It doesn’t surprise me that the British media has now claimed that the Duke of Edinburgh had strong feelings about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Sussexit. It does surprise me to hear that Philip was even told anything about their Oprah interview – considering how unwell he was, the story at the time was that no one was even bringing up the Oprah interview with Philip. But yes, he was a man of strong opinions and he wasn’t shy about telling people those opinions. What’s remarkable is how little energy there is (at the moment) to talking about Philip’s opinions on Prince William’s work-shy ways; the Queen’s insistence on traveling to Balmoral in the middle of a pandemic; Andrew’s friendship with the dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein; literally any other royal scandal. No, we’re supposed to believe that Philip’s only concern in his last years was the Sussex drama.
Prince Philip thought Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey was ‘madness’ and ‘no good would come of it’, it has emerged. He also regretted his grandson’s decision to quit royal duties and move to the US and said it was ‘not the right thing, either for the country or for themselves’. Ultimately, however, he accepted it and said: ‘It’s his life.’ Insights into Philip’s thoughts on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision and the deeply acrimonious fall-out as a result of it have been aired by his impeccably connected biographer, Gyles Brandreth in today’s Daily Mail. His account comes as royal sources reacted angrily to the suggestion the Duke of Edinburgh would have been ‘unbothered’ by recent events.
In his account, Mr Brandreth described Harry and Meghan’s plan to divide their time between the UK and North America in search of financial independence, while hoping to continue serving the Queen and the Commonwealth on their own terms, as ‘naive’. Mr Brandreth added: ‘The Duke of Edinburgh was equally sorry ‘that it should come to this’. Harry had only succeeded his grandfather as Captain General of the Royal Marines in 2017. Philip had done the job for 64 years. Harry had barely managed 30 months. The Duke of Edinburgh was not pleased, nor did he believe that Harry and Meghan were doing the right thing either for the country or for themselves.’
But Philip was sympathetic to Harry’s distrust of the media and supportive of his desire to ‘do his own thing in his own way’. ‘He said to me: ‘People have got to lead their lives as they think best’,’ Mr Brandreth said. ‘I know from someone close to him that he thought Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey was ‘madness’ and ‘no good would come of it’. I was not surprised because that is exactly how he described to me the personal TV interviews given by Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, back in the 1990s.’
There has been much criticism that the Sussexes insisted on their explosive interview going ahead last month despite Philip lying seriously ill in hospital. But Mr Brandreth said of this: ‘The fact that the Meghan and Harry interview was aired while Philip was in hospital did not trouble him. What did worry him was the couple’s preoccupation with their own problems and their willingness to talk about them in public. ‘Give TV interviews by all means,’ he said, ‘but don’t talk about yourself’. That was one of his rules. I know he shared it with his children. I imagine he shared it with his grandchildren, too.’
Ultimately, Philip loved Harry, admired him for his service career and thought him ‘a good man’.
While many hope that the death of Philip may serve to build bridges between Harry and his family, others are more pessimistic. One senior royal source said the situation might take ‘decades’ to resolve.
The way they talk about it, these sad people really believed Harry should stay in the UK just to work an honorary military patronage… one which he could have come back to do in the half-in half-out scenario Harry and Meghan suggested. Lord, these people. Anyway, I actually believe that Philip was fine with Harry pursuing his own life in America, but Phil was probably sad about how everything went down. The media needs to stop exploiting Philip’s death to criticize Harry though, especially since they’re not devoting any energy to Philip’s thoughts on the rest of the fam.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
One would think that that man was more worried about his son being accused of sexually abusing a trafficked minor, about his son’s shady dealing while representing British interest abroad and his shady friends. But sure! Lay it all at the feet of the grandson that married a black woman.
Well Philip really had very little choice in his day. He was a homeless (albeit royal) refugee who took turns to spend the holidays with different relatives so when he has the opportunity to marry the future queen of England he did. Harry had a choice and he chose to protect his family, earn and income and remove himself from the shackles of dependency in a country thousand of miles away from the madness.
I mean, I can see Philip thinking all of that. That seems like a very old school way to look at the whole situation, including the interview – no good will come of it, dont talk about yourselves, put the monarch first – but it also seems clear that he had no ill will towards Harry and Meghan and I imagine if he was even 5 years younger, he would have been proud of seeing Harry’s success as he makes his life outside the royal family.
ETA and honestly that should be the attitude of all the royals. “well we think it was naive for X reason and we wish he hadnt done the interview but oh well, its his life and we wish him nothing but the best.”
