Prince Harry 'mansplained' royal life to Meghan, new documentary claims
Forensic lip readers analysed some of the most high-profile royal events in recent history - from Charles and Diana's wedding to Queen Elizabeth II 's funeral - to uncover their 'secret conversations' for Channel 5 's programme Lip-Reading the Royals.
One of the events they covered was Trooping The Colour in 2018 after Prince Harry married the former Suits actress in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
With the world watching Meghan's debut on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping alongside senior members of The Firm, it appeared Prince Harry may have been conscious of any criticism when he tried to explain the proceedings to his new bride.
Lip reader Nicola Hickling said Harry was 'explaining to her what is going to happen and that Paras will be flying overhead' as he used 'hand motions' to demonstrate' what was about to happen before Meghan acknowleged him by saying 'OK'.
'The lip readers have exposed him mansplaining to her what a flypast is,' said royal analyst Cristo Foufas. 'Is this Harry being too dumb to realise that Meghan knows that planes are in the air and, as a member of the Royal Family, you probably have to look at a few?'
Or, he continued, 'is this Meghan playing dumb so Harry feels like he's in charge?'
Foufas also quipped 'that won't last' in a seeming reference to Meghan's growing influence within their marriage in the years since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit the Royal Family.
In an interview with MailOnline, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said that Harry hasn't yet found his own way since he and Meghan relocated to the US five years ago.
Body language expert Judi James also highlighted how Meghan appears to take the lead during the couple's joint appearances - including their quasi-royal tour of Colombia last August that left Harry looking like the 'Spare' in his marriage.
The Channel 5 documentary also makes claims about a tense exchange between Harry and Meghan during the Remembrance Sunday service in 2018 when she told him to 'take advantage of the situation'.
Hickling said Harry then asked Meghan: 'Today?' as she instructed him to 'Do it tonight'.
'You do realise that this is the end?' the Duke then allegedly asked Meghan, who responded: 'Yeah, I do know.'
Experts have questioned whether they were discussing plans to quit the Royal Family as early as six months after they tied the knot, with the Sussexes eventually stepping down as senior members in January 2020.
The release of the documentary comes after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were mocked by American cartoon Family Guy with its creators comparing their marriage to Hitler and the Crusades.
In an episode from the newest series of the animated satire, main characters Stewie and Brian Griffin go back in time and speak to Mark Twain, author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The characters discuss how history 'pretty much sucks' before listing several instances including Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, the medieval wars in the Middle East and the former royal's marriage.
The scene then cuts away to Prince Harry, sat at home on the sofa who moans 'Again?' before telling the camera that the audience's wives are no better.
This is not the first time the Sussexes have fallen victim to Seth McFarlane's cartoon satire and in 2023 were savaged as work-shy grifters being paid by Netflix for 'no-one knows what' in a reference to the couple's multi-million dollar deal with the streamer.
Earlier this month, The Mail On Sunday revealed King Charles and Prince Harry's most trusted aides are working to resolve the royal family feud that dates back to 'Megxit' - and has only intensified in the years since.
Staffers for the King and Prince Harry held a secret peace summit at a London private members' club as part of the 'rapproachement process' that sources have said opens up a 'channel of communication...for the first time in years'.
'There's a long road ahead, but a channel of communication is now open for the first time in years,' said a source. 'There was no formal agenda, just casual drinks. There were things both sides wanted to talk about.'
Harry was represented by Meredith Maines, his chief communications officer and head of his household in Montecito, California, who flew in from Los Angeles.
She met Tobyn Andreae, the King's communications secretary, at the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) a three-minute walk from Clarence House, the monarch's London residence.
Also present was Liam Maguire, who runs the Sussexes' PR team in the UK.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
'And Just Like That ...' to end after third season
And just like that, a universe of fun, friendship and fashion is coming to an end. Michael Patrick King, showrunner of the 'Sex and the City' sequel 'And Just Like That ...,' announced on Instagram that the series will end after the third season concludes. Fans have a two-part finale to savor later this month. 'It's with great gratitude we thank all the viewers who have let these characters into their homes and their hearts over these many years,' he wrote. King said he decided to wrap things up while writing the season's final episode. He then split the finale into two episodes. The last episode will drop Aug. 14. In a long, heartfelt Instagram post of her own, Sarah Jessica Parker, who played the iconic Carrie Bradshaw character in both series, called the sequel 'all joy, adventure, the greatest kind of hard work alongside the most extraordinary talent.' She included a montage of Carrie's fashion and moments. Parker added: 'I am better for every single day I spent with you. It will be forever before I forget. The whole thing. Thank you all. I love you so.' Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon returned for the sequel. Largely absent was Kim Cattrall and her Samantha Jones, though Cattrall did make a brief, uncredited cameo in the Season 2 finale. Samantha's absence was explained as a move to London. Reports of pay and personal disputes bubbled over behind the scenes. The original series ran from 1998 to 2004, taking pop culture by storm with the style and drama of the 30-something friends in New York City. They shopped. They brunched. They dated, leaning on each other as Parker's Carrie, a writer, chronicled it all. The sequel picks up their lives in their mid-50s, to mixed reviews. Carrie became a widow. Nixon's Miranda Hobbes came out as queer. Davis' Charlotte York Goldenblatt copes with husband Harry's prostate cancer diagnosis. Fashion remains ever-present, including all those iconic heels still clacking through New York's brownstone-lined streets. In her farewell post, Parker wrote of her stylish Carrie that she, 'Changed homes, time zones, boyfriends, her mind, her shoes, her hair, but never her love and devotion to New York City.' She called Carrie 'my professional heartbeat for 27 years.'
