Speaker 1: Hey there, I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, one of the co hosts
Speaker 1: of Vanity Fair's newest podcast, Dynasty. Dynasty is dedicated to
Speaker 1: revealing the shocking behavior, devastating riffs, secret alliances, epic romances,
Speaker 1: and complicated dynamics that shape the most influential families in
Speaker 1: the world today. Keep listening for a preview of our
Speaker 1: first season covering the British royal family, the Windsors, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to follow Dynasty wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: After spending the holidays in Canada, Megan Markel and Prince
Speaker 1: Harry are back home in England and today they shot
Speaker 1: the world with a bombshell announcement. Harry and Meghan are
Speaker 1: stepping back from royal life and setting up a new
Speaker 1: home in North America. This da night, We're married. We
Speaker 1: were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to
Speaker 1: serve For those reasons. It brings me great sadness that
Speaker 1: it has come to this. The decision that I have
Speaker 1: made for my wife and I to step back is
Speaker 1: not one I made lightly. There was so many months
Speaker 1: of talks, after so many years of challenges. It was
Speaker 1: an email that just made you just stop everything you
Speaker 1: were doing. There were whispers that perhaps they were thinking
Speaker 1: about leaving Britain, but the Palace just gave that absolutely
Speaker 1: no credence at all. Every time we asked, and I
Speaker 1: remember very clearly asking their head of colms, we were
Speaker 1: sort of told no, no, absolutely not. And then the
Speaker 1: Sun published an exclusive. Dan Wootton, who has brilliant sources,
Speaker 1: suggested very strongly that they were not going to be
Speaker 1: around for very long. But I don't think anyone expected
Speaker 1: that within hours of that Sun's splash, Bucking and Palace
Speaker 1: would be announcing that Harry and Megan were standing down
Speaker 1: as working royals. That was January and it was one
Speaker 1: of those days where I come in the British new
Speaker 1: cycle has already been running for a morning by the
Speaker 1: time I sat down at my desk, and nobody seems
Speaker 1: to know what's going on. And so I kind of
Speaker 1: had a story that was all ready to go, which
Speaker 1: is nobody seems to know what's going on, and right
Speaker 1: when we were, you know, getting ready to send it
Speaker 1: to the lawyers, we get this email that says that
Speaker 1: Megan and Harry they're out. Well within minutes of getting
Speaker 1: that email, erin, I know you were filing. I think
Speaker 1: I was filing from the back of a taxi on
Speaker 1: my way to Westminster, where I was going to the
Speaker 1: studio to report Live for Entertainment tonight. I tried for
Speaker 1: that entire journey, which must have taken about forty minutes,
Speaker 1: to get hold of someone, anyone from the Palace. I
Speaker 1: think I must have called twenty different numbers, thirty different numbers,
Speaker 1: and eventually, with minutes before going on air, I managed
Speaker 1: to get through to a very senior aid who was
Speaker 1: able to give me a briefing. It was very evident
Speaker 1: to me, when all of those mobiles went straight to
Speaker 1: voicemail and the switchboard was in meltdown at the Palace
Speaker 1: that this had taken them as much by surprise as
Speaker 1: it had us. I mean, it makes sense. This wasn't
Speaker 1: just a media emergency. Harry and Meghan had held official
Speaker 1: palace roles, real jobs with a staff and diplomatic duties,
Speaker 1: public engagements, charities and patronages, so when they decided to leave,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just a publicity statement. It threatened how the
Speaker 1: royal organization would operate. So fast forward to February. It's
Speaker 1: been almost a year since the couple announced that they
Speaker 1: were taking a step back from the royal roles and
Speaker 1: moving across the pond the megsit. Right after that, the
Speaker 1: pandemic hits Prince Andrew's and the headlines for all the
Speaker 1: wrong reasons, you know, Jeffrey Epstein, no good news for
Speaker 1: the world or for the Windsors. And still Harry and
Speaker 1: Meghan's relationship with the family could be described as icy
Speaker 1: at this point, But intact the previous spring, they reportedly
Speaker 1: celebrated their son Archie's first birthday. I was told there
Speaker 1: had been family FaceTime chat. Harry was at this point
Speaker 1: in very regular contact with the Queen, to the point
Speaker 1: that she was laughing with one of her friends about
Speaker 1: how often he was video calling her. But all of
Speaker 1: that was going to change. Good evening, I mean, Hannamancy,
Speaker 1: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tell their side of
Speaker 1: the story in a long awaited interview. I don't know
Speaker 1: how they could expect we would still just be silent
Speaker 1: what they had to say about the royal rift that
Speaker 1: has rattled the foundations of Buckingham Powells the Oprah interview.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that. We'll get to that, Aaron, We're
Speaker 1: going to give a whole episode to that. But I
Speaker 1: think what was so interesting is that just after the
Speaker 1: announcement that that interview was happening, the Palace declares that
Speaker 1: Harry and Megan's split working Royals is now permanent, which
Speaker 1: means Harry loses all his honorary titles and titles, particularly
Speaker 1: royal ones, mean profile and money. The move revealed not
Speaker 1: just a fractured institution, but a fractured family. And then,
Speaker 1: just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, you're
Speaker 1: watching BBC News from London. A short while ago, Buckingham
Speaker 1: Palace announced the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip,
Speaker 1: the Duke of Edinburgh. In a statement, the Palace said,
Speaker 1: it is with deep sorrow that her Majesty the Queen
Speaker 1: announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness,
Speaker 1: the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This is Dynasty, a
Speaker 1: podcast from Vanity Fair. In this series, we're exploring the
Speaker 1: families at the seat of power, how they claimed it
Speaker 1: and how they maintain it. This season we're talking about
Speaker 1: the British Royals, the Windsors. We're taking you inside one
Speaker 1: of the most powerful families in the world. We're going
Speaker 1: to look at it all. Incredible wealth and privilege, very
Speaker 1: bad behavior, clashes with the press, and of course some
Speaker 1: epic love affairs and royal weddings. I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, Vanity
Speaker 1: fairstaff writer and I'm Katy Nichol Vanitife Royals correspondent. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Vanitife's Dynasty The Windses, Episode one, Never Complain, Never Explain.
