Many royal fans have not been able to stop talking about Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex‘s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey ever since it aired back on March 7. The pair discussed what life behind palace walls had been like for them and stunned fans when they spoke about how other members of the family treated them.
However, some of what the Sussexes said in their conversation with Lady O has been debunked including a claim Meghan made about the reason the royals did not provide security for her and Harry’s young son Archie. Here’s what Meghan claimed and how Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie disprove that.
The claim Meghan made about royals who get security
During the Sussexes’ sitdown with Oprah, Meghan said that before Archie was born she was concerned because he was not going to be given a prince or princess title and therefore would not receive full-time security based on that.
“They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or princess…and that he wasn’t going to receive security,” the duchess told the longtime talk show host. “If he’s not going to be a prince, it’s like, OK, well, he needs to be safe, so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince or princess… But if you’re saying the title is what’s going to attend their protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder, you’ve allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.”
Oprah then asked if Meghan thought her son having a title was important to which she responded: “If it meant he was going to be safe, then, of course.”
Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice aren’t provided security
However, many publications and royal experts have explained that a title is not a determining factor about whether a member of the royal family receives around-the-clock security. This is the case with Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.
The two princesses have not had any full-time taxpayer-funded security for more than a decade. The reason they are not provided security nowadays is because neither of them are working royals.
On an episode of Pod Save the Queen, Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers said: “On the point of being half-in half-out, like we’ve been saying, trying to suggest they were like the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester or Beatrice and Eugenie… It just doesn’t work like that because they do not have full-time protection. And Harry’s point was he is still a target, the threat level hasn’t reduced, he’s a former military man and a senior figure within the royal family…Well, that costs an awful lot to keep those people safe and if you don’t want to be a part of it, why should we [British taxpayers] be paying for it?”
The Express noted that it comes as a bit of a surprise that Meghan didn’t know that titles do not relate to security since she and Princess Eugenie are good friends.
Meghan and Eugenie were friends before the duchess met Harry
During the interview, Meghan did reveal that she and Eugenie had been friends for a while and that she actually knew the princess even before she started dating her future husband.
“Eugenie and I had known each other before I had known Harry,” the Duchess of Sussex said. “We’re friends with [Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank] as a couple.”
In the book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand touched on how Harry and Eugenie have always been super close over the years.
“Eugenie had always been more than just a cousin to Harry. They were also the closest of friends,” Scobie and Durand wrote. “Out of all the queen’s grandchildren, Harry and Eugenie have one of the most natural connections. Like Harry, Eugenie is loyal, honest, and great fun.”
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