PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle’s new interview may have shown how the couple have no plans to “mend that rift” with the Royal family, an expert says.
Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun that parts of the Sussexes interview on the CBS Sunday Morning show could “undoubtedly damage the institution” by reopening old wounds.
The couple rolled out The Parents Network – a new project that connects families who have lost children to suicide after being victims of cyberbullying – in the interview with Jane Pauley.
During the chat Meghan said she hopes “being open” about her own suicidal thoughts and “online bullying” can “save others”.
The couple also reflected on their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 in which Meghan first revealed her mental health struggles.
She told the US host she “couldn’t be left alone” and “didn’t want to be alive anymore'”.
Before making a huge claim that the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her pleas for help.
Oprah’s interview was played before the camera cut back to the Duke and Duchess with royal commentator Fitzwilliams saying the decision to include it may be a clear sign of the Sussexes axing ties.
He explained how the Oprah interview “was like a placing a nuclear bomb in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace” when it came out.
If you want a relationship of any sort and you give interviews of this sort that bring up memories that will undoubtedly damage the institution, clearly you won’t get it
Richard Fitzwilliams
And that highlighting the concerning claims once again may only cause a larger rift with the Royals.
Fitzwilliams told The Sun: “The way they are using a clip from an interview which did so much harm to the royal family.
“I don’t believe that at a time like this, with King Charles and the Princess of Wales seriously ill, the Sussexes should bring in matters which deal with or are linked to their rift with the royal family.
“What Meghan said in the CBS interview about the issues and her mental health and the fact that she felt suicidal is a very very serious charge to lay against the royal family.
“If you want a relationship of any sort and you give interviews of this sort that bring up memories that will undoubtedly damage the institution, clearly you won’t get it.
“It doesn’t look like either of them want to bridge that gap or mend that rift.”
It comes just weeks after former royal butler Paul Burrell claimed Prince William is keeping Princess Kate and his family “well away from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry”.
Paul, who worked for the Royal Family for 21 years, claimed that there currently is “no way in” for the Sussexes to make peace with the Wales family.
Harry has previously slammed the royal family in his bombshell Spare memoir where he claimed William ‘attacked’ him in a row over Meghan.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also spilled details about the royal family in their Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary.
Meghan and Harry were said to be surprised when the topic of suicide came up in the interview with them not expecting to be referencing the 2021 interview.
The royal expert added: “I cannot fault the message, and I certainly can’t make a comment about the state or otherwise of Megan’s mental health whilst she was a senior working royal.
“Other than to say that it is a tragedy that when they were senior working royals it went so disastrously wrong.”
Despite the concerns over the impact of the chat, Fitzwilliams was full of praise for the new project the couple launched.
He said: “The Parents Network is absolutely to be welcomed. There’s no doubt that this is a very important issue, and especially in our time.
“And, as Harry was saying in the past years you didn’t have to worry about this now.
“It’s the age of social media. Everyone has their mobiles, and you know that harm can result.
“I mean, there’s no doubt at all. That aspect of it, I think, is very significant, and obviously it’s to be welcomed.”
The project will see the parents group meet mainly online to help support parents who have lost children to suicide and online harm.
Harry and Meghan called for an urgent change to “keep our children safe” on social media in February this year.
The Sussexes had heard the “heartache” of parents amid the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing regarding online child safety.
The parents-of-two said that even the “best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms”.
In a statement on their Archewell website, the couple said the issue transcended division and party lines and this is “not the time to pass the buck of responsibility”.
Meghan was also seen beaming as she spoke about her children Archie, five, and three-year-old Lilibet.
I don’t believe that at a time like this, with King Charles and the Princess of Wales seriously ill, the Sussexes should bring in matters which deal with or are linked to their rift with the royal family.
Richard Fitzwilliams
The proud mum-of-two said: “Our kids are young, they’re three and five, they’re amazing.
“But all you want to do as parents is protect them.
“And so as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there and we’re just happy to be able to be a part of change for good.”
Jane Pauley highlighted how when children ask for help, people hope there is someone who can provide it.
Harry responded: “If you know how to help… At this point we’ve got to the stage where almost every parent needs to be a first responder.
“Even the best first responders in the world wouldn’t be able to tell the signs of possible suicide.
“That is the terrifying piece of this.”
It comes as body language expert Judi James told The Sun Meghan looked “bleak” throughout the interview with her trying to get reassurance from an anxious Harry.
The prince looked wary and anxious as he next to his wife, the top body language expert claimed.
THE first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan, in his memoir.
In Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.
In May he visited the UK for a three-day visit without seeing King Charles or Prince William.
