction.”)

Someone’s a racist.

Meghan’s already complicated position in The Firm was amplified by her race. Of course, there was already scuttlebutt before their wedding, with Brexit voices and the media going full-throated, but Meghan spills the tea that Harry was told by someone inside of “concerns” about the color of their first child’s skin. (Oprah later clarified the comments didn’t come from the Queen or Prince Philip.)

Context might be important — was the unnamed family member making an off-color joke? Or just flat-out racist? — but given Harry’s expression while retelling the incident, it seems they both took it pretty seriously.