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Is that all there is? Is that all Royal Communications has got?
Buckingham Palace’s press shop released a 61-word statement on March 9, saying the whole family is “saddened” by news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were not enjoying royal life.
It took the crackerjack PR team quite a while to say nothing. The PR understatement comes on the heels of the explosive March 7 Oprah Winfrey interview that aired on CBS, in which Harry and Meghan ripped the royals to shreds.
Meghan, who is biracial, said there was concern among the royals about the shade of the skin of her unborn child. She also claimed that she was denied counseling after thinking suicidal thoughts because “it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
Harry also played the racist card. He said the royal family failed to support the couple after racist articles and headlines ran about Meghan at the time of their 2018 wedding.
He talked about being “trapped in the system” and his father, Prince Charles, cutting off all communications.
Another blockbuster: Harry and Meghan secretly got married three days before the official bash at Windsor Castle.
The UK press went ballistic over the interview.
The Times called the interview worse than whatever the family was expecting. A review in The Telegraph said the interview contained enough bombshells to sink a flotilla.
Chris Ship, royal editor of ITV, said the couple effectively loaded a B-52 bomber, flew it over Buckingham Palace and “then unloaded their arsenal right above it, bomb after heavily-loaded bomb.”
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, said: "It’s probably the most damning condemnation of the royal family and how they operate I’ve ever heard.”
All is apparently calm in the rarified air of Buckingham Palace. According to the statement issued on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen:
“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
The interview is a PR disaster for the royals. Their weak tea response is pathetic.
CBS and Republic, an anti-monarchy group, are beneficiaries of the interview from hell for the royals.
CBS cashed in. The network paid Winfrey’s Harpo Productions an estimated $8M for the rights to air the two-hour program.
The program attracted more than 17M viewers, making it one of the top-rated shows during the TV season. Ad buyers report that CBS doubled the price for a 30-second commercial to about $325K.
Republic received priceless PR for its cause. It said the “devastating” interview rocked the institution and is the worst crisis for the monarchy since the 1936 abdication.
While most people in the UK don’t give the monarchy much thought, it is tolerated because of clever PR, according to Republic.
The interview gave people “a clearer picture of what the monarchy is really like. And it doesn't look good. With the Queen likely to be replaced by King Charles during this decade the position of the monarch has rarely looked weaker,” said Republic.
The group calls for an honest debate about the monarchy. “Honesty about the democratic alternative, honesty about royal corruption, honesty about costs, tourism and every other bit of nonsense trotted out by royalists for years.”
Republic says the monarchy will also be part of British history, but it doesn't have to be part of the future.
Amen to that.
America should thank Joe Biden for rolling back the “cultural war,” according to Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne.
Rather than getting bogged down in the Dr. Seuss kerfuffle that has been raging on Fox News, the president has kept his eye on the twin goals of combatting COVID-19 and passing the $1.9T American Rescue Plan Act.
While president Trump politicized the wearing of masks as an attack on personal freedom, Biden speaks for the three-quarters of America that view mask-wearing as part of everybody’s responsibility to stop the spread of the pandemic.
Biden has another thing going for him, according to Dionne. “A 78-year-old white guy is harder for the radical right to demonize than, say, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi.”
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