Daily Record
24 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Queen's 'great, great, granddaughter' seeks DNA test and approval from Charles
Much has been made of Queen Victoria's relationship with her ghillie John Brown - now a woman who believes she is their descendant wants to prove the affair was real. A woman who reckons she might be the illegitimate great, great granddaughter of Queen Victoria says her ultimate aim is to get acknowledgement from King Charles. Angela Webb-Milinkovich, from Minnesota, believes she and her sister have ancestry that traces back to Victoria's lengthy, passionate affair with her devoted servant John Brown. Fresh research by historian Dr Fern Riddell indicates that whilst officially Angela's great grandmother Mary Ann was the sole child of John's brother Hugh and his wife Jessie, there's proof suggesting the infant might actually have been born from his secret romance with the monarch, during which they were clandestinely wed. Angela, 47, is now preparing to undergo a DNA test as the definitive evidence of her Royal bloodline. She insists she has no desire to profit from the tale, solely wanting to ensure her family's position in history receives the acknowledgement it merits, reports the Mirror. "My main goal is to have the story acknowledged - I want their relationship to be recognised and for the royal family to stop saying it didn't happen," she explains. "If I'm going to reach for the top, it would have to be from King Charles," she adds, when asked who she'd most like to hear from. "I mean, it's a great story and it has his family involved, too. So he would be interested in it." Or Prince William perhaps? "That'd be great. That's acceptable," she laughs. Angela was raised believing her family descended from royalty through baby Mary Ann. She can't recall exactly when she learned this, only that there was a tale about "a big boat trip... and a baby given to the family." Dr Riddell reached out to Angela during her four-year investigation for her new book Victoria's Secret, revealing she'd found that childless couple Jessie and Hugh had sailed to New Zealand in 1865, recording Mary Ann's birth there shortly afterwards - which could account for the maritime journey. Speaking on Channel 4's accompanying documentary, Dr Riddell suggested that the widowed Victoria could have easily hidden a pregnancy during the 1860s, then had the infant - her tenth child - secretly transported to the opposite side of the globe to prevent scandal. Records show that in 1874, Victoria funded the family's return voyage to Scotland, even providing them with a substantial residence on the Balmoral estate. Following John's death, she also relocated Hugh's family to Windsor to be closer to her. Angela managed to grant Dr Riddell access to a wealth of new evidence from the Brown family archive, which contained items and documents that have been in their possession for decades. Some of this came from a safety deposit box that Angela and her sister, who wishes to remain anonymous, opened about five years ago following their father's death. "We didn't know what we had, just that they were items from John Brown and Queen Victoria," she now admits. "It was always something in the back of our minds - we should probably get these looked at." Despite longstanding family suspicions that they were related to Queen Victoria, Angela was still taken aback when Dr Fern reached out. "I believed my family was being truthful with it, but we could never prove it. Once she sent that message, I thought 'What the heck? Is there actually validity to this?'" Angela, who is employed as a mental health care worker, expressed her desire for the love affair, which was concealed both during and after Victoria's lifetime, to be recognised as the truth. "It's something that I'm very proud of," she declared. "I want the vindication essentially for John Brown and just for my lineage, because they were not able to talk about it. It was something that just became that secret that we couldn't really share, but we knew." If Dr Riddell's account is accurate, and there's substantial evidence backing it up, Victoria and John shared a passionate romance spanning nearly two decades, right up until his passing in 1883. Beyond exchanging mutual declarations of love on his deathbed - "I told him no one loved him more than I did and he answered 'nor you - than me'" - she had also created a cast of his hand, precisely as she'd done for Albert. When her own end came in 1901, she requested to be interred with a lock of hair and photograph of the man who'd stood beside her for twenty years following Albert's demise in 1861. Letters that survived show her addressing him as "my beloved" and "darling one". Yet, at the behest of her eldest son Bertie - poised to become Edward VII - the Palace began systematically wiping John from history. Victoria's diaries were transcribed and altered, with the originals being destroyed. Bertie, who had frequently feuded with Brown, also commanded that the statues and private monuments Victoria had erected in his honour be demolished. Angela's grandfather passed away when she was in primary school, but she recalls him being distressed about the Browns' erasure from history. "My understanding from my Mum was that he was just really upset and bitter about it," she shared. "He didn't like to talk about it. Now, having both my parents and my aunt gone, we don't have those resources any more. So the bulk of the story I have been learning from Fern, which is amazing, and I'm so grateful." Angela remains hopeful that the Royals will eventually have to acknowledge the legitimacy of the