Royal TV: Who will win the telly title fight?
As Harry gets frank with James Corden, prepare for next weekend's TV battle with Oprah on one side and the Queen and Commonwealth on the other...
It’s the TV title fight of the year and next weekend’s interview-off between Californian royalty Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and The Queen and Commonwealth Co, is shaping up nicely, Kerry reports in the Saturday Telegraph.
Next weekend sees the much-publicised airing of Oprah’s tell-all chat with Meghan and Harry, where, it’s touted, nothing is barred. According to reports, Oprah reckons it’s the best interview she has ever done. The programme is scheduled to run on CBS in the USA, Sunday March 7.
And if Harry’s chat with James Corden this week is anything to go by, the pair won’t hold back. Harry told James he left the Royal Family because “it was destroying his mental health.”
“I was like, this is toxic. So I did what any husband and what any father would do,” he said. He also revealed he was more comfortable with The Crown “than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife or myself,” and he’d like Damien Lewis to play him. In the fun and open segment, Harry was candid about Archie, revealed the Queen sent them a waffle maker for Christmas and Meghan calls him ‘Haz’.
The interview immediately hit headlines all around the world - even eclipsing the Queen’s video urging people to get the Covid vaccination. But it’s all just a warm-up for next weekend. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Commonwealth Crew, aka the Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will appear in the BBC special A Celebration For Commonwealth Day also on March 7. The programme should air before Oprah and will feature a message from the Queen, with other Royal Family members talking to people from the 54 nations of the Commonwealth.
It’s all the more poignant, because Harry and Meghan had been seen as central to the future of the Commonwealth, particularly with their appeal to younger people. Until last week they were the president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and Meghan was patron of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
However, having gained their financial and emotional independence, the couple will now watch the remaining members of the family continue their role, while they concentrate on their Archewell initiatives, such as their £18 million Spotify deal.
Last year’s Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey was Harry and Meghan’s final public engagement and Oprah’s interview is timed to be one year on from this; but in doing so, also highlights the work Harry’s relatives have picked up after he left.
“My life is always going to be about public service, and Meghan signed up to that, and the two of us enjoy doing that,” Harry said.
Waffle on like Archie with these wonder gadgets
Waffle makers are selling out like hot cakes hours after Harry told James Corden about Archie waking up every morning with the adorable call to action: “Waffles!” The 21-month-old has made us (and the rest of the world) re-evaluate breakfast/brunch options. Let’s get waffling with our pick of the high street. Snap them up fast:
* Breville DuraCeramic Waffle Maker, £34, ao.com. Add jam and cream, like Harry.
* Sage The No Mess Waffle Maker, £99.99, Argos. Seven settings = waffle heaven.
* Smart Waffle Bowl Maker, £39.99, Harrods. Makes waffle bowls. Mind blown.
FYI: this is not a deep dive into the wonderful world of waffling, but there are basically Belgian and classic waffle makers. Belgian are usually round versus square deep plates and make thick fluffy waffles. Classic have thinner plates, making thin crispy ones.
Royal baby buddies
Princess Eugenie is going to have a VIP baby buddy for play dates, as her good friend Ellie Goulding revealed she is seven months pregnant. The pair have long been best mates, with Eugenie reportedly introducing her to husband Caspar Jopling. There’s nothing better than a ready-made mother’s club.
She’ll also be able to get plenty of family support as Catherine will be on hand to share tips and maybe hand-me-downs. Catherine and Zara have long formed a close mummy bond, with the children regularly catching up for polo play dates.
Diana also had a close circle of mummy mates, including former MD of Tiffany, Rosa Monckton. When Rosa was pregnant, Diana did a dash around Mothercare and personally bought all her supplies. She was godmother to Rosa’s daughter Domenica, who has Down’s Syndrome. “She taught me that communication doesn’t require language and that I should love my daughter for what she is, not what she might have been,” said Rosa.
Fun fact: The islanders who worship Prince Philip as a god
We think Philip’s a legend but in the South Pacific’s Vanuatu he’s basically a deity. The villagers of Yaohnanen, on Tanna island, believe the Duke is the embodiment of an ancient mountain spirit, born of a volcano. Their prophecy says this white man then travelled thousands of miles to marry a queen.
After the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited Vanuatu in 1974, the tribe’s chief sent a traditional club to Buckingham Palace. When the Prince sent the villagers a photograph posing with the club, his holy status was sealed. In 2007, he met five Tanna men at Windsor. For any unbelievers out there, the chief once said, ‘They’ve been waiting 2,000 years for a sign from Jesus. But our Philip sends us photographs!’