Prince Harry’s Conversations With William and Charles Not ‘Productive,’ According to Gayle King

Prince Harry has reportedly spoken to his father, Prince Charles and his brother, Prince William since his interview with Oprah Winfrey aired. Harry made headlines last week when he and his wife Meghan Markle opened up about their royal experience on national TV. On Tuesday, CBS This Morning host Gayle King said that Harry and his family have since made some progress.

From the sound of it, King has an inside scoop on Markle and Harry, and has permission to share her insights with viewers. King is also best friends with Winfrey, who organized the interview with the couple and happens to live next door to them. King said: “Well, I’m not trying to break news, but I did actually call them to see how they were feeling, and it’s true, Harry has talked to his brother and he has talked to his father too.”

“The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive,” King went on. “But they are glad that they have at least started a conversation. And I think what is still upsetting to them is the palace keeps saying they want to work it out privately, but yet, they believe these false stories are coming out that are very disparaging against Meghan, still.”

While the Prince of Wales and his heir have reportedly talked to Harry, King said that “no one in the royal family has talked to Meghan yet, at this particular time.” She speculated that the nature of Harry and Markle’s complaints is making it hard for them to accept or acknowledge any blame in these proceedings.

“I think it’s frustrating for them to see that it’s a racial conversation about the royal family when all they wanted all along was for the royals to intervene and tell the press to stop with the unfair, inaccurate, false stories that definitely have a racial slant,” she said. “And until you can acknowledge that, I think it’s going to be hard to move forward. But they both want to move forward with this and they both want healing in this family. At the end of the day, that is Harry’s family.”

Markle and Prince Harry took over all of news media last weekend in Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special. The 85-minute interview featured refutations of tabloid articles, complaints about the royal infrastructure for handling such scandals, and insinuations of racism within the palace itself. Some of the most dramatic parts were Harry’s complaints about his own family.

Oprah with Meghan and Harry will be available for free on CBS.com and the CBS app until April 6, 2021.