Oprah with meghan and harry full interview

• Queen Elizabeth II didn't immediately respond to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey. 
• She chose to "sleep on" her reply after a statement was agreed upon, according to a new royal book.
• The book said courtiers struggled to respond because of several allegations made during the interview. 

Queen Elizabeth II chose to "sleep on" her response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, a new book claims.

According to "Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown," by The Times of London's royal correspondent Valentine Low, staffers struggled to craft a response to the March 2021 interview after the couple made a wave of allegations against members of the British royal family. 

The book was released in the UK on Thursday. 

"Less than a week after The Times story, the courtiers faced another massive challenge: how to deal with the Oprah interview. There had been so many allegations made by the couple – about racism, about security, about Meghan's mental health – that it was hard to know where to start," Low wrote. 

Low continued that the allegations of racism within the British family remained a source of contention. 

"The private secretaries and communications secretaries had long debates about how to deal with the issue, especially what one of them awkwardly called 'the R word,'" Low wrote. "That had come up because of remarks that a member of the royal family supposedly made about the colour of Harry and Meghan's future baby's skin," he continued.

According to the author, staffers created an official statement around 2 p.m. the day after the interview premiered in the United States, but Buckingham Palace chose to remain silent.  

"And then precisely nothing happened. The palace stayed completely silent, because the Queen decided that she wanted to sleep on it. She was not going to be rushed into saying anything precipitate," Low wrote. "It was a reminder that, while courtiers might do all the groundwork, the final decisions are made by the royal family."

Low concluded that "at the age of ninety-four, the Queen was very much still in charge. The four-sentence statement was eventually released just before 5.30 p.m. the following day." 

—Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 9, 2021

Buckingham Palace said in its official statement that the "whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan." 

"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately," the statement continued. 

In the bombshell interview, Harry and Meghan levied sharp criticisms. The couple claimed Markle was "silenced" by the royal family, and alleged that members of the royal family discussed how dark their son's skin would be before his birth. During the interview, Harry also claimed that his family never acknowledged the British tabloids' racist coverage of Markle.

The interview also furthered the divide between Prince William and Prince Harry, who were involved in a reported public feud, 

Following the interview, Prince William denied the racism allegations to British reporters and also confirmed that he had not spoken to his brother after the interview. 

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, sit down with Oprah for a CBS exclusive.

No Subject Is Off-Limits

Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with Oprah Winfrey.

Photo Credit: Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions

In the shocking 30-second teaser that aired during 60 Minutes, Oprah assures viewers, "I just want to make it clear to everybody there is no subject that's off-limits." Among the eyebrow-raising sound bites: Meghan alluding to life in the royal family as "almost unsurvivable," Oprah asking the Duchess, "Were you silent ... or silenced?" and Harry worrying about "history repeating itself." To say we're excited about this primetime special is a royal understatement!

Before Harry

Before she became a princess and pop culture icon, Meghan Markle was a bonafide actress. Her final (and perhaps most notable) role was playing hotshot lawyer Rachel Zane for seven seasons on Suits. Other credits include bit parts on General Hospital, Fringe, and90210, as well as a guest-starring stint on CSI: Miami, Deal or No Deal as a suitcase model, and a pair of Hallmark rom-coms!

How They Met

Harry and Meghan's engagement photo shoot.

Photo Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

How's this for a Hallmark rom-com? Meghan and Harry were set up in July 2016 by a mutual friend! And the actress didn't realize her blind date was kind of a big deal. She tells BBC:

"I'm from the States; you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family and so while I now understand very clearly, there's a global interest there. I didn't know much about him, and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said that she wanted to set us up was, I had one question. I said, 'Well is he nice?' Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn't, it didn't seem like it would make sense and so, we went and had a, met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that we said, 'Well what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.'"

Three weeks later, the smitten duo was camping underneath the stars in Botswana. Asked when he knew Meghan was The One, Harry quickly replied: "The very first time we met." Swoon!

How He Proposed

Harry and Meghan's storybook romance started in 2016.

Photo Credit: Steve Parsons /WPA Pool/Getty Images

The couple's engagement story is extraordinary for how ordinary it was! After a year-and-a-half courtship, Prince Harry popped the question ... over roast chicken? It was a standard typically cozy night at their cottage in November 2017. While prepping dinner, Harry got down on one knee. He barely got the proposal out of his mouth before Meghan said, "Can I say 'yes' now?" During their BBC interview, Harry recalls: "It was a really nice moment. It was just the two of us and I think managed to catch her by surprise, as well."

Wedding of the (21st) Century

Harry and Meghan on their wedding day!

Photo Credit: Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images

A whopping 1.9 billion people watched Harry and Meghan tie the knot on May 19, 2018. The star-studded royal wedding at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle had an A-list guest list: Serena Williams, George Clooney and wife Amal, David and Victoria Beckham, her Suits co-stars, Sir Elton John, Oprah—and Queen Elizabeth II, of course.

Then Comes Baby...

Harry and a glowing Meghan in Morocco.

Photo Credit: Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage

Five months later, Harry and Meghan announced they were expecting their first baby in spring 2019!

Meet Archie

The Duke and Duchess with their adorable baby!

Photo Credit: Toby Melville /Pool/Getty Images

Baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born May 6, 2019, at 5:26 a.m. local time, weighing 7 lbs 3 ounces, at London's Portland Hospital. Archie is the Queen's eighth great-grandchild and seventh in line to the throne.

Ready for Primetime

Meghan wears an Armani gown for her Oprah interview.

Photo Credit: YouTube

Pregnant with Baby No. 2 (!), Meghan looks stunning in a belted, foiliage-embroidered $4,700 Armani gown and aquamarine necklace by Pippa Small. Keep an eye out for The Duchess' diamond bracelet, believed to be a Cartier heirloom once owned by Harry's famous mum, Princess Diana!

Royal Pains

Harry and Meghan holding court with Queen Elizabeth II.

Photo Credit: John Stillwell /WPA Pool/Getty Images

A shocking topic that surely viewers (and Buckingham Palace) will be most interested in during the no-holds-barred Oprah interview: Why Harry and Meghan decided to step down from their royal duties!

In a clip teasing the two-hour special, Harry tells Oprah: "I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side, because I can't imagine what it must have been like for her [Diana], going through this process by herself all those years ago. It's been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other."

An Afternoon with Prince Harry & James Corden

Get hyped for the Harry and Meghan interview with this hilarious segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden.The late-night host recently spent the afternoon with his fellow Brit, who revealed how the "toxic" press was affecting his mental health and what Harry really thinks about The Crown!

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Don't miss the rebroadcast ofOprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special this Friday, March 12 at 8/7c on CBS. Stream for free on the new CBS App.

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