Patrick Jephson, who served as Diana’s private secretary and chief of staff, said, “Thirty years ago we were in a comparable situation where rifts were opening up within the royal family and it was starting to escalate.” It was an escalation that led, of course, to the Princess of Wales’ separation and eventual divorce fromPrince Charles and her estrangement from the House of Windsor. “There were a lot of unhappy people involved then, I’m quite sure there are a lot of unhappy people involved now,” Jephson said, adding, “At the heart of this are real people really hurting.” “I hope that it will be intervention from all well-intentioned people to help Harry and Meghan settle in their new lives and help heal the wounds that arose through the way they departed,” he said. However, he didn’t appear optimistic about the consequences of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. “The precedence for royal interviews of this kind are not very encouraging,” he said. “Both Prince Charles and Princess Diana and more recently Prince Andrew have tried to put their sides of the story on TV through these sorts of interviews and in all cases, it has backfired.” It was during this interview that Harry revealed he was only able to break free from the royal family thanks to the inheritance left to him by Diana (around $14M.) He said the royal family cut him off financially when he and Meghan decided to step back from their roles, as well as removing the Sussex family’s security. “But I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this.” “I think she saw it coming,” he said, referring to his split with the royals. Next up, Oprah says it was not Queen or Prince Philip who raised concerns about Archie’s skin color.
