The ripple effect of Meghan Markle’s March 7 bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview still has people buzzing Down Under.
Australian TV broadcaster Edwina Bartholomew received backlash for telling the embattled Duchess of Sussex to “shut up” during Wednesday’s episode of the morning show “Sunrise.”
The popular morning show host took umbrage to recent reports that friends of the runaway royal said she would not attend Prince Philip’s funeral because she “doesn’t want to be the center of attention.”
Bartholomew said that rather than have her insiders tell the world she was trying to avoid the spotlight, Markle should have kept silent on the matter: “She’s right, if she had gone there would have been a lot of attention on her and it would have distracted I think. But for them just to say that out loud? Just go with the palace line would you for once! Just shut up!”
Last week, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed that the pregnant duchess would not join her husband Prince Harry at the funeral as she had been advised by doctors not to travel.
The “Sunrise” co-host, who said she was a fan of the couple, has reversed course: “I’ve reserved judgment about those two for quite some time, but if that is true, it just makes me so angry.”
“I still liked Harry and Meghan, I just, I just feel I’ve turned now,” she said during the live broadcast.
Soon after the on-air rant, backlash came swift on social media from some of the show’s viewers.
According to perthnow.com, Cecelia Rezina wrote: “Edwina is the one that need to shut up and just mind her business. What right does she have to judge another mother????”
“Happy to shut up about it, frankly,” Bartholomew responded.
She also reportedly wrote: “I sincerely hope they [the Sussexes] reconcile with the family this week and we can all shut up about it.”
On Thursday, Prince Harry was named as one of the 30 mourners allowed to be present at Prince Philip’s funeral on Saturday.
Queen Elizabeth will lead the nation in mourning the passing of her husband of 73 years.
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