Another weekend, another round of the UK media chewing over the entrails of the fragmented relationship between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the rest of the British Royal Family.
This time, it is an extract from a book freshly updated by well connected Times journalist Valentine Low, Courtiers: The Hidden Power behind the Crown. In it, he details the Royal Family’s reaction to Harry and Meghan’s sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, when the couple made allegations of racism within the family.
Low writes that a palace team were tasked with watching the show go out in America overnight, and a response considered – while a public reaction was delayed while the Queen waited to watch the programme on the Monday evening.
He adds that it was William and Kate, now Prince and Princess of Wales, who sought to “toughen up” the statement, and cited an insider revealing, “They were both of one mind that we needed something that said that the institution did not accept a lot of what had been said.”
“He (William) said, ‘It is really important that you guys come up with the right way of making sure that we are saying that this does not stand.’ She was certainly right behind him on it.”
According to the book, “It was Kate who clearly made the point, ‘History will judge this statement and unless this phrase or a phrase like it is included, everything that they have said will be taken as true.’ ”
Hence the now famous phrase “recollections may vary” was included in the Queen’s public response, a pithy bon mot accredited by two sources to Jean-Christophe Gray, William’s aide who, at the time, had only been in position a few weeks.
During his publicity rounds for his memoir Spare, Harry said he had never accused the Royal Family of racism, that his words had been misinterpreted by the British press.