Carol McGiffin said that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘terribly betrayed the Queen’ but said Her Majesty has done well in ‘letting in go’ and inviting the couple to join her on the Buckingham Palace balcony for her Platinum Jubilee in June.
The broadcaster, 62, was discussing the news that the Sussexes are said to have been invited to appear at family events including the traditional balcony appearance and a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s to celebrate the monarch’s 70 years on the throne, on Loose Women today.
Given they are no longer senior working royals they cannot take part in Trooping the Colour or play a central role in any events taking place over the four-day Bank Holiday weekend, but Her Majesty has reportedly offered them a place on the balcony.
Carol was joined by Kelle Bryan, Christine Lampard and Frankie Bridge on the panel on the ITV show. Christine asked if it would be nice to see them front and centre more, Kelle, 47, said: ‘I think it would be lovely, yes it would, if that’s what they want and they’re comfortable with it.
I think after the revelations that happened and especially the interview with Oprah, we all have a very different sort of perspective of what their experience was like within the palace. ‘And they’ve always been really open and said that they’ve separated Her Majesty from the comments that they made, they’ve always stated that she was wonderful and none of their grievances were with her personally and this is a celebration for her isn’t it? So them being there would be really fitting.’
But Carol was less positive towards the couple, explaining: ‘I still think that it was a terrible betrayal and I think it’s good of the Queen to just let it go and not make a big deal out of it. ‘And I think if everybody stopped making a big deal out of those two, they could just come over, go on the balcony, do the appearance and everyone would just go, ‘Oh look, it’s Harry and Meghan’.
‘They’ve created this kind of whirlwind around them that everything they do now becomes like massive news and it does overshadow events up to a point.’ But Kelle disagreed, asking: ‘I think the reason that everyone’s talking about it is because they’ve been open about it.’
Carole added: ‘They didn’t have to though, did they? ‘They said they wanted privacy with going over to America and they haven’t stopped talking about it since. They haven’t stopped talking about themselves and the royal family.