claims made about her ancestors, as highlighted in a Channel 4 documentary aired on Thursday. "My gut says it's going to have to get acknowledged at some point," she suggests. "Scandals are always very exciting so I'm sure there'll be a lot of questions for them to answer. If they don't say anything, that's their choice. But I'd like them to acknowledge the truth of this love, to recognise that it wasn't cool to cover up and destroy evidence of the relationship they shared. Let's be real, Bertie was a bit of a d**k to the Browns. "That story deserves to be known, to have its own breath out there in the world. You don't get that kind of romance every day. It's what you'd hope for anybody, that you would find another chance at love. So I don't see why we should look down on that. It's like an opportunity presented itself and they embraced it, and I think that is beautiful." Angela is hopeful of undergoing a DNA test to confirm her lineage, but has been cautioned that it might take a while due to the necessity for impeccable source material for testing across four generations. "I'll let the scientists do the science," she says with a smile. "I'm a supporting character in this journey, and so I will follow wherever the story leads me. I'm totally open to it. So far it's been so exciting, so cool. I'm just really stoked." The tattooed American, sporting a nose-ring, firmly denies that she's merely attempting to profit from the Royal family's wealth. "Money is the furthest thing from my goal in telling this family story. It has always been to get Queen Victoria and John Brown's story the truth it deserves." She can't fathom any other reason why her family would possess valuable keepsakes from Victoria and John, including a brooch and a lock of hair. "Their relationship was authentic and genuine. They obviously had feelings for each other. It went well beyond a queen and man servant situation." There was a fair amount of speculation at the time about the duo, portrayed by Dame Judi Dench and Billy Connolly in the 1997 film Mrs Brown. In 1865, after Victoria requested John's transfer to the Royal Household at Windsor, two of her daughters, Helena and Louise, openly referred to him as 'Mamma's lover'. And the following year a Swiss newspaper published a story claiming Victoria, then aged 46, had privately married John and become pregnant. Angela would be delighted regardless of whether Mary Ann proves to be John or Hugh's daughter. "Either John Brown is my great, great uncle or he is my great, great grandpa. My family still played a key role in history with their friendship and closeness to Queen Victoria. I'm proud of their steadfastness in keeping the legacy of John Brown alive and their word to holding the secret close. It's still a beautiful romance that deserves its moment of recognition in history." With her Scottish heritage through her mother's lineage, Angela adores visiting the UK at every opportunity and confesses she occasionally feels more British than American. "I've always felt a little disconnected in the sense that I feel more at home over there. Scotland is my happy place. I would move there if I could, for sure."
The Sun
24 minutes ago
- The Sun
Love Island's Jamie questions why Yas is ‘obsessed' with villa boy as he makes surprise discovery
LOVE Island's Jamie has questioned why Yas is "obsessed" with a villa boy after he made a surprise discovery. During the latest episode of the ITV2 reality show, the Islanders were tasked with answering questions and sharing their opinions on their co-stars. 4 4 4 But one question caused a lot of tension as the girls were asked who their man would couple up with - if their partners weren't there. Yasmin misunderstood the question and thought it was about who she would pick and she wrote Dejon on her board. Later she confessed this to a bewildered Jamie who became clearly upset. In tonight's episode Jamie sat with a couple of the boys and said: "This doesn't go outside of misinterpreted the question and she said Dejon." He continued: "I am a little caught of guard because she is acting like she hates him. "Even in the challenge the other day always oh Meg and Dejon, Meg and Dejon. "Why is she obsessed with him bro? Know what I mean. "Like that is weird." Fans of the show were quick to comment and one wrote: "Yasmin & Jamie I'm gonna need you to just hold it together!! The final is on Monday." Another added: "I completely understand Jamie's confusion, but I think him and Yas just need to have another conversation and it'll all get worked out." Watch the moment FURIOUS row explodes between Love Island's 'strongest couple' as they head for a split just days before final "Yas and Jamie need to sort it out asap! stressing me out," said another fan. Tempers also flared when the Islanders were asked"Which couple are you most scared to give your honest opinion on?" Shakira and Harry chose Meg and Dejon and Meg said to Shakira, 'I think if people were honest in the first place. "And told us to our faces instead of saying it constantly behind our back, it would be a different story.' An emotional Shakira became annoyed at Meg and accused her of being fake and acting like they are mates. She said: "I don't know why you keep acting like we're the best of mates in here. From day one, you were very standoffish with any girl that was posed as a threat.' Meg replied: 'I think you've called every single person in this Villa fake.' Shakira then told her she will never pretend to be her mate. Meg interrupted: 'You won't be my friend on the outside.' Shakira said: 'I will never speak to you on the outside. I honestly can't stand you sometimes.'
