Meghan picked up her toys & went back to US when she couldn’t be star of Royals - she won't return

I'm of the opinion that Megan won't set foot in the UK ever again because I just don't think she wants have to have anything to do at all with this [Music] country hello and welcome I'm Matt Wilkinson Royal editor of the Sun newspaper and this is our show Royal exclusive my guest today has been covering the beat for more than three decades and used to do my job so hopefully he can teach me a thing or two he is Royal reporting Legend Charlie Ray Charlie hello Matt I'm not sure sure I'll be able to teach you very much to be prep H you seem to be doing okay with uh so so many splashes just really lately well I'm all ears because you um obviously when you were reporting on the Sun for instance Royal stories were on the front page that you were writing and we were selling like 4 million copies a day there has always been an insatiable appetite for Royal stories and um on Friday today the our front page is a story about the king U we know about his his health issues um but he's basically raring to go he's the treatment's going well and he's supercharging his aids to say sort my diary out and I'd like to go to Australia now I talk back to your time when you say three decades reporting on the Royals you've been to Australia several times how many times have you been there uh about three or four times three or four times they're tough tours but they're also important for the RS to go there to Australia is that right they they are very very important because it's a commonwealth country uh and so it it's it it it gets the links between the UK and the monarchy with the Commonwealth country closer together they the comwe countries love a royal tour despite what we keep on seeing and hearing about I mean Australia uh has fortunately put the decision of going Republic on the back burnner already it said in January that it wasn't going to be discussing it shortly so we don't have that issue um but it is important for the king to meet uh all the various people and his peoples of Australia yes they are tough one thing I will tell you though which is the great thing is you are so far ahead you know uh to get your stories back you know filed back to the UK you've got so much time on your hands because you're practically a good 12 hours ahead and it's like only when one sub decides to ring you up in the middle of the night because he's got one sort of silly query that's the only problem but for the Royal and for yourself you you're talking about I mean it's best part of 21 hours to get there I mean it's a long long flight and especially uh if people are sitting in the economy the king won't be sitting in the economy of course but he'll he'll be in total luxury um but he would like to do six or seven jobs a day which is what his usual job which his usual tally on any Royal tour um I'm not sure whether he'll be able to manage that or this tour because he's he's a guy who's recovering or still battling away the cancer and so I think it would be very much dependent on his do his own doctors saying to him you know you're going to have to take it a little bit easy he's like a bullly in a China shot when it comes to work I mean he's still working he's reading all his government papers um I mean I think Camila joked once that she had to go into his office with a big sign says stop working you need a rest um but yeah it's going to be a a tough old tough old tour he's um I mean the situation with the kingone is obviously yes he is still having treatment sure um but he wants to go back to work as much as possible Easter Sunday was a success you you obviously worked with the queen reported on the queen so many times her Mantra was she needed to be seen to be believed is that still the case for the king I think it is still the case for the king he he needs to be seen to be believed we've moved on quite a bit from a royal family that was quite secretive um now it's a little bit more open there's a there's fewer of them so the magic is still there but it it needs to be seen by more by more people given of course we've got this social media uh which I never we never really had in my day but you've got social media and there's always going to be someone commenting rightly or wrongly about some some aspect of the royal family you talk about the king um as I've been on tours of him smaller ones to Europe and yeah they're exhausting it's five or six sometimes seven or eight jobs a day what is it about his his work ethic I mean do you think he's been frustrated for the last couple of months because he's not been able to get out and do work why why is it that he wants to work so hard well I think that's his Rend DET if you like all the way through even when he was Prince of Wales he worked hard he's now King he works hard and I think it's really brassed him off the fact he's got to fight this disease uh which has meant that the amount of work that he does is cut right back so we we're looking at behind the scenes there's only been a two or three uh receptions uh with uh with with various people uh which he doesn't want to cut back but you you you you you printed a list of items that are on his calendar now the items that are on his calendar the forthcoming items that are on his calendar to him to him are extremely important you know it's not all fun and frivolity you you got tripping the color you've got royal ascort you've got the garta ceremony you've got um you've got Australia you've got all these sort of things are coming up things and the dday don't forget dday I mean that is going to be Monumental 80 years of that and he is he's really really into that sort of stuff there's there's no doubt about that he needs to be there at these kind of events and so he need I think he's going to have a couple of weeks up at Burke Hall correct which again is another positive sign because if if he was you know we can't specul speculate about his um treatment and stuff like that but he's been down in London for the last uh two months because he needed to be near the hospital but by going up to Scotland for a couple of weeks for his for his anniversary that's another good sign that think things are getting better it is it's the 19th anniversary if if I got my maths right he got there um