Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in confession interview with Oprah Winfrey -

Joe Pugliese / AP / SIPA

Teased by several extracts throughout the week, the confessions of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a year after their break with the British royal family, at Oprah Winfrey promise to be explosive for the monarchy.

The 39-year-old former American actress, wife of the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, will return, during a two-hour interview, on the way in which she was treated by the royal family and the British press.

An unprecedented crisis

The tone was set by an excerpt broadcast by CBS: the Duchess of Sussex is seen accusing Buckingham Palace of peddling lies about the couple's decision in early 2020 to withdraw from the royal family to settle in California.

The broadcast of these words, filmed a few weeks ago, followed by a few hours the announcement by the palace of an investigation into information from the British press according to which Meghan had harassed staff when she was living in London.

A very unusual decision for an institution little accustomed to resolving its conflicts in public, and a sign of the scale of the crisis, unprecedented since Diana.

The tabloid press in the sights

The interview "will almost certainly cause embarrassment for the royal family," predicts British royalty expert Richard Fitzwilliams, for whom Harry and Meghan were "not very farsighted" by not informing the monarchy.

According to him, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will certainly attack the British press, ruthless towards them.

But if they venture into the "personal" field and "criticize other members of the royal family, it will define their relationship in the future", raising fears of a permanent breakup.

Diana's explosive interview will be remembered

The royal family has never been comfortable with public confessions, far from its mantra: "never complain, never explain".

Richard Fitzwilliams recalls that the rare long interviews in which members of the monarchy have all turned into a "disaster".

Prince Charles, Harry's father, had been put in great difficulty when he confessed in 1994 to having an affair.

A year later, Princess Diana had given an explosive interview to the BBC, where she had confided at length on the drift of her couple in front of nearly 23 million viewers.

More recently, in 2019, Prince Andrew, son of the Queen, had to withdraw from the royal family after defending on television his friendship with the late American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sexually exploiting minors, without showing any compassion for the victims.

According to Omid Scobie, co-author of the couple's biography

Finding Freedom

, Sunday's interview is unlikely to change people's minds, as most Britons have "already chosen their side".

Bad timing

But the public could "come out at least a little more enlightened" as to the reasons for "Megxit", he added.

It will be an opportunity for them to give their side of the story: given that journalists have spent the last three years talking about this subject, it seems just that they have two hours to do the same ”.

Harry, 36, sixth in the order of succession to the crown, has repeatedly criticized the British press for having contributed to the death of his mother in 1997. In excerpts broadcast by CBS, he explains having definitely left the UK for fear of 'history repeating itself'.

The moment chosen to explain is not the best: the interview filmed in their luxury villa in Santa Barbara will be broadcast on the same day as one of the queen's rare televised interventions, in honor of Commonwealth Day.

Worse, it comes as Prince Philip, Harry's 99-year-old grandfather, has been hospitalized for three weeks.

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