Princess Adeline, Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Oprah with Meghan and Harry

7th of March 2021 - York House, London

"Are you sure you want to watch this?" Simon asked sitting beside his wife, the family having only recently returned to their main London residence with everything that was going on with Philip and his declining health. 

There was no escaping what was coming, it was clear that the end was coming even if no one wanted to admit it; the Duke of Edinburgh's health was failing him and he would be lucky to reach 100 years old. 

"I need to know what is said," Adeline whispered knowing that she wouldn't force Simon to watch with her, she needed to see this for herself before it was plastered all over the papers the next morning. 

There was no escape, there was no hiding from the attack that was about to come from her every own brother and she could only imagine how he would paint them in all of this. 

Simon nodded his head and sat down beside Adeline, he would not let her go through this alone; it had only been a matter of time, something that the entire family had been certain of since the talk show host had become involved with the Sussexes when Harry and Meghan had gotten engaged. 

Even with Prince Philip's continued ill health, there was no escaping the tell all interview that appeared around the world; Oprah's introduction to the interview was unforgiving as expected. 

In the peaceful setting of an enormous, sun-drenched garden Meghan sat on wooden furniture seemingly relaxed; perfectly made-up, adopting the pose of a harmless, defenceless soul. 

Oprah's opening comments set the tone that would undercut the entire interview and left no doubts about what was about to happen; Meghan and Harry were the victims here. 

Meghan, Oprah noted, had been the target of 'constant criticism [and] blatant sexist and racists remarks by the British media; as she spoke the apparently racist headlines from the British newspapers.

Here they planted the sad story that Meghan was a naïve American, who without 'a plan' fell in love with a prince who she knew nothing about; that before a blind date, she hadn't even googled Harry. 

Meghan likened herself to Disney's Little Mermaid who lost her voice after falling in love with an unknown prince; her innocence compounded by her ignorance about the consequences of marrying Harry. 

That she didn't do any research about what that would mean, she 'honestly' thought that the Firm would look after her interests and she had never thought of profiting from her royal connections.

Speaking with dramatic pauses, her kohl-lined, long-lashed, dancing eyes emphasised the sheer emotional toll she was reliving as she recounted to Oprah what she had been through. 

Her first culprit was the media for creating a 'false narrative', she denied reading newspaper s but was still horrified and she swore that she never raised the issue of privacy. 

The bigoted media had created a toxic environment of control and fear that had fuelled her collapse into suicidal thoughts, which climaxed on the day they were due to star at the Royal Albert Hall. 

Simon scoffed at the thought, if things had gotten so bad why was this the first time they were hearing about it; why hadn't Harry put his own wife in touch with a therapist. 

The man had been in and out of therapy for years, surely he would have been able to ask for a referral for his own wife. 

However cracks started to show when neither Harry nor Meghan could agree on the story that they seemed to be telling, giving conflicting accounts of the whole event. 

Neither of them could explain why Meghan had sort help from an unqualified Palace official rather than an experienced medical specialist. 

There were no follow up questions from Oprah, the woman spending her time torn between looking shocked and gasping at what the pair had to say.