it's one of the weddings I attended not as an official guest just on the roof um on the roof yeah we were on the roof opposite of edwins where he got married in the registry office and uh you know we were watching it all come come coming together you know we don't really get invited all that much into these places M you know what the rules are you banish the press to the roof opposite the well that was one of the places that we were able to see to see things properly um but the um uh him going up there for his 19th wedding anniversary is a positive sign there's no there's no doubt about that and I suppose that if he's up there if there's any problem the doctors May well have to come to him if I'm and I'm sure the Royal doctor will be around anyway there's there is a royal doctor in Scotland so there's not going to be any there's not going to be any dramas excellent now we talk about the amount of challenges that Charles has had to or the King has gone through particularly the you know the caner that he's that he's so bravely fighting and and really facing down and and you know the positivity that he has he wants to you know carry out these events but one of the main challenges to his Reign has been his brother yeah prince Andrew and Netflix yet again again have uh have come out obviously after you know their um the crown and the the series with Megan and Harry we now have uh scoop which we've seen we've managed to quickly watch before we uh before we sat down today it's a good drama do we need this this drama does Charles of the king does he need you know um more Scandal from from his brother or we had has he had enough of of this with Andrew I don't think the king and the rest of the family need it but I think uh we do because I certainly and I'm sure many others as well I've always been fascinated how news Knight got this story um and I have to tell you that I think Billy paper plays a Blinder as Sam mallister now she's the producer who went out of her way to court the palace um key HW as Amanda thk his PR private secretory is brilliant she performs it brilliantly well like a startle rabbit caught in the headlights most of the time uh Julian Anderson as Emily matless is also uh you know very very good um I I think it is an excellent by you know Narrative of what actually went on and there's one scene I'm not going to spoil it for everybody but there is one scene in it which just sums up prince Andrew to a tea and that is when the Emily matless and Sam mallister are sitting opposite Andrew trying to encourage him to do this interview and he suddenly says towards the end he says I don't know why people are so fascinated by my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after all I knew Jimmy Sabo far more and you just think what why would you why would you say that to journalists you know at a start off um but it's an excellent it's an excellent uh um it's an excellent program and I have to say to you that you know people are going to say oh this is going to drive another nail in Andrew's coffin I'm not that sure that there's much room for any more Nails in that coffin you know and I think people have got to realize because we keep seeing him at maybe the Easter ceremony or something else to do with the family or or whatever and they think oh he's on his way back he's never coming back he's never going to do another Royal job ever again you know and I just wish people would stop just jumping on a a bandw because they saw him leading the Royals down to the east one of the the services the only reason he was in front is cuz he was at the door first it's that simple it's not any rocket science the monar always comes in uh or the the queen always comes in at the at the end it's always the rules another headache obviously for uh the king is is his son yeah um in California now we believe that Harry and Megan might be coming over for an Invictus games 10-year um the church service look what do you think about about this they're more than than a head can't they to the king at the moment huge headache I'm absolute huge headache you know you you don't know whether you can trust well I'm pretty sure they know that they can't trust Harry uh and Megan well I know I'm pretty certain that Harry is going to be here because it's Invictus games and it's his baby so I'm sure he will be at the church service whether Megan comes um I'm not terribly sure I'm I'm of the opinion that Megan won't set foot in the UK ever again and then there's the other big question if she does come and if I'm wrong if she does come will she bring the children why don't think she'll ever step fo in this because I just don't think she wants have to have anything to do at all with this country look let me tell you I was a big big supporter of Megan right at the start I thought I like the the cut of her jib everything I thought she was fantastic and if you saw her with Harry on some of those walkabouts that they did and some of those early jobs before the wedding the people were thronging the streets there wasn't anybody shouting any racial slurs or anything like that it was all joy cuz there were seeing the new young couple the new future for the monarchy not going to be king or queen but there were going to be key AIDS all the way through and they were the ones who decided Well Megan was the one who decided she didn't want to be on this road I don't believe that she she understood the pecking order of the royal family you've got the monarch you've got the the the Prince of Wales and then you've got everyone else under that she wanted to be the star and that I think it was that simple that she thought she just picked up her toys and decided to go off to America I mean it' be interesting to see what kind of public reaction oh they would get I remember at the the Jubilee I think Harry and Megan came back and they attended St Paul's Cathedral for a church service and there were so I was there there was some cheers there was some booze people were quite respectful because it was you know the Queen's um Queen's Jubilee but um you're right I mean Megan didn't seem to show much interest I suppose into she didn't give it enough time maybe to actually be a working Royal I don't actually think she'll get that huge reception from the public if she if she does come back and I