The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Can the Royal Family Withstand Oprah’s Scrutiny?

03.15.2021 - By WNYC Studios and The New YorkerPlay

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan and Harry, the Duchess and Duke of Sussex, was riveting celebrity television, but it may also be a significant turning point in the history of the British royal family. Revelations about racism and about Meghan’s struggles with mental health are already reshaping public perception of the powerful institution. The interview also touched on racism and mental health, issues that are familiar to many families. “In the future, we will look to this interview as a real touchstone marking the change of who it is we see as authorities of their own experience,” says Doreen St. Félix. In conversation with St. Félix and the eminent historian Simon Schama, the author of a three-volume history of Britain, David Remnick discusses how the interview plays into culture wars in the U.K. and in American.

More episodes from The Political Scene | The New Yorker