Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview revelations could trigger ‘Palace PR war’
The i
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey could trigger “the start of a PR war”, public relations experts have warned. But it’s a battle Buckingham Palace is ill-equipped to win.
Accusations of racism and a lack of care over the Duchesses’ mental health struggles, sure to resonate with the couple’s target audience of young, liberal, progressive Americans, are toxic for the monarchy.
Meghan and Harry painted the institution as archaic and hostile to newcomers who look different and propose modern ways of using the royals’ “soft power.”
“The Palace is in a very difficult position,” said PR consultant Mark Borkowski. “They can’t respond publicly, but there will be private briefings.”
“They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They don’t have the freedom Meghan and Harry have in North America.”
Courtiers wanted to assess the damage before issuing a response. If individual royals were attacked, they could issue rebuttals. Prince Charles in particular will be deeply hurt by the claim that he “cut off” his son financially.
The pre-broadcast plan was to demonstrate, by the Queen and other senior figures’ busy programme of events this week, that “duty and service” is more valuable than a Hollywood megaphone.
Unnamed courtiers will present an alternative narrative, of how the royal household bent over backwards to welcome Meghan but found her impossible to satisfy and determined to impose a narrative of “victimhood”, leaping on every perceived slight.
Identifying the royal who allegedly said the couple’s child would be “too brown” and that would be a problem, is a threat the Sussexes now hold over the Palace if the fightback gets even dirtier.
Borkowski said: “Some of the accusations and some of the deeply personal insights into living inside a royal household will be judged, particularly by an American audience who are watching on primetime, as pretty shocking.”
“It certainly is their (the Sussexes) opportunity to give their side of the story, it’s depending on what is the counter view of that – we’ve already seen bullying accusations, this could be the start of a PR war.”
“Or it could be a moment for everybody to draw a line in the sand and start talking and trying to heal some wounds here, because the wounds are very deep.”
The healing appears a long way off.
https://inews.co.uk/news/media/harry-and-meghan-interview-oprah-uk-pr-war-903006