The Duchess of Sussex’s decision to postpone the release of her highly anticipated Netflix cooking show With Love, Meghan due to the devastation caused by wildfires in her home state of California has been praised by her fans.
One of her favorite publications, People, reported that Meghan “didn’t think twice” about delaying the eight-part series until March.
“I don’t think she could imagine launching a show that focuses on fun and hosting when so many people in her home state no longer have homes to host people in,” an insider sympathetically told the American magazine.
However, her decision has led to some bitter comments from people connected to the royal family, I can reveal.
A friend of the royal family pointed out to me this week that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex allowed their impressive interview with Oprah Winfrey to air in 2021, even though Prince Philip was seriously ill in hospital. Four weeks later, Prince Harry’s grandfather died.
“Meghan apparently didn’t think twice about going through with the Oprah interview, right?” said the royal source.
Meghan “didn’t think twice” about postponing the eight-part series until March, People reported
Meghan hugs a victim of last week’s California wildfires as Harry looks on
Let’s not forget how deeply the interview with the American chat show queen must have hurt the royal family.
Meghan’s lurid allegations, including claims that the Princess of Wales had made her cry and that unnamed senior royals had raised concerns about her baby’s skin color, would undoubtedly have hurt Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth.
Some courtiers even wonder whether the postponement of her cooking program is a commercial matter.
“Would people really want to watch a glossy TV show about someone’s lavish lifestyle when thousands of Americans have seen their homes and lives destroyed?” a figure with connections to the royal family asked me this week.
The question is whether the postponement until March will make much difference to interest in such a program. Three months from now, thousands of people will still be homeless.
And the Oprah interview wasn’t the only project that the Sussexes knew would hurt Harry’s family but went ahead with it anyway.
They filmed their Netflix docu-series, or reality show, Harry & Meghan in 2022, when Queen Elizabeth’s health was rapidly declining.
That six-part programme, broadcast in December – two months after the queen’s death – soured relations with the royal family by accusing them of ‘leaking’ and ‘planting’ stories in the media. Some even felt that Meghan was demonstrating that the extravagant bow she made to the late queen had the effect of mocking her. The Queen had died two months before the broadcast aired.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had their impressive interview with Oprah Winfrey broadcast in 2021, even though Prince Philip was seriously ill in hospital
Meghan with the Queen in 2018. Most disrespectful to the late monarch were the parts of the program devoted to belittling the Commonwealth, the organization close to her heart.
Since then, two books have reported that the queen suffered from bone cancer a year before her death. It is not clear whether the Sussexes knew this, but they would have been well aware that she was becoming increasingly vulnerable. Yet they recorded the hurtful series anyway.
Most disrespectful to the Queen were the parts of the program devoted to denigrating the Commonwealth, the organization close to her heart.
There had, of course, been no complaints from Harry or Meghan when the Queen had given them roles promoting the Commonwealth while they were still part of ‘The Firm’.
Harry also didn’t think twice about writing his tawdry memoir while his grandmother’s health was failing.
Thank God that it was published only four months after the Queen’s death, so that she did not have to read about his betrayal in private conversations and the vilification of her loved ones.
It’s not hard to see why some close to the royal family would treat Meghan’s concern for the feelings of others with deep skepticism.
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