Same. I found it pretty mild and believable, really. Heck, I know lots of family members that have to “get over” a kid who chose not to work in the family business. It’s not just the RF that has this kind of expectation/disappointment/acceptance emotional path. On the interview, I don’t think he’s being very critical of H and M specifically. Seems like that’s just his view generally on interviews. It’s interesting that they had to acknowledge his sympathy regarding the press coverage though. I wonder how aware Philip was of William’s tabloid leaking against Harry?
I think the entire family knows that William, with the support of Duchess Karen, is at the center of all of this. I think the rest of the family don’t get it but it’s his life so whatever. I think it’s William who wants Harry punished, humiliated, and shunned. And for some reason he’s got them all by the balls and no one can tell him to sit down, stfu, mind his own business, and leave Harry alone.
@Nyro – I seriously think its because William threatens to walk away and in a much stronger way than Harry – i.e. removing himself from the line of succession. I dont think he would ever do it, but I think the threat is there.
Yeah, Philip was old school. He believed it’s the family’s duty to devote themselves to the monarchy. I’m sure on some level he didn’t agree with Harry’s decision to leave, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t love his grandson (or that Harry was wrong in reality).
That photo of TQ at Archie’s christening – the way she’s looking at him and holding her hands, its like she’s ready to either snatch him up or squish his little cheeks.
That is such a lovely picture, both the Queen and Prince Philip look genuinely happy and excited to meet Archie. I remember when that picture was released, Omid Scobie posted it with a personal note about how much that picture meant to him and to so many people in the UK who aren’t white – that it really did feel like the family was modernizing and finally reflecting someone like him. It makes me sad to think about what it meant for so many people and what has happened over the past two years.
(also its not his christening, I know you know that but you know some people are going to come for you lol.)
I was just thinking how delighted both the Queen and Philip look at meeting wee Archie. Neither of them are particularly good actors, so I think they genuinely had as good a relationship as they’re capable of with Harry and Meghan and Archie.
Look, it all sounds plausible. Philip was very old school and stoic. The epitome of stiff upper lip, keep calm and carry on. And probably a whole lot of repress all emotions in the name of duty.
It’s a new era and Harry’s way is the way the world is headed and what people need right now.
Those “stiff upper lip”, “do your duty and carry on” surely had ways to let off their steam in discrete ways. He seemingly really used up these opportunities to do his thing.
There wasn’t any social media to hound them, it was easier to make deals with newspapers which would stop the press and not print a damaging story. People also did not have cell phones with cameras while now everyone can be a reporter or a spy.
In that sense they could live an easier life.
Excellent point! Philip didn’t have to deal with the Internet and social media where stories can shoot around the world in minutes before any PR guru had time to kill or spin it.
Duplicate
I’ve been reading lots about the younger Philip and it seems he may have sown his royal oats near, far and wide. There was a lot of covering up of his many escapades and dalliances, so all this talk of keeping calm and carrying on was only for appearances.
The tabs and RRs are determined to make Philip’s death about Harry and Meghan. They need to get a grip.
They already have but the good thing is that once again, the BM are proving Harry and Meghan’s point.
How convenient that his thoughts have come out now that he is unable to correct them (not that they would have allowed him to). These people are shameless. Philip’s own child, Edward was allowed to do his own thing for a while. Surely, back,then would have been a good time to share those thoughts. I doubt that the retired Philip cared one bit about the going-ons at the palace. He requested retirement for a reason. He wanted away from all the machinations of the palace. He lived his remaining years in relative peace with his lady friend.
They know people have very short memories and they will lob anything and everything against Harry and Meghan. Those who hate them, hate them more but surprisingly I am seeing many more people vocalise their support for the Sssexes and I’ve even seen a lot of criticism of the constant coverage of Philip’s death.
These people don’t know Prince Philip at all. There’s an article of the Guardian that says he despised Rupert Murdoch’s papers. So for me he was absolutely supportive of Harry and it’s funny that the Mail is capping so hard for him. I can believe he wouldn’t have been a fan of Oprah interview but I think it’s an older generation thing to not talk about your feelings even if you’re hurting. And I doubt he was aware of it anyway.
Well Piss Moron with his own hand wrote an article a few years back about Philip refusing to shake his hand once he discovered he was a tabloid reporter. Philip did indeed hate the tabloids and was not scared to tell them so. Harry mentioned that he’s had lots of support from his grandfather and the queen after he left the UK.
I mean yeah, this makes sense. It’s very clear that the royals are conditioned to put the monarchy above all else, to push their personal issues aside and just deal with it, etc. I’m sure “we left because our mental health was suffering in a toxic environment” isn’t a good enough reasons to those who put their duty above everything, even their own happiness and the happiness of their loved ones. They don’t realize how unhealthy their mentality is.
