Oprah fails to ask Meghan Markle ANYTHING about her estranged family in interview
All the questions Oprah DIDN’T ask: How Meghan was not asked about rift with family, fallout with father Thomas and – crucially – for the NAME of Royal Family member she accuses of being a racist during two-hour interview
- Oprah Winfrey grilled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their rift with the Royals in Sunday’s long-awaited interview
- She kept true to her promise to ask the tough questions, repeatedly pressing the couple to clarify their claims and offer specifics
- But Oprah failed to ask Meghan about her relationship with her own family, which has long been contentious
- Meghan did mention her estranged father Thomas Markle at one point and indicated that they are still not talking, saying that she ‘lost’ him
- At the end of the two-hour program Oprah said more content interview content would air Monday on CBS This Morning
- Oprah is slated to join her pal Gayle King on the show, which begins at 7am
Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Sussexes may have led to a series of explosive revelations, but the tell-all has left a number of questions unanswered.
In the most anticipated royal interview in decades, speaking to Oprah, Meghan and Harry steered clear of criticising the Queen or talking about the Markle family.
The royal family and their aides now have challenging questions to answer about why a suicidal Meghan was not supported and given help, and about accusations of racism.
The couple also made bombshell claims about how a relative of Harry asked him ‘how dark’ their unborn child would be – but refused to say which member of the royal family had this conversation with Harry while Meghan was pregnant with Archie.
Harry said he will never reveal who said it and what was said, leading to fevered speculation.
Viewers have also been left wondering what Kate said to Meghan to make her cry after Meghan said it was Kate who left her in tears over the flower girl dresses.
It also remains unclear who Meghan approached in the Palace for help when feeling suicidal – after she said she went to ‘one of the most senior people’.
Harry indicated that members of the royal family were jealous of Meghan because of the ease with which she carried out royal duties on their tour of Australia and New Zealand.
But it is not yet known who in the family was jealous of her.
And the duchess has been estranged from Thomas Markle since her wedding, but Winfrey was not seen questioning Meghan about their relationship.
Oprah Winfrey grilled Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their rift with the Royals in Sunday’s bombshell interview – but made no mention of drama within the duchess’s family
It also remains unclear what damage has been done to Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family.
At this stage, the damage could be irreparable.
During the interview, Meghan said she wanted Archie to be a prince so he could have police protection, and expressed her shock at the idea of the first member of colour in the family not being titled in the same way as other grandchildren.
But seventh in line Archie is not at this stage entitled to be a prince because of rules established more than 100 years ago by King George V.
Critics are now asking why didn’t the Queen make Archie a prince – after Her Majesty stepped in ahead of Prince George’s birth to issue a Letters Patent to ensure all the Cambridges’ children, not just George, would have fitting titles.
However, the Cambridges’ children are the offspring of a future monarch whereas Archie is not.
He will be entitled to be an HRH or a prince however when the Prince of Wales accedes to the throne.
The interview was also filmed before the Times revealed that a senior aide raised concerns over bullying and that Meghan allegedly drove out two personal assistants and humiliated another, which the duchess denies.
Questions still remain as to what exactly went on and how Meghan treated her staff.
The long-awaited interview produced a bevy of revelations about Meghan and Harry’s struggles with his family – including how she felt ‘silenced’, became suicidal during her pregnancy with their baby Archie and how an unnamed member of the Royal ‘Firm’ questioned how dark the boy’s skin would be.
Oprah kept true to her promise to ask the tough questions, repeatedly pressing the couple to clarify their claims and offer specifics.
But the talk show legend left one rather large stone un-turned as she failed to ask Meghan about her relationship with her own family, which has long been contentious.
Meghan did bring up her estranged father Thomas Markle at one point and appeared to suggest that they still aren’t speaking.
‘I grieve a lot,’ she said as she reflected on the turmoil of the past few years.
‘I mean, I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name.
‘I mean, there’s the loss of identity.
‘But I’m still standing, and my hope for people in the takeaway from this is to know that there’s another side.’
Oprah declined to press Meghan on the bit about Thomas, who has railed against his daughter in the press on multiple occasions.
At the end of the two-hour program Oprah noted that it was impossible to fit everything in and said that more content would air Monday on CBS This Morning.
Oprah is slated to join her pal Gayle King on the show, which begins at 7am.
It’s possible that discussions of Meghan’s family could be included in the footage yet to air.
Meghan’s relationship with her father made headlines ahead of her wedding to Harry in 2018 when Thomas was accused of staging paparazzi photos in return for payment after claiming he was being ‘harassed’ by photographers.
Thomas ultimately did not attend the wedding, citing health reasons.
But in the weeks that followed he made a number of media appearances where he opined the rift with his daughter and attacked her decision to marry into the Royal family.
Thomas, who lives in a coastal town in Mexico, has kept a low profile in recent months but emerged in February to congratulate his daughter after she announced that she and Harry are pregnant with their second child.
The Sun newspaper reported the duchess’s father as saying: ‘I wish Meghan and Harry a successful and healthy birth,’ Thomas said, according to The Sun.
‘And I hope some day I get to see my grandchildren. They’re all royal grandchildren.’
Meghan has been open about her contentious relationship with her father, Thomas Markle (pictured together) in the past – but was not asked to address it in the Oprah interview
Meghan did bring up her estranged father Thomas at one point and indicated that they still aren’t speaking. ‘I grieve a lot,’ she said as she reflected on the turmoil of the past few years. ‘I mean, I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. I nearly lost my name. I mean, there’s the loss of identity’
It came after Meghan won her High Court privacy claim against the Mail On Sunday over the publication of a ‘personal and private’ handwritten letter to Thomas.
Thomas had said he was prepared to give evidence against his daughter.
He told the Sun: ‘I don’t know how you can judge a case without getting testimony from witnesses. Witnesses that want to speak. I’m not the only one who wants to speak.’
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle has also served as one of her loudest critics, repeatedly attacking the duchess for ‘turning her back’ on the family.
Samantha launched a fresh attack on Meghan in her autobiography released last month, titled: ‘The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister: A Memoir, Part One’.
The book heavily criticized Meghan for shunning her American relatives and cutting off their father Thomas.
It laid bare details of the Markle siblings’ upbringing, including the rivalry between Meghan and Samantha when their father was still married to the actress’s mother Doria Ragland.
She branded Prince Harry’s comment in an interview that the royals were the ‘family that Meghan never had’ as the ‘ultimate insult’.
Meghan was said to be ‘sick to her stomach’ when she first heard Samantha was writing the book.
