The BBC journalist who conducted Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement interview has responded to Markle’s claim that it was an “orchestrated reality show”.
Mishal Husain said “recollections may vary” about the interview after she posed the questions in 2017 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they were getting married.
Reflecting on the exchange in her bombshell Netflix documentary, Markle said it was staged.
“It was, you know, rehearsed,” she said. “So we did the thing out with the press and then we went right inside, took the coat off, sat down and did the interview. So it was all in that same moment.”
Speaking in the third episode of Harry & Meghan, she added that the couple were told what to expect during the interview.
“Yeah, but also like, ‘Then there’ll be a moment where they’ll want to see the ring, so show the ring’… We weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want [it],” she said.
Harry added: “We’ve never been allowed to tell our story.”
It was not clear if the “they” she was referring to was the royal family or those involved in setting up the interview, which was screened on broadcasters around the world.
Husain was presenting BBC Radio 4’s Today programme when she was confronted with Markle’s allegation. She could be heard chuckling and Justin Webb, her co-presenter, joked that she was the “orchestrator”.
“We know recollections may vary on this particular subject, but my recollection is definitely very much: asked to do an interview and do said interview,” Husain said.
Webb replied: “You’ve told your truth.”
