Holly Willoughby stepped in to support Meghan Markle, as she and husband Prince Harry were said to have “leaked” conversations with the royals to a US TV host – as This Morning viewers called for the show “to stop talking about” the royal couple.
The host stepped in after her co-host Phillip Schofield and the show guests questioned whether Meghan and Harry had permitted for the comments to be said on TV, or not – and whether they should have allowed it to be said.
Phillip suggested there was a feeling in the country of Meghan and Harry “stabbing a knife to the heart of the monarchy”, while it wasn’t clear whether this was something he thought himself.
Meghan’s friend Gayle King revealed this week to CBS breakfast show The Morning that talks between Harry, William and Charles had occurred, but had been “unproductive”.
While Meghan and Harry did not say this themselves on the show, Gayle said it on air after speaking to them.
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The “leaking” of this private conversation has sparked backlash, after the royals recently commented that they would be investigating recent allegations made by Harry and Meghan behind closed doors.
The couple spoke out in an interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this month, with Meghan and Harry addressing topics of racism and mental health.
Since then, reactions from the couple and the family have been minimal, other than that things were being looked into behind closed doors by the family.
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That was until Gayle revealed she had checked in on the couple after the interview, before sharing the comments about Harry’s chat with his brother and father.
She said: “I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling and it’s true Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.
“The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive but they are glad that they have at least started a conversation.”
Speaking on This Morning today, Holly and co-host Phillip discussed the “leak” and its impact with guests Beverley Turner and Gyles Brandreth.
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Phillip questioned: “Either this is the most indiscreet friend on the planet, or she has been told by them she can go on American TV and brief against the royal family and British press once more.”
Beverley said: ” Meghan Markle has a track record of doing this and talking to friends. One of her big drivers is, ‘I want everyone to say nice things about me all the time’.
“That was her main complaint to the family when she talks about, ‘I want you to protect me. Protect me from people saying mean things about me in the press’.”
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She added: “It feels like she can’t resist getting these messages out there. It must be incredibly frustrating for the Royal Family who have said they want to deal with this behind closed doors.”
Phil then asked: “The thing is there has been an enormous amount of sympathy over the race issue and the mental health issue, but looking at the polls that are being had at the moment, that sympathy seems ebbing away quite quickly.
“Isn’t there this feeling of you’ve made your point, essentially shut up now and get on with your quiet American life. You’ve stabbed a knife through the heart of the monarchy, obviously these were things they felt needed to be highlighted, fair enough, but stop now.”
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Holly clearly didn’t agree judging by her face, and she tried to interrupt saying: “But don’t you think…”
When she got to have her say, she questioned if actually Meghan had spoken to Gayle about the situation as it wasn’t a situation she thought should be kept behind closed doors.
She said: “I wonder whether it was because Beverley, she feels that these aren’t issues that should be dealt with behind closed doors.”
Meanwhile, viewers of the show hit out at the segment on Twitter with one saying: “MY GOD WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT HARRY AND MEGHAN.”
Another wrote: “idk who Beverley is but Meghan didn’t want people to ‘just say nice things about her’ she wanted them to stop racism against her.”
A third said: “Was nice to have a few days free of Harry and Meghan.. now we’re back on them.”
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/holly-willoughby-defends-meghan-harry-23744263