Seen from across the pond, it was just surreal – sixth in line for the British throne in an all-encompassing interview with Oprah Winfrey, even showing off his hens as pets. His wife related how royal life prompted her to consider suicide, claiming that at least one member of the royal family had expressed “ concern ” about the color of their son’s skin.
But another revelation received less attention: Harry’s claim that his family fears the powerful British tabloids. He described to Winfrey “what is called, or referred to, the ‘invisible contract’ behind closed doors, between the institution and the tabloids, British tabloids.”
How come? “Well, to keep it simple, it’s a case of, if you’re a family member willing to drink, dine, and give full access to these reporters, you get better press,” he said. “It’s really a fall environment.”
Tabloid newspapers dominate public life in Britain, shaping public opinion and giving their owners a breathtaking influence.
“When the gossip magazines decide your time has come, your toast is,” said James O’Brien, a talk show host who likes to get under the skin of the British establishment.
Correspondent Holly Williams asked, “How powerful are the British tabloid newspapers?”
“Their strength is almost absolute,” O’Brien replied. They place prime ministers at the height of power. And they run the mother of all popularity contests. ‘
“Are they politically king-makers?”
“Wow, without a doubt.”
The tabloids love the royal family because their glamor and their scandals sell newspapers – and the royal family needs positive coverage to justify its existence, paid in part by the British taxpayer.
O’Brien said, “They’re birds in a gilded cage, and if they make the tabloids an enemy, the tabloids don’t stop writing about it, they just stop writing the good stuff.”
All royals face criticism of the tabloids and sometimes intimidation. Even the Queen was accused of not showing enough compassion after Princess Diana’s death. But there was a racial element to the coverage of the Duchess of Sussex, some of it blatant.
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“I accept that the setting would have been foreign to her,” said Kelvin MacKenzie, who was the editor of one of Britain’s best-selling gossip magazines, The Sun. He said it wasn’t the race but Meghan’s behavior that made her unpopular. For starters, he told Williams, the royals should be apolitical, and she was too cocky.
He said, “I think we’ve now reached a point where people don’t really want to read good news about Meghan.”
“So she’s so unpopular that the tabloids know people just want to hear negative things about her?” Williams asked.
“They just want bad news.”
“And so they give it to the public?”
“Give it to them, yes.”
Others here believe that, knowingly or not, the British tabloids – and parts of the British establishment – could not accept a biracial American as the pinnacle of the British class system.
Dawn Butler, a Member of Parliament, said of the tabloids: “I think they have shown their true nature. They have shown bias, and they have shown that they are racist in their coverage, we know that. “
Williams asked, “Why did they go after her?”
“Because they can,” she replied. “The tabloid press is hunting us all.”
Butler told us that she herself was bullied by the tabloids. Most troubling, she said, is Meghan’s claim that the palace failed to defend her when false stories were printed, including that she made her sister-in-law Kate cry.
Butler said, “Was the relationship between the two institutions so close that instead of telling the truth, they decided to perpetuate a lie?”
The Duchess now admits that when she married her fairytale prince, she did not understand the institution she married, or the complicated connection to the gossip media.
According to James O’Brien: “You are supposed to know your place. People who refuse to acknowledge their place, [or] they don’t know their place, I think that’s a bit like painting a target on your back. “
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Story produced by Erin Lyall. Editor: Mark Ludlow.