Lawyers for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say it’s false to claim they have ‘reignited a rift’ with the Queen
It comes after updated Finding Freedom book claimed they believe she has failed to act over racism claims
Book also now covers Harry’s return to the UK in April for his grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in Windsor
It claims Harry spoke to brother Prince William three times and briefly chatted to his father Prince Charles
Book concludes that trip for funeral ‘broke the ice’ and that the door to a rapprochement is now ‘slightly ajar’
Lawyers for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today denied the couple had ‘reignited a rift’ with the Queen after an updated biography claimed they believe she has failed to act over their accusations of racism.
The new edition of Finding Freedom suggests the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were ‘not surprised’ at a perceived lack of action over their claim that a senior royal expressed ‘concern’ about their unborn child’s skin colour.
It says they took exception to a carefully-worded statement from the Queen, following their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, in which she expressed concern for the couple but insisted that ‘some recollections may vary’.
Days later, Prince William told reporters that the royals were ‘very much not a racist family’ and admitted he was yet to speak to his estranged brother following the Oprah interview.
Now, the updated edition of Finding Freedom has claimed that the Sussexes were far from happy at Buckingham Palace’s official response.
But their legal team at Schillings told MailOnline today that it was false and defamatory to claim the couple have ‘reignited a rift’ with the Queen – or to suggest or imply that they have made any statements to that effect.
Their lawyers insisted there were no new developments on the topic and that the claims were from the authors of the book, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, who do not speak for the Sussexes and rely on unnamed sources.
Mr Scobie also tried to clarify the situation, tweeting: ‘Back at this rodeo and, predictably, words are already being twisted.
The comments made by a SOURCE (a detail some outlets have purposefully ignored) was about a lack of ownership from the royal institution as a whole. There’s no ‘attack’ against the Queen anywhere in the book.’
An excerpt from the new version of Finding Freedom due to be published in People magazine in the US tomorrow states that the couple believe senior royals have not taken ‘accountability’ – preventing a major thaw in relations.
The extract reads: ‘Those three words, ‘recollections may vary’, did not go unnoticed by the couple, who a close source said were ‘not surprised’ that full ownership was not taken.
‘Months later and little accountability has been taken,’ a pal of Meghan’s added. ‘How can you move forward without that?’ ‘
