Prince William says royal family ‘not racist’ – follow live

Prince William and Kate Middleton have made their first public appearance since the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, in which they accused a member of the royal family of making a racist comment about the colour of their son’s skin.

Today, William and Kate toured School21 in Stratford, east London, to mark the return of children to classes this week.

The visit was also to mark the rollout of a mental health project Kate launched in primary schools in 2018 that is now going to be expanded to secondary schools.

As William left the visit, a reporter asked him: “Is the royal family a racist family, sir?”

He replied: “We’re very much not a racist family.”

Now that the British public has had a few days to digest everything Harry and Meghan said in the landmark interview with Oprah earlier this week – and Buckingham Palace has now issued its response – it’s time to think a bit more about the long-term implications of all this.

Writing for The Independent, royal expert Victoria Murphy explains what we can understand from all of the startling revelations and claims made by Harry and Meghan – and the meaning behind the palace’s 64-word response.

“In just 24 hours, the criticism has started to come in that the brief response is not enough; that more is needed to specifically address the most serious claims made,” she writes.

Prince William has said that the royal family is “not racist” in his first public comment since the landmark Oprah interview aired.

In a video clip shared on Twitter, a reporter is heard asking the Duke of Cambridge if he has spoken to his brother, Prince Harry, since the interview came out.

“I haven’t spoken to my brother, yet, no, but I will do,” he replied.

The reporter asked William if the royal family was a “racist family”, to which he replied: “We are very much not a racist family”

Morgan quit Good Morning Britian on Tuesday after making widely derided comments about Meghan Markle’s mental health.

The TV host said that he “didn’t believe” the duchess’s admission that she had experienced suicidal thoughts while in the royal family.

“@piersmorgan I am with you. I stand by you,” Osbourne tweeted on Wednesday. “People forget that you’re paid for your opinion and that you’re just speaking your truth.”

Osbourne defended Morgan again on Wednesday during an appearance on The Talk.

“I feel like I’m about to be put in the electric chair because I have a friend who many people think is racist, so that makes me a racist,” Osbourne said before tearfully asking The Talk co-host Sheryl Underwood to tell her incidents where she’d heard Morgan “say racist things”.

Underwood replied that it wasn’t “exact words of racism” but “the implication and the reaction to it” and that she wasn’t trying to accuse Osbourne of being racist.

Within just a few hours of the presenter quitting, ITV’s share price had fallen by 6.5 per cent.

Morgan announced he would be leaving the show on Tuesday following a backlash to his comments on Meghan Markle’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Commenting on Meghan explaining she had felt suicidal during her time in the royal family, Morgan said on air he “didn’t believe a word” of her story, prompting widespread criticism from mental health campaigners and charities.

The head of the Society of Editors, Ian Murray, has stepped down after the organisation came under fire for its response to Harry and Meghan’s accusations of racism made in the bombshell Oprah interview.

Murray said he must “take the blame” and step aside following heavy criticism of the industry body.

It comes after the society responded to claims of racism in the media levelled by Harry and Meghan with a statement denying the claims – saying “the UK media is not bigoted and will not be swayed from its vital role holding the rich and powerful to account”.

The statement sparked a major backlash, leading the body to respond by stating that their statement was “made in that spirit” of defending freedom of speech, “but did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity and inclusion”.

Lord Andrew Parker, former head of MI5, has been called upon to address Harry and Meghan’s claims of institutional racism within the royal family as the new head of Royal household.

He will take on the role on 1 April, replacing Lord Peel, and one of his first duties is set to be addressing the fallout from the Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Lord Parker is expected to address the couple’s claims that “the Firm” did not do enough to support them, particularly with regards to Meghan when she claims she was denied help for her deteriorating mental health.

Lord Andrew Parker, former head of MI5, has been called upon to address Harry and Meghan’s claims of institutional racism within the royal family as the new head of Royal household.

He will take on the role on 1 April, replacing Lord Peel, and one of his first duties is set to be addressing the fallout from the Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Lord Parker is expected to address the couple’s claims that “the Firm” did not do enough to support them, particularly with regards to Meghan when she claims she was denied help for her deteriorating mental health.

The Sussexes were reportedly given “ample warning” that their security would be taken away from them if they stepped away from their roles in the royal family, according to a new report.

A police source told The Times that Harry had been made fully aware that he risked his security being taken from him if he was no longer a working royal.

The source said: “They had already been told that and they were told in advance that if you stopped being royals you can’t be assured that you’ll have automatic protection for the rest of your lives.

“They’ve been told all of these things but they’re just trying to engineer and leverage more security, more funds.”

It contradicts what Harry told Oprah Winfrey in the landmark interview that aired in the UK on Monday.

Harry told Winfrey that he was informed “at short notice security was going to be removed”.

“I never thought that I would have my security removed, because I was born into this position,” he added.

“I inherited the risk. So that was a shock to me. That was what completely changed the whole plan.”

The Sussex’s bombshell interview with American TV host Oprah Winfrey has sent shockwaves around the world, but it’s not the first time a royal interview has made headlines.

Far from it. Who could forget Diana’s interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama in 1995? The one where she famously spoke about Charles’s ongoing affair with Camilla by saying: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”.

More recently, of course, there was Prince Andrew’s excruciating Woking-Pizza Express-not-sweaty-nightclub-themed Newsnight interview in 2019.

Click here for more startling royal interviews.

Now that the landmark interview between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Oprah Winfrey has dropped, fans are unpicking every detail they can – including Meghan’s outfit.

For the occasion, the duchess, who is pregnant with her second child, wore a black belted silk dress from Armani that retails for $4,700 (£3,300).

