Pictured: Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue cover, featuring Meghan Markle and the headline ‘Wild About Harry!’, which reportedly angered Buckingham Palace
Meghan Marklea called her PR team in hysteria Buckingham Palace responded with ‘anger’ to her Vanity Fair interview about Prince Harryhas claimed a bombshell new book.
Tom Bower, journalist and author of “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors,” says Meghan was “ecstatic” when she was asked to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue and do an interview with the magazine. to do.
But when the magazine ran with the headline “Wild About Harry” on the cover — focusing on Meghan’s relationship with the British prince rather than her work as an actor, activist and philanthropist — Bower said the palace was surprised.
Within hours of the magazine’s pre-publication copies being sent to Buckingham Palace, Bower said Meghan called her PR agency and told them “hysterically” about the palace’s anger.
Keleigh Thomas Morgan, a partner at Meghan’s PR firm Sunshine Sachs, hosted the interview, which was conducted by Sam Kashner – a longtime contributing editor at Vanity Fair, who admitted before the interview that he had no idea who Meghan was.
According to Bower, Kashner was told that Meghan was under strict orders from both Harry and her PR agency to avoid sensitive topics such as race, Donald Trump and her relationship with the Prince.
The interview took place at Meghan’s home. Bower says Kashner felt uncomfortable knowing Meghan had been told to be careful about what she told him.
“Both knew there was a lot on the interview, and both understood that the critical issue of Harry had been vetoed,” Bower says in his new book. The sun newspaper.
“Meghan spoke, he realized, knowing she had the winning ticket, but she avoided giving the impression of triumphalism.”
After first discussing Meghan’s speech at the United Nations and a letter she sent to Procter & Gamble as an 11-year-old requesting that they change a slogan promoting it as a sexist dishwashing liquid, Kashner asked her about Harry.
Pictured: Prince Harry (right) and Meghan Markle (center) appear next to the Queen in July 2018. Before her interview with Vanity Fair in 2017, Meghan was reportedly told by Harry not to disclose their relationship
To Kashner’s surprise, Bower writes, Meghan replied, “We’re a couple. We are in love.’
As reported by Vanity Fair in 2017, Meghan said, “I’m sure there will come a time when we’re going to have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope people will understand that this is our time.
‘This is for us. It’s part of what makes it so special, that it’s just ours. But we are happy. Personally, I like a great love story.’
Bower says Kashner was “quietly delighted” with the actress’s comments.
Bower says that over the next few days, Kashner named those Meghan had recommended as her friends. Serena Williams denied she was Meghan’s girlfriend, but only an acquaintance, saying, “You have to be who you are, Meghan. You can’t hide.’
Pre-published copies of Vanity Fair’s September 2017 edition were released to Megan’s PR agency and Buckingham Palace. Her unexpected openness about Harry surprised the palace, Bower writes.
Harry and Meghan are pictured at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Thanksgiving Mass, June
“The interview caused sensational reactions like a bolt of thunder: Meghan had used her relationship with Harry to promote herself,” he says.
“The Hollywoodization of the royal family had sealed Meghan’s fate as Harry’s betrothed.”
According to Bower, within hours of the pre-publication, Meghan called Ken Sunshine and Keleigh Thomas Morgan to tell them about the palace’s “rage.”
She said the agency had to have her comments about her relationship with Harry removed, leaving her fearful she would fire them over the cover, and asked questions about why there wasn’t more of her philanthropy and activism in the piece.
Bower reports that the piece omitted comments on the matter because Vanity Fair researchers were unable to prove her claims were correct.
Notably, they could find no evidence that she played a major role in convincing Procter & Gamble to change their slogan, nor could they prove that she received a response after writing to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.
According to Bower, Kashner later recalled, “She complained because she wasn’t presented the way she wanted. She demanded that the media do what she expected. I felt manipulated.’
Ken Sunshine is said to have told the editor of Vanity Fair that he should “talk to the Queen about this”.
Sunshine was told that Meghan only got the cover “because she would probably get married,” Bower writes, and not on her own merit.
MailOnline has reached out to representatives for Meghan Markel, Sunshine Sachs and Buckingham Palace for comment.
Revenge: MEGHAN, HARRY AND THE WAR BETWEEN THE WINDSORS by Tom Bower, to be published July 21st by Blink Publishing for £22