Pictured: Cover of the September 2017 issue of Vanity Fair featuring Meghan Markle and the caption ‘Wild About Harry!’ which reportedly angered Buckingham Palace
Megan Markle hysterically called after her PR team Buckingham Palace reacted with ‘anger’ to her Vanity Fair interview Prince Harryhas claimed a bombastic new book.
Tom Bower, journalist and author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors, says Meghan was “thrilled” when asked to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue and for an interview to lead with the magazine.
But when the magazine appeared with the headline “Wild About Harry” on the cover – which focused on Meghan’s relationship with the British prince rather than her work as an actress, activist and philanthropist – Bower said the palace was surprised.
Within hours of the advance copies of the magazine being sent to Buckingham Palace, Bower said Meghan called her PR firm and told them “hysterically” about the Palace’s anger.
Keleigh Thomas Morgan, partner at Meghan’s PR firm Sunshine Sachs, organized the interview, which was conducted by Sam Kashner – a longtime editor at Vanity Fair.
According to Bower, Kashner was told that Meghan was strictly instructed by both Harry and her PR firm to avoid sensitive issues – like race, Donald Trump and her relationship with the prince.
The interview was conducted at Meghan’s home. Bower says Kashner was uneasy knowing Meghan was being told to be careful about what she said to him.
“Both knew that a lot was at stake in the interview, and both understood that the critical question had been turned down by Harry,” says Bower in his new book The sun Newspaper. “Meghan spoke, he realized, knowing she had the winning ticket but avoiding giving an impression of triumphalism.”
After first discussing Meghan’s speech to the United Nations and a letter she sent to Procter & Gamble as an 11-year-old asking them to change a slogan seen as sexist on dish soap, Kashner asked her about Harry .
Pictured: Prince Harry (right) and Meghan Markle (centre) perform alongside the Queen in July 2018. For her 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, 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 will 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 only ours. But we are happy. Personally, I love great love stories.”
Pre-release copies of Vanity Fair’s September 2017 issue were given to Megan’s PR agency and Buckingham Palace. Her unexpected openness to Harry surprised the palace, Bower writes.
Harry and Meghan are pictured at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Thanksgiving service in June
“Like a thunderbolt, the interview triggered sensational reactions: 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 fiancee.”
According to Bower, within hours of posting, before the release, Meghan called Ken Sunshine and Keleigh Thomas Morgan and told them about the palace’s “anger.”
She said the agency should have had her comments about her relationship with Harry removed, raising fears she would fire her over the cover.
Ken Sunshine reportedly told the editor of Vanity Fair that he needed to take issue with the Queen. Ken Sunshine was told that Meghan only got the cover “because she was likely to get married,” Bower writes, and not on her own merit.
MailOnline has reached out to representatives from Meghan Markel, Sunshine Sachs and Buckingham Palace for comment.
