It comes after Prince Harry, in his memoir Spare, alleged that Suits’ writers had grown increasingly “frustrated” with the “palace communications” team “advising” on changes to Meghan’s lines.
Now Aaron Korsh, who created the show that the Duchess of Sussex appeared in for seven seasons, has claimed they were asked to remove an innocent word – because they feared it could be edited to sound rude.
What was the word that the royals did not want to hear Meghan say in Drama?
Showrunner Korst said: “They didn’t want to put the word ‘poppycock’ in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘****’.
However, Korsh ultimately changed the line so that it did include a swear word. He explained that while he had ‘some sympathy’ for the situation because he ‘wouldn’t want someone do that to her either,’ he said was not happy about having to make the change.
And so he says he ultimately changed ‘poppycock’ to ‘bull****.’ Korst made the claim during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he revealed how things changed on set after Meghan started dating Harry.
“[The royal family] weighed in on some stuff. Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn’t do, and it was a little irritating,” said Korst.
When pressed, Korst said that he “didn’t know” how the royal family “got the scripts”.
“I was aware that they were reading them because I got the feedback, but I don’t remember the process by which they got them,” said Korst. Nor could he remember who the royal family had contacted on the show to request the change.
“‘I can’t remember. It might have been the directing producer at the time, or her agent,” said Korst.
‘Whoever it was, they didn’t like having to tell me any more than I liked having to hear it. When you’re making and running a show, any time that anybody tells you that you can’t do what you want to do, [being irritated is] your initial reaction.”‘
Korst explained that the change was particularly galling, because the word ‘poppycock’ had some special significance for his family. He said: “‘My wife’s family, when they have a topic to discuss that might be sensitive, they use the word ‘poppycock’.
“‘As a nod to my in-laws, we were going to have [Meghan’s character] say ‘poppycock’. And the royal family did not want her saying the word. They didn’t want to put the word “poppycock” in her mouth. I presume because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘***’.
“‘I did not like it because I’d told my in-laws that [poppycock] was going to be in the show,” he added. Regarding palace interference, Korst said there were “maybe one or two more things, but I can’t remember”.
The Mail Online reports that Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Korst’s claims. However, in his book Spare, Harry claimed that the palace interference had made Meghan’s position “untenable”.
Harry wrote: “Meg packed up her house and gave up her role in Suits after seven seasons. [It was] a difficult moment for her because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew, and loved Canada.
“On the other hand, life there had become untenable, especially on set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act.”
‘Meg packed up her house and gave up her role in Suits after seven seasons. [It was] a difficult moment for her because she loved that show, loved the character she was playing, loved her cast and crew, and loved Canada,’ Harry wrote.
‘On the other hand, life there had become untenable, especially on set. The show writers were frustrated because they were often advised by the palace comms team to change lines of dialogue, what her character would do, how she would act.’
