Prince Harry and Prince William are both willing to talk in the wake of Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey — but it hasn’t happened yet.
via Page Six:
“They have opened communication channels,” one source in the UK said.
While it’s not clear exactly how much contact the pair have had, they are still on speaking terms after the tell-all, in which Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, accused the royal family of cruelty and racism.
Meanwhile, William, the Duke of Cambridge, was asked Thursday whether he had spoken to his brother.
“No, I haven’t spoken to him yet, but I will do,” he said.
As we reported, the two brothers — previously extremely close — have only been communicating via WhatsApp for the better part of a year.
During the interview last Sunday, Harry told Winfrey that he still has great affection for his brother.
“As I said before, I love William to bits,” he said. “We’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience, but we are on different paths.”
The Oprah interview put the royal family on the defensive this week.
Queen Elizabeth herself was forced to issue a statement saying “recollections may vary” about whether racist statements were made about the skin color of Meghan and Harry’s baby, Archie.
A report later said that the Queen was grilling her staff about Meghan and Harry’s claims.
On Thursday, William was questioned at a public event about the alleged skin color comment.
“Is the royal family a racist family?” a reporter asked, to which he replied, “We’re very much not a racist family.”
William and his wife, Kate Middleton, were on a long-planned visit to School2 in East London to promote a children’s mental health program when Sky News reporter Inzamam Rashid called out the question.
Amid rumors that questions were planted, a royal source said: “They weren’t pre-planned. Of course, William and Kate probably expected someone would shout something out — but it wasn’t a set-up, they didn’t know what would be asked.”
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Prince Harry and Prince William have “opened communication channels,” a source told us.Getty Images
Another royal source added that “usually such an approach of ‘doorstepping’ is frowned upon.”
However, William’s brief comments disappointed commentators like Nikesh Shukla, author of “Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home.”
Shukla said William’s comments offer “a defensive bulletproof shield rather than a discussion about racism.”
“Having something that you’ve said be pointed out as racist is really uncomfortable, but it’s what you do next that counts,” he told the Associated Press.
“And what I’ve seen the royal family has done … is instead of interrogate that racism, they’ve said, ‘We are not a racist family,’ which is a very hard thing to move forward from.”
Hopefully some healing and accountability can come from what’s transpired between the family. Only time will tell.
