Harry and Meghan 'must lead life out of spotlight' to repair reputation

01 December 2023 , 18:13

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An expert says Harry may have to accept his relationship with his family will 'never be the same again'

An expert has said that Harry and Meghan should focus on living the life they want to create out of the limelight and wait for time to heal what has happened.

Laura Perkes, founder of PR with Perkes, said the best thing Harry can do is "let the dust settle" and "focus on other aspects of his life". Following a reignition of the row within the royal family this week with the publication of a new bombshell book, Ms Perkes, says Harry will have to accept that his relationship with his family may "never be the same again" but it's "something he will have to live with".

Ms Perkes told the Mirror exclusively: "The best thing for him to do, especially from a reputation perspective, is to focus on living the life that he and Meghan wanted to create, away from the media eye and public opinion.

"Time is a great healer, so it may be that he needs to let the dust settle and focus on other aspects of his life. Over time, reconciliation may happen, once all parties involved are ready to do so, but the relationship will never be the same again, and that's something he needs to live with."

READ MORE:How the royal race row unfolded - translator denial, Harry U-turn and Kate named

Oprah Winfrey snubs Harry and Meghan as expert claims 'the tide has turned'

The row first broke out after it was claimed that comments were made about Archie's skin colour back in March 2021 when Harry and Meghan sat down for a tell-all chat with Oprah Winfrey

It comes as this week King Charles and the Princess of Wales have been dragged into the row following the publication of Omid Scobie's new book about the royal family, Endgame. The author appeared on ITV's This Morning programme today to confirm an investigation had begun at the publishers responsible for translating his book into Dutch, but denied including the identities of the two senior royals in his manuscript.

The row first broke out after it was claimed that comments were made about Archie's skin colour back in March 2021 when Harry and Meghan sat down for a tell-all chat with Oprah Winfrey. For the first part of the interview, Meghan talked to Oprah alone when the conversation turned to claims that the Firm did not want to make Archie a prince at the time he was born. Oprah asked Meghan: "Why do you think that is? Do you think it's because of his race?"

Eventually Meghan replied: "I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time.. so we have in tandem the conversation of 'He won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."

After Oprah exclaimed: "What?", Meghan continued saying there had been a conversation with Harry about how dark Archie would be and "what that would mean or look like". Oprah added: "And you're not going to tell me who had the conversation?" To which Meghan replied: "I think that would be very damaging to them."

An expert says the couple should stay out the limelight for a while (Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese v)

Oprah added: "Okay. So, how does one have that meeting?" And Meghan said: "That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him." Later in the interview, the two women were joined by Harry and Oprah asked: "Meghan shared with us that there was a conversation with you about Archie's skin tone. What was that conversation?"

Harry replied: "That conversation I'm never going to share, but at the time, at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked." Oprah probed: "Can you tell us what the question was? But Harry replied: "No. I don't. I'm not comfortable with sharing that. But that was, that was right at the beginning, right?"

Last night, it then emerged that the Royal Family are "united in outrage" after the King and Princess of Wales were dragged into the row.

Speaking of his frustration of the scandal that has sent shockwaves through the monarchy, Mr Scobie said: "I never submitted a book that had those names in it." The Dutch translator who worked on the book insisted the titles of the King and Princess of Wales were in the manuscript she was sent. Saskia Peeters claimed she did not add the names to the Dutch version of the book.

A royal source also said: "There is absolute an unequivocal denial that anything said by the two persons named publicly, both in the book and on television, was said or could be considered to be said in a racist manner. How much more should they take? This is an outrageous smear that first started with the Oprah (Winfrey) interview and now has blown up into another stratosphere."

Lucy Skoulding