Meghan Markle reins in threat to share royal secrets in new interview

In her first major interview since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan Markle tried to keep things as positive as possible when discussing the 10 days she spent in the U.K. for the queen’s funeral, when the world’s media watched for any signs of tensions between her and Prince Harry and her estranged royal in-laws.

Sitting down with Variety for an interview published Wednesday, Meghan said she worried that any comments about the queen or her in-laws — King Charles III, Prince William and Kate Middleton — would be “a distraction” from continued mourning. The American duchess acknowledged it was a “complicated” time following the queen’s death, said Harry is “ever the optimist,” was expressed gratitude for “the outpouring of love and support” she and Harry received while in the U.K. and spoke glowingly about the late queen.

Meghan’s variety cover has DROPPED!! pic.twitter.com/JrGlZrTZME

— Alexis( sowing discord in the west) (@ArchewellBaby) October 19, 2022

Following the death of the queen, it appears that Meghan has no intention, at this time, to make good on veiled threats she made to New York Magazine in August to air more grievances about royal life.

That explosive interview, titled “Meghan of Montecito,” was published online about 10 days before the queen’s Sept. 8 death. The former TV actor was in the midst of a major media blitz to launch her Spotify podcast, “Archetypes,” promote a Netflix docuseries about her and Harry’s life in California, and to support the release of Harry’s highly anticipated memoir.

Cut Cover: Meghan Markle on Her New Life in California

Meghan of Montecito She’s left the Firm behind. Harry’s found a polo team in Santa Barbara. The kids are doing great. Now she’s ready for her next act.
By Allison P. Davis@allisonpdavis https://t.co/BDAGwDnhIv

— HMAL❣️ (@Irma_Isa22) August 29, 2022

In that heady moment, Meghan spoke about how it “takes a lot of effort to forgive” her royal in-laws, according to New York magazine writer Allison P. Davis. Meghan “her voice full of meaning,” told Davis, “I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything.”

Meghan also told Davis: “I have a lot to say until I don’t. Do you like that? Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song.”

But the loss of the globally revered leader of the royal family has apparently prompted Meghan to sing a less antagonistic tune when it comes to how she talks about her in-laws. Perhaps she doesn’t want to upset any attempts to heal the rifts in the family.

It’s also been reported that the queen reportedly doted on Harry, and provided a buffer between her grandson and his wife and the rest of the monarchy. With the queen gone, the Sussexes are left with Charles. While the new king expressed his love for his son and daughter-in-law as they “build their lives overseas,” people close to him said he won’t tolerate any “inaccurate or unfair” attacks.

Friends and royal experts have said he could ban the Sussexes from his coronation or withhold the prince and princess titles for their children, Archie and Lilibet, if Harry criticizes Camilla, the queen consort, in his new memoir, or if Meghan makes good on her threat to reveal more secrets about the royal family.

With Variety, Meghan suggested that she had been burned by Davis and by New York magazine’s profile of her because she had been too ‘trusting.” Variety noted that Davis’ 6,500-word cover story on Meghan was seen as “snarky” — certainly not the hagiography she evidently expected.

Davis’ story presented Meghan as highly controlling about her public image and perhaps disingenuous, wanting to come across as friendly and relatable but also carefully setting the stage to dazzle the writer with the “unimaginable wealth” that she lives in.

“She stands and smiles with the perfect level of warmth, the gleam of her teeth rivaled only by the shininess of her blowout,” Davis wrote. “Backlit by the late-morning light in a scene that looks like a Nancy Meyers cinematic interior, Town & Country, Goop, and Architectural Digest had an orgy and created the perfect moment in California living, she throws her arms wide open, too, and gives me a hug.”

“Come on through,” Davis quoted Meghan as saying, beckoning Davis to join her on one of her “many terraces.”

According to Davis, Meghan still felt wounded by her treatment when working for the royal family. Meghan told Variety she was disappointment about this portrayal.

“The (New York) story was intended to support ‘Archetypes’ and focus on our projects,” Meghan told Variety. “I’ve had some time to reflect on it. Part of me is just really trusting, really open — that’s how I move in the world. I have to remember that I don’t ever want to become so jaded that that piece of me goes away. So despite any of those things? Onward. I can survive it.”

Variety’s cover story about Meghan was postponed by the queen’s death. It originally was supposed to be published last month, as part of its “Power of Women” issue. Meghan was to be honored in the issue alongside Ava DuVernay, Elizabeth Olsen and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.

Meghan Markle for Variety.

Read the cover story: https://t.co/YDDQTTwgg9 pic.twitter.com/ItadS9XXje

— Variety (@Variety) October 19, 2022

The queen’s death upended Meghan and Harry’s media blitz in other ways. Almost immediately, episodes of Meghan’s “Archetypes” were delayed for several weeks, out of respect for the mourning period.

Netflix announced this week that it was postponing the streaming of its docuseries about Meghan and Harry until 2023, after becoming “rattled” by the backlash to season 5 of its hit show The Crown, due to launch on Nov. 9.

Deadlined reported that executives at Netflix have decided “it would be foolhardy to stream ‘The Crown’ in November followed by the Harry and Meghan documentary in December,” the Daily Beast said. The decision seems to be prompted by the growing outrage and allegations of insensitivity and invention that previews of “The Crown” are generating, the Daily Beast added.

One of those loudly criticizing “The Crown” is former British Prime Minister Sir John Major, who objected to the show’s portrayal of the then-Prince Charles trying to recruit him to a scheme to oust the queen. Major called this depiction “malicious” and and “a barrel-load of nonsense.”

When talking to Variety, Meghan acknowledged that the docuseries was in the works but claimed that she and Harry don’t have final say in how director Liz Garbus presents them. Meghan said, “We’re trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens.”

Meanwhile, Harry’s memoir probably won’t be released until 2023, with some reports saying that he’s working with his ghostwriter to update the book to include reflections on the death of his grandmother.

Other reports have said that Harry is editing the book to tone done his criticism of his family, notably his father and his stepmother, Camilla, the queen consort. Royal experts and friends of Charles told the media last week that the king may not decide whether to invite Meghan and Harry to his coronation until after Harry’s memoir is published or their Netfix docuseries airs.

Katie Nicholl, author of “The New Royals” and Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, told The Daily Beast that Charles would love to have the Sussexes at his coronation.

“To be fair to Charles, he has been magnanimous in terms of extending, very publicly, olive branches to the Sussexes, not only in his televised accession address but also putting them front and center at the funeral events,” Nichol said. “But he does expect respect in return, and a problem is going to arise if, between now and then, Harry repays him by attacking him, Camilla or the institution. He is not going to put up with inaccurate and unfair attacks.”

Duncan Larcombe, a royal author and former royal editor at the Sun, also told the Daily Beast that Charles could withhold royal titles for Archie and Lilibet “for years” to try to limit Meghan and Harry’s criticism. Legally and by precedent, Archie and Lilibet are entitled to be prince and princess, Larcombe said, but Charles reportedly can change the rules.

“That’s a carrot that could be left out there for years to come,” Larcombe added. “Charles is certainly not rushing to make a declaration one way or another, and he may be taking some comfort from the reports that Harry is desperately trying to rewrite the parts of the book that are most critical about his father.”