A former royal secretary has claimed that the Queen will be ‘more angry’ with Harry and Meghan than she was after Prince Andrew’s ‘car crash’ interview last year.
Dickie Arbiter, 80, spoke on Good Morning Britain during a discussion surrounding the revelation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex want to step back from their roles as senior royals and plan to work towards becoming "financially independent”.
He was a press spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II from 1988 until 2000, and was appointed as LVO in 1996.
When asked by the ITV show’s hosts Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid how the Queen will likely be feeling today, Dickie was clear with his comments.
“The Queen will be feeling very let down and very angry - probably more angry than she felt after Andrew’s car crash interview last year,” he said.
He referenced the BBC interview with Newsnight's Emily Maitlis, after which the Duke of York was widely criticised for his account of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
After Dickie’s comments, collective gasp from the GMB panel - including Including Dancing On Ice star Trisha Goddard - of “really?” rung out before Dickie continued.
He said: “I would have thought so because this thing with Andrew has been going on for ages. This is a bombshell that has been dropped, and to suggest that the photograph of the queen and three heirs in waiting was the touch paper, is absolute nonsense.”
Dickie also criticised the couple for how they plan to change the way they deal with the press.
“I think they’re asking for trouble, Harry and Meghan, quite frankly,” he said.
“Because if you try and limit the coverage to the exclusion of everyone else you’re going to leave yourself wide open to speculation, wrong stories appearing on social media which I think has been their biggest problem, not so much the mainstream media in this country.”
GMB airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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