think that may well be one of the factors that she may well be considering yeah as I say I might be wrong she might just brass it out and come come come over best of luck to her if she does now obviously uh Megan and and Harry talked about the wedding and and the you know the joy that happened there but it's actually 20 years this week since uh the news is broken that Prince William had a new girlfriend which was then uh well Katherine Middleton um I get a lot of comments by the way on on on on the show on YouTube I get told off the same Kate so I'm going to try now to call her Catherine I'm with you I think you should call her C call her Cather give you that respect um but it's 20 years now you would have been working then when um what was it like because they they met St Andrews say 20 years ago the news broke that that they were at a couple they did meet at St Andrews and St Andrews was a no-go area in effect for us the you know newspapers and that was new at the time was it it was completely new it was an agreement that was reached um with uh the palace that uh he wouldn't be hassled uh there were some Paparazzi who did go on the streets and try and get them but largely he was left alone but we did get to hear that he got this new girlfriend uh and this new girlfriend had actually moved into the house was one of the flatmates of Prince William there two others two guys and will and Katherine had moved in as well uh and then you got to hear about uh this new girlfriend and of course as you do with a new girlfriend you went do L and you tried to find out everything you could about her um but they were largely left Al alone for a very very long time so they had plenty of time to get to know each other unlike of course you know his mother and the prince of Wales the then Prince of Wales so I mean she she was thrown right into it all yeah I mean the difference there was I remember seeing actually I remember seeing for both Diana and Katherine um photographers chasing her down the street but I think with Katherine it was later in her relationship but reporting on um William and Katherine at the time do do you think do you think reporting of of of of Royal couples has changed since then or it changed since Diana and Charles and then to Katherine and William didn't it I think it has changed um you know a great de a great deal um some would say for the better um you have to remember as well that when the Royal women came or women came into the royal family like Diana and The Duchess of York sah Sarah The Duchess of York um they were just thrown in they were they were not not given any help or anything at all the difference between them and Catherine and uh Megan was immense you know Catherine was helped as well Andrew uh Andrew sorry um um William um made it clear right at the start Don't Mess her about and he's telling these Royal A's Don't Mess her around you know help her and so he put his foot down unlike Charles with Diana unlike Andrew with Fergie and so it was the same help that Megan received as well and you got Megan we know that there were stories around about the queen offering Lady Susan hussy one of her ladies in waiting at the time to help show her the ropes she was an American um and you know I I I think everybody was concious what happened with the last American who tried to come into the royal family that ended in an abdication um we don't want to you know we wanted to give this girl a chance she had everything really she was American she um uh was an actress um she was mixed race um uh so she had all the good and she was good-looking let's not you know I mean let's not make any bones about it she was she was a cracken looking girl so she had all the right attributes to be a good member of the royal family and she blew it at the end and you know Catherine hasn't blown it look where Catherine is now I know she's battling cancer just like the king but she's been a huge huge asset to that royal family you know given given what's been going on for the last 20 years well William and Katherine's um relationship and and marriage is one of the rare success stories over the last 30 40 years you along with Charles and Camila which has you know been been a wonderful marriage since they've been together it's one of those ones that have gone gone really well do you think from your reporting experience or from what you've seen as well whether Megan or Katherine would treated differently or whether the the two marriages and and relationships because because obviously pointed out that Megan and Harry got together really quickly um we were asked to you know the journalists were asked to step back a little bit and when Katherine and William got together were the two of the two women that married into the into the the royal family marrying these princes were they treated differently by journalists and and by the public I don't think they were not at the start I don't think they were at all um I think as as I said earlier on you know when you saw Megan with Harry when they were out and about you know the crowds were 10 12 deep was back to the good old days of you know Royal walk abouts it was fantastic um it only started to go wrong you know when you've you started to hear that there was a few strops being thrown by Megan did she make Katherine cry did she make Charlotte cry did she I you've got to accept as well that any braids going to be right up there the nerves are going to be you know razor sharp so you've got to take that into account but I I I think it all went wrong when they decided that they were going to up sticks and go I think it's just that simple could you ever see a world where the Sussex is um well har Harry and Megan um you know are lorded in the same way that that William and Katherine are that they're that they're an integral part of the roal family and and and people you know really really love them in the same way they did for William and Katherine I think that ship is sealed I think they were lorded at at one time I think you know there was Great Hopes for the pair of them coming into the RO family and you know and and given that uh you know the problems that she had with her own father that the king then Prince of Wales walked her halfway down the aisle uh as well was was was was really touching I would can't believe