Meghan Markle‘s wedding engagement interview with the BBC journalist Mishal Husain should have flagged concerns given her allegedly “insincere” responses, a former Royal Household source has been quoted as claiming. Ms Husain sat down with Prince Harry and Meghan to mark the announcement the pair would wed in 2017.
The Duchess of Sussex later dismissed the interview as an “orchestrated reality show” in a claim made in her Netflix docu-series, Harry & Meghan, which first aired in 2022. The BBC reportedly rejected the claim at the time.
Richard Eden, writing in the Daily Mail, said he had spoken to sources who worked at the Palace when Ms Husain interviewed Harry and Meghan. They reportedly told him the Duchess’s “performance” should have raised concerns more.
One source claimed there was so much excitement about Harry and Meghan’s engagement no one really questioned the Duchess’s comments.
They added: “If you watch it again now, some of her responses seem insincere and her body language is telling.”
A royal source also told the Daily Mail diarist Meghan had complained Ms Husain wasn’t “empathetic” or “warm” enough to do the interview.
The criticism comes after Ms Husain, writing in August’s edition of Saga magazine, said she didn’t know what to make of Meghan’s Netflix comment, adding there was no hint of the difficulties which would follow in relation to the Sussexes’ exit from royal life.
In the same Netflix series, Harry claimed royal correspondents were “essentially an extended PR arm of the Royal Family”. He claimed this was a result of an agreement which has applied for more than three decades.
Mr Eden noted how compared with engagement interviews with Diana, Princess of Wales, and Princess Kate, Meghan seemed more confident in the BBC sit down with Ms Husain, suggesting the Duchess’s body language made her appear as the “dominant half of the partnership”.
He also pointed out possible discrepancies in the couple’s story, including Meghan telling Ms Husain she met Prince Harry on a blind date, whereas the Duke said the pair met over Instagram. It is of course still feasible Meghan might not have known the identity of the man she went to meet on the date but still connected with Harry on the picture-sharing app.
Another possible anomaly relates to Meghan telling Ms Husain she knew little about Harry before they met, despite the fact she had been photographed outside Buckingham Palace during a visit to London in her teens with pal, Ninaki Priddy.
Pridi is said to have remarked of Meghan’s getting married to Harry: “I’m not shocked at all. It’s like she has been planning this all her life.”
Ms Husain hit back in response to Meghan’s Netflix claim at the time: “We know recollections may vary on this particular subject.”
It echoed a phrase used by the late Queen who said “recollections may vary” in a statement after Harry and Meghan levelled a series of allegations against the Windsors during an interview by Oprah Winfrey.
