Entertainment
Piers Morgan takes another dig at Meghan Markle as he suggests royals ‘stay off Oprah’
In seemingly another swipe at Meghan Markle, Piers Morgan has said royals should ‘shun Oprah’, as he paid tribute to Prince Philip.
The former Good Morning Britain presenter shared what he believed to be the late Duke of Edinburgh’s ’10-point guide’ for ‘surviving and thriving’ in the Royal Family, quoting various biographers and insiders.
Suggesting one needs to ‘park the ego’, ‘work hard’ and ‘read’ in order to ace life as a royal, some of the suggestions – which he said echoed how Prince Philip, who died on Friday, undertook his duties – were a little more pointed and also included ‘stay off Oprah’.
While Piers insisted he wouldn’t name the individuals who may apply to each point, he added ‘but they’ll know who they are…’.
He added in his column for Mail Online this week: ‘”Give TV interviews, by all means,” Philip said. “But don’t talk about yourself.”
‘Gyles Brandreth said the Duke thought Meghan and Harry’s decision to grant their friend Ms Winfrey a lengthy prime-time US TV audience was “madness” and “no good would come of it.”
‘He apparently thought the same about all the other big royal TV confessionals – from Diana and Charles opining on their broken marriage in the 1990s to Andrew’s toe-curling BBC Newsnight interview about his friendship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And he wasn’t wrong, was he?’
Piers’s exit from GMB was set in stone after he questioned Meghan’s claims in her interview with Oprah alongside Prince Harry. In the televised tell-all the Duchess of Sussex raised allegations of racism within the Royal Family as well as revealed she felt suicidal during her time in the UK and said she was denied help.
His comments received more than 41,000 complaints in the days following, and he stormed off set following a heated row with colleague Alex Beresford – before tendering his resignation.
Speaking this week about the support he’s received from people in the public eye, Piers said he did receive a text from Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.
‘Not all Royal duchesses were as thrilled as Meghan “Pinocchio” Markle to see me leave GMB,’ he wrote in his column on Sunday.
‘”People have said how much they miss your morning joy and humour,” texted Sarah, Duchess of York, “get back out there!”‘
The former tabloid editor previously claimed he’d received correspondence from members of the Royal Family for ‘standing up’, telling Extra: ‘I’ve had some messages communicated to me on behalf of several members of the Royal Family.’
Asked by host Billy Bush if the support came from ‘upper-level people,’ Piers replied: ‘I’m not going to go into who it was. But what I would say is, gratitude that somebody was standing up.’
As the Life Stories host left GMB, the ITV show he fronted alongside Susanna Reid, last month, a statement from the broadcaster read: ‘Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.’
According to the Guardian and the Telegraph, his departure came after a formal complaint was lodged with ITV on behalf of the duchess after the broadcast, while The Telegraph said that a spokesperson for ITV ‘refused to deny’ the reports.
The PA news agency understands that Meghan’s concern was not about the personal attacks on the validity of her racism allegation made against the Royal Family, or her claims she was not supported by the institution when experiencing suicidal thoughts.
The complaint is understood to focus on how Morgan’s comments may affect the issue of mental health generally and those attempting to deal with their own problems.
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