it could have happened for Diana or Sarah Ferguson um so I think she was given every help and every everything that she could possibly have to make her route into the royal family as clean and as as clear as possible and as I say I think she just threw it in their in their faces at the end yeah well it is remarkable 20 years now as I say of William you know since the news is broken of William and Katherine um William and Harry yeah so when you were were working did you did you did you get to meet them very often yeah what were they like as as boys and do you think that could you ever see this this this split this this dispute that they have ever happening never in a Month of Sundays would I have I would I have said they were going to fall out um Harry when he was much younger about five or six whenever he was with his mother he used to give the waiting photographers the fingers you know used to stick two fingers up and he was always chastised by Diana because he's a CH he was a cheeky chappie as the boys got older uh and I've seen them together I've seen them on the ski slopes they got on very very well and this is why I think that one of the things that Hari said in his book Spar you know about his father was so so wrong I mean I watched the prince the then Prince with his children and he was as loving uh to those boys as was Diana Diana was much more extrovert um you know once in Canada you know the boys were on the Royal batania they just arrived uh Diana and Charles have just finished a job Diana walks up the gang plank Charles is very polite he's he stands there and says hello to the captain the first officer the cook you know the first mate whatever Diana ignores them all and goes um walks runs practically down the gang plant with her arms wide open and the boys Rush up to her and give her a that's the picture that made you know the newspapers all over the world and put old Charles has left looking like a lemon as he was in India when he didn't take her to the Taj Mahal and left sitting alone there uh while he was addressing a a business meeting 500 miles away he just didn't get those sort of things right uh but the boys themselves were always very pleasant I mean I was there the day that uh William passed his driving test was great great fun um and so we we got to see them on special occasions and they were always reasonably friendly they all say hello I mean I remember in Canada when they both went to C well when they were in Canada uh it was like the Beatles had arrived this was just shortly after Diana died wasn't it this this was before this was way this was way before di died uh was it before D I can't I'm sorry well whenever it was the boys it must have been after Dana died the boys went up and they were walking up to an event and the screams it was like the Beatles you know was just pop stars stuff you know and I was behind them and Harry Harry Harry kept saying to William raise your hand again raise your hand again see what happens and know every time William's like an A waving his hand and of course all these girls were just trying to rush forward it was a fantastic and they were really really close and this is what makes it so sad that they're now so far apart I mean if William well it's not if but when William becomes king I always believed that Harry would be one of his top advisers I think that's out the window yeah right out the window it should be his wingman that was his that that's his thing and that's what Diana always wanted the boys to remain as close as possible they had each other and it was them against the rest of the world but of course now you know it's not going to happen very sad one thing I was going to say is I um so I attended the Queen's the lake Queen's funeral and I remember being there and um thinking about journalists like you that had worked on the Sun for so many years that kind of didn't get the opportunity to put a by line on or to to attend the funeral report on it however one of my regrets was that I never because of covid and because of her ill health I never really got many jobs with the late Queen Elizabeth II but you would have done you you you would have when you were reporting for the Sun and for the other newspapers and commentating you would have spoke to the queen many times have you I did and it was always fantastic chats but I I my first meeting with the the queen went terribly um it was in Germany many many years ago the late ' 80s uh where we were in a financial crisis the pound was worth nothing against the then deuts Mark and we'd gone on this tour and there there was this huge reception as there always is for a royal tour um and I was with uh another Royal reporter from another newspaper and this was my very very first meeting with a member of the royal family and uh this PL was telling me like we stand in little groups of a six or seven the queen comes around there will be a foreign office official there he's he or she is are just there just to move the queen on if the conversation gets a bit fruity or you know you know bit off I said okay okay and remember you know the queen will approach you she will hold her hand first you shake it she speaks first you know the usual thing she's she's got many ice breakers like you know uh do you come here often uh have you traveled far or aren't the flowers lovely it's this sort of opening gambits that the the monar usually does so I said to this B I said oh that's fine that's really kind of so I'm a bit nervous so they come into the room it's a huge Ballroom type it's not just a small room so there's all these people all these little groups around and this uh the mon comes up and this bloke is he's first and uh so the queen holds at her hand and as he's holding her hand he suddenly says to her do you know ma'am you cannot buy the good old you you cannot change the good old British pound in this country because of the financial crisis what do you think of that with that the foreign officer had put his H arm beh in the back of the queen and moved her on and I'm just standing there like a lemon as they moved on to the next group and I looked at him and I said I thought you said yes he said but I thought I'd try and get a reaction it didn't work did it I said no it didn't you've just robbed me in my meeting with the queen um but other