The Duke and Duchess of Sussex fail to see British society is no longer deferential, a commentator has claimed. Sean O’Grady, Associate Editor at the Independent, also writes in an op-ed that neither Harry nor Meghan understand how the media works.
Mr O’Grady’s comments come ahead of the publication of the Duke of Sussex’s memoir Spare, which hits the shelves on January 10.
It also comes after broadcasters CBS and ITV released trailers of bombshell interviews with the Duke. In a series of clips, Harry tells ITV presenter Tom Bradby of leaking and planting of stories in the press as well as his wish for a family “not an institution”.
Mr O’Grady claims in his op-ed that while Harry and Meghan know what the media is capable of, they do not understand how it works.
He concedes the Sussexes were subjected to “snobby” and “racist” commentary after a brief honeymoon when Meghan was lauded as a symbol of a modernised House of Windsor.
“[As] with the Leavers and Brexit, Harry and Meghan are suffering a bad case of cakeism. Unfortunately, it is incurable.”
Filmed in California where the Duke now lives, ITV said Harry: The Interview will go into “unprecedented depth and detail” about his life in and outside of the Royal Family.
Mr Bradby, a former royal correspondent and a current presenter of ITV News at Ten, is a friend of the Sussexes and previously interviewed them for a documentary about their 2019 Africa tour.
Meanwhile, Harry has spoken of “betrayal” by Buckingham Palace while speaking on CBS’s 60 Minutes programme.
In a one-minute extract, Harry says: “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
“The family motto is ‘never complain, never explain’, but it’s just a motto.
“They (Buckingham Palace) will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
“But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
“So when we’re being told for the last six years, ‘We can’t put a statement out to protect you’, but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”
In another brief clip released on Monday, when asked whether he could see himself returning as a full-time member of the Royal Family, Harry said: “No”.
CBS has described the full interview as “revealing” and Harry’s book as “explosive”.
It comes after the Duke claimed in his Netflix documentary William broke a promise to him never to leak stories or brief against one another after witnessing the fallout of such actions in their father’s office.