Exactly. I said this further up too, but it wouldn’t exactly be surprising if Philip did disagree with Harry’s decision to walk a way . Philip came from a very different generation and had a very different mindset. Doesn’t mean Harry was wrong or that Philip didn’t love his grandson.
Did anyone ask him what he thought of Andrew’s interview? No I guess not.
Excellent point MegJ!! In regards to these so-called quotes from Prince Phillip, I find it highly unlikely that he suggested anything of the sort. Phillip would never speak publicly about the family matters, yet alone to someone who would twist it to their benefit. Also, Prince Phillip was still in the hospital when the interview aired and once he returned home, I find it highly unlikely that he actually watched the interview, yet alone talk about it. This guys quotes speaks as if Prince Phillip spoke to him after he came home from the hospital, which I find highly unlikely.
They make it sound like he left because he just couldn’t hack the job of an honorary military patronage. Not that he left because it was a toxic environment.
It sounds about right to me. He was a member of the “greatest generation” (WWII vets) and they tend to not like the laundry aired in public, good or bad. At least that’s how my grandfather was (WWII/Korea vet). What happened in the family stayed in the family, and man did he hate the idea of Twitter and Facebook! But my grandfather would shrug and say “it’s your life but I’m not going to comment publicly” (though in his case it was participating in a social media live feed lol). So this response is in the general thought process of that generation (this was the generation that couldn’t have Lucy and Desi share a bed remember).
When you look at the quotes, it doesn’t sound like Philip cared beyond the fact Harry was happy in the long run. It even says he felt the same way about Charles and Diana in the 90s, in that Harry and Meghan may wish 5 or 10 yrs down the road they hadn’t done the Oprah interview (which they might, doubt it, but you never know) and that was his only real concern.
Though based on what they’ve said about when Philip married into the family, he probably understood what was going on with Harry and Meghan better than anyone else. You have to wonder if the RR had the free reign in the 40s they have now and social media if Philip and Elizabeth would have been able to marry? As it was, it sounds like courtiers did everything in their power to make life difficult for Philip. The difference was he was a white male, so he didn’t have to deal with racist undertones and gaslighting. And if Bandreth and BBC Worldwide were worried we forgot, they pointed it out over and over that ‘technically’ Phillip was ‘more royal’ than even Elizabeth (as both of his parents were descended from royalty, whereas she was only royal on her father’s side), so he had that going for him.
For all of Philip’s faults, it’s clear he genuinely loved his children, grand children, and great grandchildren. That smile on his face with Archie is pure joy.
Gwendolyn, I think Philip was in a unique position to understand a great deal more than any other family member what H&M were going through. I suspect once he retired he pretty much thought, “you’re on your own”. And, I believe he did say that it was Harry’s life, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he wasn’t silently cheering for him. Philip for all of his sins, had a very constrictive life. Well, it was constrictive if you put aside all of his philandering, etc..
Philandering, etc is really all he was allowed to do, come to think of it. Good point
I doubt an old frail man was too concerned about what one of his 8 grand children is doing . I wonder whether he was even all there mentally . He was probably more annoyed about being forced to live at Windsor castle with Betty and her meddling courtiers and the decided bugger it ! This as good a time to make my exist from this world .
The problem is the tabloids and the ratchets have cast themselves as members of this family. That way, their feelings can be presented as the RFs feelings. They fancy themselves as gatekeepers of this tiny insular world, and this gives them the right to think they are royals by proxy. My guess is that Phillip hasn’t had a thought in 5 years beyond his next meal and his immediate comforts. I doubt he would recognize Meghan, or Louis, or the York husbands if he saw them without introduction.
One of the worlds wealthiest private families lives in thrall to Rupert Murdoch and the Daily Mail. I can imagine many people in the RF thinking Harry’s treatment is unfair, but they are all beholden to Will Duce and his tabloid flying monkeys. The tabloids get to create the narrative, and everybody just follows along. That seriously sucks. If I were given a chance to have fabulous wealth, but it came with British tabloid intrusion in my life, I would turn it down. No wonder so many British celebs live abroad.
That has been one the weirdest things I have learned about these so called royal “experts” and “journalists “ aka royal gossipers is that they just speculate and use their own personal feelings to sell stories to their gullible readers as inside information.
They seem so desperate to be recognised and acknowledged by the establishment and they will do anything to be admitted to that class including waging a hate campaign against someone they believe committed the the worst sin of leaving the top of the aristocratic food chain . A social class these royal bootlickers are so desperate to a part of .