But the dress may have a hidden meaning behind it; as royal fans noticed it features an embroidered lotus flower on the right-hand side.

The lotus flower, which is a revered symbol in Hinduism and Hindu iconography, is known for representing spiritual enlightenment, growth and rebirth, all of which could be seen as relevant to Meghan’s new life in California with Harry after the couple stepped down from the royal family in January 2020.

Following the Oprah interview, many people have questioned the media’s treatment of the duchess, uncovering old headlines and stories that the couple have disputed.

Meghan has had several run-ins with the media since she started dating Harry, the most recent of which was a new report in The Times, which claimed she was the subject of a bullying complaint in October 2018, while at Kensington Palace.

But there have been several other incidents, like the time Prince Harry released a statement shortly after they started dating to say that a line had been “crossed” with media intrusion.

Or when, in December 2018, Meghan was labelled “difficult” over alleged behaviour.

Since the bombshell interview between the Sussexes and Oprah aired, people want to know as much about Harry and Meghan as they can – and that includes finding out a bit more about Meghan’s family.

Meghan was born in California and is the only daughter of Doria Ragland, a former social worker and yoga teacher and Thomas Markle Sr, who divorced when the duchess was six years old.

While Ragland has been an integral part of the couple’s life since before the royal wedding, Meghan’s relationship with her father has been notoriously strained.

Mr Markle has done several media appearances since his daughter entered the royal family, with his most recent one being on Tuesday when he claimed that Meghan had “ghosted” everyone in their family.

The couple officially stepped back on 1 April 2020, and have since relocated from London to Santa Barbara, California and signed several major deals that indicate what their next moves might be.

For example, in December, they launched a podcast with Spotify.

The podcast – released from the couple’s newly formed Archewell Audio production company – focused on positive life lessons and acts of kindness amid the pandemic.

The couple’s toddler son Archie also made a guest appearance, marking the first time royal fans have heard him speak.

They have also signed a big deal with Netflix, with the couple set to make a wide variety of programming under deal with streaming giant. Here’s what we know so far.

Unearthed footage shows the moment the Queen offered to share a blanket with Meghan Markle after their first joint engagement together.

Meghan talked about the “kind gesture” in her interview with Oprah Winfrey, explaining how she had always been fond of the monarch.

The clip, filmed by 56-year-old Eileen Owens, who was watching the royals from a pub owned by her husband, shows the intimate moment as the pair travelled between locations in Cheshire in June 2018 – a month after Meghan and Harry’s wedding.

Ms Owens told the Daily Mail on Wednesday she had not realised the significance of the moment until she watched the Sussexes interview with Mrs Winfrey on Monday night, along with 11.4 million other UK residents.

“At the time it just seemed like a sweet gesture – it seemed like they were quite close,” she told the newspaper. “The two seemed to be chatting and getting on quite well and the Queen really seemed to like Meghan.”

Ms Owens and her husband, Leslie, said they were watching the interview when they realised Meghan was describing a moment they had witnessed first-hand – and had footage of.

In the clip, the Queen is seen placing a blue blanket across her knees before gesturing to Meghan, who then tucks it across her own legs. Ms Owens can be heard reacting to the moment.

They had gone on an overnight rail trip to the northern county to attend a ceremony for the opening of the new Mersey Gateway Bridge.

From impersonating Asian accents to speaking over almost every guest he interviewed, here are some of Piers Morgan’s most controversial moments on ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

Following the tell-all interview between Oprah and Meghan Markle, questions have arisen as to how the pair actually met.

We all remember seeing that photograph of Oprah at the royal wedding in May 2018, but it has been reported that the TV juggernaut had only met the former actress once prior to being invited to the wedding.

In the interview, Oprah recalled how she spoke to Meghan on the phone beforehand to ask for an interview. She also thanked the Duchess for inviting her to the wedding.

Meghan said: “I remember that conversation very well. I wasn’t even allowed to have that conversation with you personally, right. There had to be people from the comp [inaudible] sitting there.”

Winfrey asked: “There were other people in the room when I was having that conversation?”

Meghan replied: “Yeah, even on that call.”

A Tory MP has suggested a statue should be erected for the Queen as she gets through this “tough time”, following the explosive interview between her grandson, Meghan Markle and Oprah Winfrey.

Sir David Amess expressed support for the Queen, who he called a “great monarch”.

Speaking during a Commons debate on the UK culture sector, Sir David said: “Her Majesty the Queen is having a tough time at the moment. She’s served her country so well for 70 years and a statue would be a fitting tribute to a great monarch.”

He added: “Her grace, compassion and dedication to duty during her reign has made this country the envy of the world. Thank goodness we have a monarch rather than a president.”

A shout of “Hear! Hear!” could be heard in the Commons at this point.

Meghan Markle’s close friend Janina Gavankar has claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have “many emails and texts” to support the claims made during their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Among other revelations, Meghan and Harry said that comments were made within the palace about the colour of their son Archie’s skin colour and that palace staff ignored her pleas for help when she was struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Speaking with Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on ITV’s This Morning, she said: “The truth will come out, there are plenty of emails and texts about that.”

Joanna Whitehead reports:

Many celebrities have spoken out in support of Harry and Meghan since the bombshell Oprah interview aired.

But the latest A-lister to speak out has got people talking. It is none other than Beyoncé, who shared a picture of her and Meghan meeting at the 2019 European premiere of The Lion King in a front page post on her website.

“Thank you Meghan for your courage and leadership,” the singer wrote. “We are all strengthened and inspired by you.”