A royal family member’s comments about media mogul Oprah Winfrey have received backlash online.
Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, in an interview for The Telegraph with her husband Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex minimized Oprah’s career successes.
Sophie said, “You know, if you’re not into chat shows, there’s no reason why you should know who she is — certainly not in this country anyway.”
The comment came after it was revealed that the Archbishop of Canterbury had a “long conversation” with Winfrey during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding and he apparently didn’t know who she was.
The comments come three months after the infamous televised interview with Winfrey, Prince Harry, and Markle where they discussed their departure from the royal family.
During the interview, the couple addressed comments made by members of the royal family regarding their son Archie’s skin color. They also spoke about Harry’s fear of “history repeating itself” in reference to the 1997 death of his mother Princess Diana.
“In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Markle told Winfrey in March.
According to the Associated Press, Buckingham Palace released a statement calling the accusations around Archie’s race “concerning.”
“While some recollections may vary, they are taken seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” the press release said.
When asked by the interviewer about the recent comments made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the couple brushed off the question.
“What interview?” Sophie responded. Edward chimed in jokingly that he hadn’t heard about the interview.
The relationship between Prince Harry, 36, and the royal family has remained cold, and he has continued to hurl criticism towards his father, Prince Charles, 72.
In the third episode of the AppleTV+ series with Winfrey called “The Me You Can’t See” surrounding mental health, Harry said: “My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to William and I, ‘Well, it was like that for me, so it’s gonna be like that for you.’ That doesn’t make sense.”
“Just because you suffered, it doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer. In fact, quite the opposite. If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever experiences, negative experiences that you had, you can make it right for your kids.”
He added that he and his wife “chose to put our mental health first,” which he says his father still doesn’t understand.
The remarks have ignited a back-and-forth between people online with some supporters criticizing the media for taking the Countess of Wessex’s comments out of context.
The Rumble Online criticized the “outrage,” noting, “In no way was the couple disparaging Oprah’s work or achievements, but ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ never aired in the UK, it didn’t have the following it had in the US – it doesn’t take away from the impact that Oprah has had on the media world of wider.”
Twitter user Jennifer Chaung asked whether Royal Editor Omid Scobie took an issue with Sophie’s statements and if the Oprah Winfrey Show aired in the United Kingdom. “It aired on British TV in the 80s, 90s, and 00s,” he responded.
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