I bet some would just about give anything to be Harry’s butler 😀
I honestly don’t believe he was coherent enough to even know the Oprah interview happened. I’m sure he had thoughts on Harry leaving and thoughts on William being lazy and Charles being weak but the media only cares about pushing this fucked up narrative.
Well, Phil was probably right – Harry and Meghan didn’t do “the right thing” for The Firm. It exposed a lot of things they’d have preferred remained unknown to the public. The sooner the rest of the family acknowledge the Sussexes did this for themselves and their own immediate family – and why – the sooner the rest of them can stop bitching and moaning and get on with their own lives. I still don’t understand why the Sussexes were demonised over their decision to leave Britain. Harry is never going to be king, but to be under the thumb of the one who is… yeah, I’d have legged it too.
What’s becoming more and more obvious is that these Duke of Edinburgh ‘experts’ don’t know a lot about the Duke. Of course he thought it was a bad idea. He’s an old man! He wouldn’t like radical change, especially since he spent more than 70 years of his life doing things he didn’t want to do. But it sounds like he wanted Harry and Meghan to be HAPPY above all else, which makes me like him more. And I can understand that he didn’t like the idea of the Oprah interview, IF he even knew about it. The Duke knew his family better than anybody; he’d spent his whole life trying to keep those assholes in line. He probably knew Baldilocks would tip the ‘incandescence’ meter and he was too old and sick to do anything about it.
That picture is wonderful. I agree with the commenter who said that the Queen and the Duke aren’t very good actors. They were DELIGHTED to meet Archie. The Queen looks like she can’t wait to hold him.
They did look genuinely tickled in that pic, just like proud great grandparents. I don’t deny that they probably have their biases and bigotries, but I also think that they were loving people (even if the queen wasn’t good at loving her children as should should have been).
Was Philip even that aware?
Not trying to be funny but when people get to that age and their health is poorly, they mostly just sleep a lot. The sleeping increases as they decline. Philip may not have thought the Sussexes were doing the right thing or Philip may have been given the Charles/William version of the story.
At any rate, out of Harry’s own mouth, he enjoyed a good relationship with his grandfather right up to the end and Meghan echoes that, so Philip couldn’t have been *that* mad at the Sussexes (and he might have been aware enough to know that William was at the bottom of everything).
As I suspected Philip did support Harry in his decision to leave. However, I don’t believe he knew about the interview.
I personally hope that before he died Phillip ordered Charles to rein in William and let Harry live in peace.
I feel that if Philip were younger and still in charge the situation would not have played out the way it did.
It would have been better if Philip went around Charles and told William off himself years ago. Apparently William’s tantrums have been happening for years.
I always thought, at the end of the day, even with all of his “gaffes”, Philip was a better person than Elizabeth. I’m sure she’s mellowed out as a very old woman over the last 15 years and leans into the sweet old granny thing in part because it plays well. But in her day? I think she was a lot like William. Not a sociopath like he clearly is, but definitely a spoiled, selfish, bitter bore of a human being. If she were 20 years younger and still up on her game, she’d be right there with William trying to ruin Harry.
And I’m certain Philip found her quite dull. The photos of his with his wife vs. the photos of him with his ” lady friend” are like night and day. Duty vs. Love.
As for Sussexit, he’s from another time completely so of course he wouldn’t be down with an interview discussing their personal turmoil but it’s clear that he didn’t resent them for going out and living their own lives.
Outside of this everything else was probably made up :
But Philip was sympathetic to Harry’s distrust of the media and supportive of his desire to ‘do his own thing in his own way’. ‘He said to me: ‘People have got to lead their lives as they think best’,’ Mr Brandreth said.
Philip knew who he wanted to marry and never looked back. Same with Harry. Both publicily devoted to their wives. Both veterens who didn’t want to leave the military but did so out of duty. I would say Harry is the closest to being a chip off the old block than anyone else in the rf.
If he didn’t consider H&M leaving as the right thing for the country, why didn’t he speak up? He could have used his influence with the Queen and stayed at Sandringham for their big “summit” and made the courtiers work out a plan to protect H&M and treat them decently. Instead he took a drive. Like all the royals this makes it seem he is better at talking a game than playing or somebody is putting words in a dead man’s mouth. And, if he shared his advice about not doing personal interviews with his children and grandchildren, none of them seem to have listened.
It’s the Daily Fail. They lie. I think they’re putting words in the mouth of a dead man who can no longer contradict them.