times have been much more um have been much more fun I mean South Africa uh when she was having the official welcome in South Africa uh there was a a sort of 21 gun salute and uh she was standing with Tambo and Becky and we were on a sort of a concrete dis just opposite quite a bit opposite what we didn't understand or we didn't know at that time was that the guns for the 21 gun salute were underneath this dis so when they went off we had the smoke come up covered all In Smoke we couldn't see anything photographers certainly couldn't take any pictures there was nothing uh so that was ruined and later on that day we went to a reception with the queen and she came into the room and started chatting away she said how did you enjoy the um the the reception that I got and we said well she says well you said I knew what was going to happen she said because I saw uh the rehearsal the day before from my room here and I saw all the smoke come up and she said I've often wondered what the best way would be to get rid of you all and I've just found the exact way of doing just cover you in Smoke and puff you disa appear she was laughing all the way I mean she's great fun really really really good fun the last time I met the queen was in 2014 and uh she was the patron of the journalist charity uh and uh I was asked to go there with a whole loot of other journalists as well and one of the journalists that was there was a guy called Harry Arnold very famous journalist used to do your job used to do the job that we both did and and we knew then he was dying of cancer and I took it upon myself to speak to one of the AIDS of the of the queen and said look you know this is probably going to be Heidi's last outing at all about anything is it possible the queen could stop as in the rece she comes around she you what going to do and all of a sudden the queen came down she stopped in front of us hands come out shook her hands and everything else and then she said it's remarkable that the jist charity is now 100 50 years old and I just said off the cuff I said yeah it's almost as old as Harry here you know so we all started to laugh and she she she looked at me she said in her best dick emry voice he was a comedian of many many moons ago oh you are awful um but it it was a really nice thing for her to do she didn't have to do it it was nice for her to do it and there's one little postcript and that was a few months later Hari is in a hospice and the nurses are coming around and they're doing one of those dementia checks you know do you know who the prime minister is you know what date is it um do you know who the Monarch is and Harry says yes Queen Elizabeth II I was with her a few days a few weeks ago and we had a great chat and of course the US is I think he's starting to go now you know um and it was only when Mary his wife brought in the photograph of har and myself with the queen uh that they they realized that he actually did beat the queen you met them many times yeah yeah it's for shame I mean the interaction between journalists and members of the royal family may well have may have been more of it back in in in the 90s and the 0s do you think because we're often kept at at hands length these days the only real chance we ever got uh of an interaction with with a member of the Roy family was at reception that was a proper chat I mean Diana was another one who loved she loved to chat she loved to gossip um so they were always good fun events not so good with Prince Phillip Prince Phillip doesn't didn't like journalists and he was very Gruff and off hand with with with with Jas which is very enough just just on Australia to finish off if you want so you win there three or four times who did you go to Australia with um well the Duchess of York at the time uh Fergy um uh Charles and the queen I think Charles twice Charles twice and the queen yeah I mean they as I say they are hugely important to the you know the Commonwealth hugely important to the king but but but really really tiring and really grueling the um how do you think the king finally how do you think the king will get on you know on on this kind of trip is it some is it is it something that we should be pushing him to do or you know from your experience from your trips that that you've been on you know is it something that he will succeed don't you think I think he will succeed if he goes um and as I said earlier on I think it very much dependent on his advice from his doctors and the rest of the family because they will want to make sure that he is on top of his game as as best as possible given he's been fighting cancer and we don't know what stage the cancer is at now so we don't know whether he's finished with the with the treatment or whether there's still bit more of it to go or or whatever but I suspect that you know um come towards the October that the the the doctors themselves will give the okay or nay um he will want to do it because it's these tours are very important he's 76 or 75 he's 75 so there's not going to be many more lengthy tours that are going to be in on his on his Horizon just the same as the the lengthy tours for the queen you know weren't uh you know towards the end well thanks Charlie I really appreciate chatting to you um I've had a pretty good half an hour I'm going through all this um right that's all we have time for today however Me and Charlie and now going to go down the pub and he's going to tell me what really happens on a on a on a royal tour um but thanks for watching thanks for tuning in we'll be back next week with a new Fresh guest and if you like this content if you want more then please click subscribe for all the Royal news thank you for watching

Channel: The Sun

Views: 397,805

Keywords: The Sun, news, breaking news, Meghan Markle, meghan markle and prince harry, meghan markle, prince harry and meghan markle, prince harry interview, Royal news, Royal latest, royal news today, royal news, King charles, prince william latest news, Royal Exclusive show, Royal Exclusive, royal news network latest, Harry and meghan, harry and meghan latest news, harry and meghan latest news today 2024, harry and meghan latest news today, Prince Andrew, scoop netflix

Id: 9VM1ejhm3gs

Length: 31min 57sec (1917 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024