Speaker 1: In America, from the time that we're children, were taught
Speaker 1: about these pieces of paper, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution
Speaker 1: in the Bill of Rights. We put them on display
Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. But we also breathe life into
Speaker 1: them because they're imbued with our ideals. Britain also has
Speaker 1: documents at the basis of their system, but to symbolize
Speaker 1: the story of how they became a nation. Though the
Speaker 1: UK has a Emily, Elizabeth's role as queen emphasizes that
Speaker 1: her blood is the same as William the Conqueror and
Speaker 1: all of the monarchs who followed him. The royals connect
Speaker 1: the country to its very beginnings, so in that way,
Speaker 1: the royal family's power comes from their family line and
Speaker 1: continuing it means marriage and children exactly and That's precisely
Speaker 1: why discord within the family is so damaging and such
Speaker 1: a threat, because it's not just like the family squabbles
Speaker 1: that you and I might have. The stakes for the
Speaker 1: royal family are much much higher. Look at Harry and Megan.
Speaker 1: The rejection of their roles sent shock waves through the palace.
Speaker 1: It wasn't technically a constitutional crisis, but it rocked the
Speaker 1: institution to the core and actually caused a complete revision
Speaker 1: of the top tier of royals. The Oprah interview changed
Speaker 1: how a lot of people felt about the Royals. Megan
Speaker 1: and Harry lifted the lid on life inside the monarch key.
Speaker 1: They described why they were so unhappy they had no
Speaker 1: choice but to leave. That's the sad irony of the
Speaker 1: last four years, as I've advocated for so long for
Speaker 1: women to use their voice, and then I was silent.
Speaker 1: Were you silent or were you silenced? The latter we
Speaker 1: heard Harry accused his family of cussing off his finances,
Speaker 1: a row of titles, and then the devastating revelation from Megan,
Speaker 1: who said she was so unhappy she'd had suicidal thoughts
Speaker 1: while she was pregnant with Archie. One of the most
Speaker 1: shocking moments of that interview came when Megan and Harry
Speaker 1: alleged that somebody in the royal family had been making
Speaker 1: comments about the color of their unborn child skin and
Speaker 1: what it might look like. They left the family member
Speaker 1: who made the racist comments unnamed, but that just sparked
Speaker 1: its own frenzy of speculation, and it just kept getting uglier.
Speaker 1: A well sourced report detailed complaints from former staffers of
Speaker 1: Kensington Palace about Megan's alleged bullying behavior during your time
Speaker 1: as a senior royal, and the Palace decided to investigate.
Speaker 1: Megan denied the allegations, which she called just the latest
Speaker 1: attacks on her character. It was clear that the war
Speaker 1: was on. It was certainly curious timing. I think this
Speaker 1: was the Palace going into battle mode. It had braced
Speaker 1: itself for the interview, and a few days after oprah Ad,
Speaker 1: the Queen releases a statement. It's just sixty words, sixcinct
Speaker 1: and to the point. Here's the Queen's statement, as read
Speaker 1: on Entertainment Tonight on March nine. The whole family is
Speaker 1: saddened to learn the full extent about challenging the last
Speaker 1: few years have been for Harry and Megan. The issues raised,
Speaker 1: particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary,
Speaker 1: they are taken very seriously and be addressed by the
Speaker 1: family privately. Harry, Megan and Archie will always be much
Speaker 1: loved family members. The three words that jump out to
Speaker 1: me most in that statement our recollections may vary, which
Speaker 1: I think is just a stroke of genius um And
Speaker 1: the Queen does have brilliant speechwriters. Who knows whether they
Speaker 1: were her words or theirs, but they certainly made it
Speaker 1: clear that there was more than one interpretation to what
Speaker 1: Harry and Megan had alleged on OPRAH. Now, just after
Speaker 1: this statement has been made, William and Kate are on
Speaker 1: an official visit to a school in London and reporter
Speaker 1: asks if he's spoken to his brother, to which he replies, no, then,
Speaker 1: and can you just let me know? Is that the
Speaker 1: Royal family arranged family sir very much. To call this
Speaker 1: a pr disaster would be an understatement. It was more
Speaker 1: than a simple lifting of the veil. It was a
Speaker 1: rare siege on the palace walls. The institution was unprepared.
Speaker 1: The allegations that Megan and Harry shared really prompted many
Speaker 1: to question what place a hereditary monarch he has in
Speaker 1: the modern world. And just as all of that is
Speaker 1: playing out, the Palace announced that Prince Philip had died
Speaker 1: on April ninth. I want to hear more about this
Speaker 1: royal funeral and how it revealed that all was not
Speaker 1: well in the House of Windsor head over to the
Speaker 1: Dynasty feed by searching Dynasty by Vanity Fair wherever you're
Speaker 1: listening now, or via the link in this episode's notes