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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Louise Randell

Why is the Royal Family called The Firm? Prince Philip's powerful nickname that stuck

Meghan Markle is set to lift the lid on her decision to walk away from life as a senior royal in her upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry filmed the tell-all several weeks ago, and it's going to debut in American on Sunday night with a UK broadcast the next day.

A new teaser clip for the interview has been released showing Meghan talking to Oprah about her relationship with her inlaws.

In the video, she refers to the royal family as 'The Firm' - a nickname that has often been used to suggest a darker side to the House of Windsor.

Oprah asks Meghan how she felt about the Palace might feel about "hearing you speak your truth today?"

Meghan responds: "I don't know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us."

Meghan Markle spoke to Oprah Winfrey about 'The Firm' (NBC)

The name was reportedly coined by Prince Philip, who is believed to have referred to marrying into The Firm when he tied the knot with then-Princess Elizabeth before she became Queen.

It's also believed to refer to the core of senior royals at the heart of the family, with reports suggesting the list of eight had to be rejigged recently.

Prince Andrew took a step back from his royal duties after being caught up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal - and giving a car-crash interview with Newsnight last year.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is believed to have come up with the term The Firm after marrying into the family (Getty Images)

The list of eight also lost Meghan and Harry when they decided to walk away from their roles as senior royals and start a new life in America.

It's now said to include the Queen and Prince Philip, Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex; Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess Anne.

The name The Firm has stuck and has been regularly used to reference the royals over the years.

The Firm is believed to be made up of a core of eight senior royals (Getty)

Royal biographer Penny Junor even used it as the title of a book about the family - calling it The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor.

There was also a reference to it in Oscar-winning movie The King's Speech with Colin Firth's character of King George VI declaring: "We're not a family, we're a firm".

However, the film was actually set long before Philip married Elizabeth and came up with the nickname.

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