Introducing: Dynasty

After spending the holidays in Canada, Megan Markel and Prince Harry are back home in England and today they shot the world with a bombshell announcement. Harry and Meghan are stepping back from royal life and setting up a new home in North America. This da night, We're married. We were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to serve For those reasons. It brings me great sadness that it has come to this. The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is

not one I made lightly. There was so many months of talks, after so many years of challenges. It was an email that just made you just stop everything you were doing. There were whispers that perhaps they were thinking about leaving Britain, but the Palace just gave that absolutely no credence at all. Every time we asked, and I remember very clearly asking their head of colms, we were sort of told no, no, absolutely not. And then the

Sun published an exclusive. Dan Wootton, who has brilliant sources, suggested very strongly that they were not going to be around for very long. But I don't think anyone expected that within hours of that Sun's splash, Bucking and Palace would be announcing that Harry and Megan were standing down as working royals. That was January and it was one of those days where I come in the British new cycle has already been running for a morning by the time I sat down at my desk, and nobody seems

to know what's going on. And so I kind of had a story that was all ready to go, which is nobody seems to know what's going on, and right when we were, you know, getting ready to send it to the lawyers, we get this email that says that Megan and Harry they're out. Well within minutes of getting that email, erin, I know you were filing. I think I was filing from the back of a taxi on my way to Westminster, where I was going to the

studio to report Live for Entertainment tonight. I tried for that entire journey, which must have taken about forty minutes, to get hold of someone, anyone from the Palace. I think I must have called twenty different numbers, thirty different numbers, and eventually, with minutes before going on air, I managed to get through to a very senior aid who was

able to give me a briefing. It was very evident to me, when all of those mobiles went straight to voicemail and the switchboard was in meltdown at the Palace that this had taken them as much by surprise as it had us. I mean, it makes sense. This wasn't just a media emergency. Harry and Meghan had held official palace roles, real jobs with a staff and diplomatic duties, public engagements, charities and patronages, so when they decided to leave,

it wasn't just a publicity statement. It threatened how the royal organization would operate. So fast forward to February. It's been almost a year since the couple announced that they were taking a step back from the royal roles and moving across the pond the megsit. Right after that, the pandemic hits Prince Andrew's and the headlines for all the wrong reasons, you know, Jeffrey Epstein, no good news for

the world or for the Windsors. And still Harry and Meghan's relationship with the family could be described as icy at this point, But intact the previous spring, they reportedly celebrated their son Archie's first birthday. I was told there had been family FaceTime chat. Harry was at this point in very regular contact with the Queen, to the point that she was laughing with one of her friends about how often he was video calling her. But all of

that was going to change. Good evening, I mean, Hannamancy, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tell their side of the story in a long awaited interview. I don't know how they could expect we would still just be silent what they had to say about the royal rift that has rattled the foundations of Buckingham Powells the Oprah interview. We'll get to that. We'll get to that, Aaron, We're

going to give a whole episode to that. But I think what was so interesting is that just after the announcement that that interview was happening, the Palace declares that Harry and Megan's split working Royals is now permanent, which means Harry loses all his honorary titles and titles, particularly royal ones, mean profile and money. The move revealed not just a fractured institution, but a fractured family. And then, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, you're

watching BBC News from London. A short while ago, Buckingham Palace announced the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. In a statement, the Palace said, it is with deep sorrow that her Majesty the Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness, the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This is Dynasty, a podcast from Vanity Fair. In this series, we're exploring the families at the seat of power, how they claimed it

and how they maintain it. This season we're talking about the British Royals, the Windsors. We're taking you inside one of the most powerful families in the world. We're going to look at it all. Incredible wealth and privilege, very bad behavior, clashes with the press, and of course some epic love affairs and royal weddings. I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, Vanity

fairstaff writer and I'm Katy Nichol Vanitife Royals correspondent. Welcome to Vanitife's Dynasty The Windses, Episode one, Never Complain, Never Explain. In America, from the time that we're children, were taught about these pieces of paper, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution in the Bill of Rights. We put them on display in Washington, d C. But we also breathe life into

them because they're imbued with our ideals. Britain also has documents at the basis of their system, but to symbolize the story of how they became a nation. Though the UK has a Emily, Elizabeth's role as queen emphasizes that her blood is the same as William the Conqueror and

all of the monarchs who followed him. The royals connect the country to its very beginnings, so in that way, the royal family's power comes from their family line and continuing it means marriage and children exactly and That's precisely why discord within the family is so damaging and such a threat, because it's not just like the family squabbles that you and I might have. The stakes for the royal family are much much higher. Look at Harry and Megan.

The rejection of their roles sent shock waves through the palace. It wasn't technically a constitutional crisis, but it rocked the institution to the core and actually caused a complete revision of the top tier of royals. The Oprah interview changed how a lot of people felt about the Royals. Megan and Harry lifted the lid on life inside the monarch key. They described why they were so unhappy they had no

choice but to leave. That's the sad irony of the last four years, as I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then I was silent. Were you silent or were you silenced? The latter we heard Harry accused his family of cussing off his finances, a row of titles, and then the devastating revelation from Megan, who said she was so unhappy she'd had suicidal thoughts

while she was pregnant with Archie. One of the most shocking moments of that interview came when Megan and Harry alleged that somebody in the royal family had been making comments about the color of their unborn child skin and what it might look like. They left the family member who made the racist comments unnamed, but that just sparked its own frenzy of speculation, and it just kept getting uglier.

A well sourced report detailed complaints from former staffers of Kensington Palace about Megan's alleged bullying behavior during your time as a senior royal, and the Palace decided to investigate. Megan denied the allegations, which she called just the latest attacks on her character. It was clear that the war was on. It was certainly curious timing. I think this was the Palace going into battle mode. It had braced itself for the interview, and a few days after oprah Ad,

the Queen releases a statement. It's just sixty words, sixcinct and to the point. Here's the Queen's statement, as read on Entertainment Tonight on March nine. The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent about challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Megan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Megan and Archie will always be much

loved family members. The three words that jump out to me most in that statement our recollections may vary, which I think is just a stroke of genius um And the Queen does have brilliant speechwriters. Who knows whether they were her words or theirs, but they certainly made it clear that there was more than one interpretation to what

Harry and Megan had alleged on OPRAH. Now, just after this statement has been made, William and Kate are on an official visit to a school in London and reporter asks if he's spoken to his brother, to which he replies, no, then, and can you just let me know? Is that the Royal family arranged family sir very much. To call this a pr disaster would be an understatement. It was more than a simple lifting of the veil. It was a rare siege on the palace walls. The institution was unprepared.

The allegations that Megan and Harry shared really prompted many to question what place a hereditary monarch he has in the modern world. And just as all of that is playing out, the Palace announced that Prince Philip had died on April ninth. I want to hear more about this royal funeral and how it revealed that all was not well in the House of Windsor head over to the Dynasty feed by searching Dynasty by Vanity Fair wherever you're listening now, or via the link in this episode's notes