The Queen’s youngest son says tensions within the royal family involving Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle are “very sad”.
Prince Edward’s comments came as lawyers for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wrote to media outlets following the birth of their daughter a week ago.
They did so to deny a report from the BBC that they had not consulted the Queen about using her childhood nickname Lilibet for their newborn daughter.
The duke and duchess have rarely been out of the headlines since they gave an explosive interview to US talk show host Oprah Winfrey after stepping down from royal duties and moving to the US.
Prince Edward told CNN that controversy is nothing new for the royal family.
“Weirdly we’ve all been there before,” he said.
“We’ve all had excessive intrusion and attention in our lives. And we’ve all dealt with it in slightly different ways and, listen, we wish them the very best of luck. It’s a really hard decision.
“It’s difficult for everyone but that’s families for you.”
He was speaking hours after Harry and Meghan said the BBC article, which cited an unnamed source, was “false and defamatory”.
The couple said the Queen was the first family member they called.
“During that conversation, he (Harry) shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour,” their spokesperson said.
Some royal commentators said the decision to use the name appeared to be an olive branch to the family after their falling out following the Winfrey interview.
Members of the royal family, including the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William and his wife Catherine Middleton said they were delighted by the birth.
‘I think everybody’s in pretty good shape’
Prince Edward also said his mother was “doing remarkably quite well” following the death of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years.
He said some times were harder than others, but the family was coping with the death of his father.
“It was an experience that so many other families have had to go through during this past year or 18 months and so in that sense, it was particularly poignant,” Prince Edward said.
“There are an awful lot of people who haven’t been able to express the respect that they would like to have done. I think many people would have liked to have been there to support the Queen [at the funeral].
“I think there are going to be other times further along the year where I think that it will become a bit more poignant and a bit harder.
“But at the moment, thank you very much indeed for asking. I think that everybody’s in pretty good shape really, and just working rather too hard.”
This weekend the Queen will have tea with US President Joe Biden at Windsor Castle.
She will host the President and first lady Jill Biden on Sunday, after the couple leaves the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall.
The monarch will greet the Bidens in the castle’s quadrangle, where assembled soldiers from the Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards will give a royal salute and the US national anthem will play.
Mr Biden will be invited to inspect the honour guard and watch the military march-past with the Queen.
He will be the 13th American leader to meet the monarch.
The post ‘That’s families for you’: Queen’s youngest son discusses Harry and Meghan rift appeared first on The New Daily.
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