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If you’ve been scanning the headlines over the past couple of days, you may have noticed that apart from the announcement that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is pregnant again (let the baby name betting begin), she has also agreed to an interview with Oprah, and Prince Harry will be tagging along.

This will be the first official interview since the couple stepped back from Royal duties, so everyone is naturally trying to find out what the Queen is thinking.

The Palace refuses to comment.

Harry and Meghan have promised that they won’t embarrass her.

Judging by past TV interviews with Royals, you wouldn’t fault Her Majesty for being a little nervous.

Let’s take a trip (and a ‘cringe’) down memory lane with The Guardian.

Prince Charles and Jonathan Dimbleby (1994)

This is the famous interview in which Charles admitted to adultery while married to Princess Diana.

Interviewer Dimbleby asked Charles if he had tried to be “faithful and honourable” to his wife.

Charles replied: “Yes, absolutely.” “And you were?” asked Dimbleby. “Yes,” said Charles, before adding: “Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”

So no then.

The fallout included Diana’s retaliatory interview, which didn’t paint Charles in a good light.

Princess Diana and Martin Bashir (1995)

Diana’s ‘revenge interview’ with BBC Panorama’s Bashir was watched by an estimated 22,8 million people.

She also admitted to an affair with guards officer James Hewitt and commented on Charles’ infidelity.

“Do you think Mrs Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?”

Diana paused, before uttering the immortal line: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

To the horror of Buckingham Palace, she also spoke openly about her struggles with mental illness including self-harm and postnatal depression

Sir Richard Eyre, ex-director of the National Theatre, later said he had lunch with the Queen shortly afterwards, who reportedly told him: “Frightful thing to do, frightful thing that my daughter-in-law did.”

One month later, it came to light that the Queen had sent them both letters suggesting that they divorce.

The Duchess of York and Michael Usher (2018)

Ah, Fergie.

Sarah, Duchess of York had just released her new book when she went on 60 Minutes Australia for an interview with Michael Usher.

In the interview, he asked her about the time she allegedly offered an undercover journalist access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for £500 000.

In the newspaper’s sting, she is heard on camera apparently saying: “I can open any door you want, and I will for you.”

When the recording was played for her ahead of Bashir’s request for comment, she threw a fit and stormed out.

Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis (2020)

At the height of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, for some reason, Prince Andrew decided that it was a good idea to grant an extensive interview to the BBC’s Emily Maitlis, who hosts Newsnight.

Apart from coming across as devoid of any self-awareness, he insisted that it was “honourable” and “convenient” to stay at Epstein’s home, and couldn’t bring himself to say that he regretted his association with the man convicted of sex crimes.

The Palace was not impressed.

On the plus side, whatever Meghan and Harry do, it will never be as bad as that.

[source:guardian]