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They were ready to play hard.
Prince William and Kate Middleton insisted on prodding the Palace to issue a vigorous response after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s blockbuster March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In the chat, the couple alleged that an unnamed member of the royal family questioned the skin color of their then-unborn son, Prince Archie.
The “Suits” alum claimed that there were “several” conversations centered around the potential color of Archie’s skin.
After the show aired in the U.K., the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge huddled with palace officials on how to deal with the “Sussexes’ incendiary allegations,” writes Valentine Low in the paperback version of his book, “Courtiers,” excerpted in The Times.
Low writes that the draft statement had at that point not included the phrase that was to become famous that “some recollections may vary.”
“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” the statement released and issued by the late Queen Elizabeth II read.
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“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” it continued.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.”
“It had a much milder version,” an insider told Low, per his book. “The debate was, do your rise entirely above it and offer the olive branch of (Harry and Meghan being) ‘much loved members of the family’? Or is there some moment when you have to intervene and offer a view?”
While there was some concern about getting into a “tit-for-tat” with the California-based royals, William and Middleton made it clear where they stood on the thorny matter.
“They wanted it toughened up a bit,” the insider told Low. “They were both of one mind that we needed something that said that the institution did not accept a lot of what had been said.”
Low writes that William, 41, stressed that the courtiers come up with a forceful way “of making sure that we are saying that this does not stand.”
And Middleton, also 41, was “right behind him on it.”
William’s private secretary, Jean-Christophe Gray, was the author of the now famous phrase and once it was added, it was the then-Duchess of Cambridge who insisted it remain.
“It was Kate who clearly made the point, ‘History will judge this statement and unless this phrase or a phrase like it is included, everything that they have said will be taken as true,’” Low writes.
The new draft was sent to Buckingham Palace for approval and a couple of hours later, word came back that the Queen had said yes.
The source added that this was yet another example of how much “steelier” the mother-of-three is than she appears.
The now-Princess of Wales is, according to the source, “playing the long game” and understands that this is her life’s work and will one day be queen.
