Meghan Markle and Prince Harry 'missed a crucial lesson' from the Queen - the power of silence, a royal commentator has claimed.
Daniela Elser pointed out the Queen has never given a single interview and said one lesson the Monarch can teach us is the power of silence.
"And if ever there has been a time in royal history when the 95-year-old has put that philosophy into blistering effect it has been over the last 365-days and change," Ms Elser wrote, in a piece for news.com.au.
The royal commentator compared this approach to Meghan and Harry giving their famous tell-all interview to Oprah last year, in which they dropped several bombshells, from the duchess' thoughts of suicide to damaging claims of racism.
Following this, Ms Elser wrote, the world waited for how the Queen would react.
She highlighted how the Queen released a short statement days after the interview, but has stayed silent since then.
"It took nearly two days for courtiers to put out a 61-word statement of truly breathtaking economy and which infamously read in part, 'some recollections may vary'," Ms Elser wrote.
She added that the remarkable thing is that still, one year on, there hasn't been any word uttered on the matter.
But she pointed out that Harry and Meghan have since then appeared in various interviews - including Harry's podcast with Dax Shepherd, and "had only just started speaking their truth" after their TV interview in March 2021.
"At the time," Ms Elser went on, "it seemed like the palace was being woefully shortsighted, clinging to their time-honoured modus operandi of impervious silence, rigidly refusing to engage or considering doing things differently in the face of even this unprecedented mess.
"However, with the benefit of hindsight, that has proven to be a shrewd approach to a febrile situation."
Ms Elser added she was not suggesting Meghan and Harry did not have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed.
But she said the "repeated, self-righteous repeated airing of family dirty laundry has in fact only really dealt them a PR blow."
"Both Harry and Meghan told Oprah how much they respected Her Majesty but they both seem to have missed the crucial lesson she could have taught them about not only the power but the dignity of silence," Ms Elser added.
Now there are fears Harry could “disrespect” Kate Middleton in his tell-all memoir of his life, which is due to be published later this year.
There has been much speculation about what he will include in the book and how members of the Royal Family will be portrayed in it, with previous commentary suggesting the book has sparked a “tsunami of fear” in royal circles.
The 37-year-old prince is expected to cover his lifetime in the public eye, including his time in the military, marriage and fatherhood in the book, which is to be published by Penguin Random House.
