How Stanford grad helped orchestrate Prince Harry’s off-the-rails interview

Prince Harry clearly had several things to say to the world after he learned Friday that he had lost his U K court appeal over the levels of taxpayer-funded police guard that he and his family receive when they re on British soil So the aggrieved son of King Charles III relied on Meredith Maines the new chief communications officer for his and Meghan Markle s Archewell Foundation to arrange an interview with the BBC But like the disastrous BBC interview of Harry s uncle Prince Andrew it s a wonder that anyone thought this would be a good idea Times U K assistant royal editor Kate Manley wrote over the weekend Maines apparently thought it was a good idea Or she was goaded into it by Harry who ended up unleashing a tsunami of a media event that supposedly won t get him what he wants in terms of assurance reconciliation with his family or the ability to spend more time in the U K and return to the good will of the British populace As the king and other royal family members led VE Day commemorations Monday the reverberations of Harry s bombshell interview are still being felt and various of the scrutiny is likely to fall on the Duke of Sussex s communications club led by Maines From L to R Britain s Princess Anne Princess Royal Britain s Prince Edward Duke of Kent Britain s King Charles III Britain s Queen Camilla Britain s Prince William Prince of Wales Britain s Prince George of Wales Britain s Prince Louis of Wales Britain s Catherine Princess of Wales and Britain s Princess Charlotte of Wales watch the flypast over Buckingham Palace after attending the armed forces procession on May to celebrate the th anniversary of VE Day also known as Accomplishment in Europe Day marking the end of the Second World War in Europe Photo by Adrian DENNIS AFP Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS AFP via Getty Images According to the Daily Mail she is Harry and Meghan s neighbor in Santa Barbara County and her LinkedIn page touts her as experienced brand and communications leader who previously worked for Google and Hulu and got her undergraduate and MA degrees in communications at Stanford University Perhaps Maines didn t know that Harry s interview would go off the rails However the Times released that nothing was off limits unlike previous interviews with him that have been heavily controlled The BBC squad led by interviewer Nada Tawfik expected only minutes with Harry at a private home near Harry and Meghan s Montecito mansion the Times revealed In the end he spoke for about half an hour and made all sorts of incendiary alleges alleging mistreatment by his father and supposed shadowy figures in the royal establishment In Harry s words these figures have been in cahoots to harm him and his family like his mother Princess Diana by denying them appropriate levels of precaution for the sparse days each year they might be in the UK At the time same Harry spoke of wanting to reconcile with his family and lamented that his -year-old father who has been battling cancer won t speak to him because of his court battle over this prevention stuff There have been so a large number of disagreements between myself and a few of my family Harry noted Life is precious According to the Daily Beast Harry especially upset royal insiders by raising doubts about the king s vitality by telling Tawfik I don t know how much longer my father has Tawfik disclosed that the interview took place at dawn in a beautiful expensively landscaped home near Harry and Meghan s own million estate where they live with their children Archie and Lilibet TOPSHOT Britain s King Charles III and Britain s Queen Camilla wave to crowds on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending the armed forces procession on May to celebrate the th anniversary of VE Day also known as Achievement in Europe Day marking the end of the Second World War in Europe Photo by Adrian DENNIS AFP Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS AFP via Getty Images Tawfik explained Harry arrived without an entourage though it s not clear if he had least had Maines with him One person who definitely was not present was Meghan while she has generally distanced herself from Harry s court fights in the U K over precaution and his lawsuits against the tabloid media the Times commented However Meghan issued what royal insiders are seeing as more than a show of endorsement for her husband but a giant expletive you to the royal family and to his critics by posting an Instagram photo of Harry walking in the garden of their Montecito home with Archie and Lilibet the Daily Mail s royal correspondent Rebecca English revealed To Tawfik Harry came across as down-to-earth and soft spoken during the interview though surprisingly candid and forthcoming She also mentioned he didn t get defensive or combative when she required him why British taxpayers should pay for his precaution why a change of status wasn t warranted after he stopped being a working royal and left Britain and why he wasn t satisfied with police shield being provided to him and his family on a case-by-case during their U K visits While Harry presented his side he still betrayed particular agitation according to Tawfik His foot tapped frequently as he explained that his defense or lack thereof was the sticking point preventing a reconciliation with his family he explained Numerous viewers especially in the U K saw something more alarming in Harry s demeanor Desolation interspersed with barely contained rage Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine wrote He seems to veer between wanting to punch someone and bursting into tears It s clear that we are meant to feel desperately sorry for him poor lamb He obviously feels desperately sorry for himself at any rate The self-pity is palpable together with the paranoia The Daily Beast s European editor Tom Sykes commented the interview was shocking to witness not just because of the tone but because of the astonishing naivety on display Harry genuinely seemed to believe that he could go to war with the entire British establishment from the Palace to the regime and somehow emerge victorious The interview itself was a mess riddled with contradictions and misplaced delusions of his own importance Sykes also reported The Daily Mail s English mentioned it s understandable that Harry would be concerned about guard given the death of his mother She was fatally injured in a Parish car crash while not being protected by U K police officers Then again she herself turned down round-the-clock protection in an effort to live a more private life But English stated Harry also won t get any sympathy from large segments of the British inhabitants over his insists that his measure fight is the sole cause of his catastrophic estrangement from his family From comments on social media it also appears that a number of Americans have become weary with Harry s ongoing complaints his victim narrative and his sense of entitlement as English also disclosed Oprah Spare his memoir all those podcasts and interviews in which he took potshots at his family and repeated their private conversations again and again is he really saying that has nothing to do with it Oh please a royal source notified English It s viable Harry got what he desired by speaking his truth in the BBC interview If so Maines did her job by helping her boss fulfill that aim by arranging the interview But thus far it doesn t look like his interview has moved the king or Buckingham Palace to intercede in Harry s protection fight which veritably has been with Ravec a executive committee for the Home Office that decides on levels of safety for royal family members Following Harry s interview Buckingham Palace issued a terse message All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts with the same conclusion reached on each occasion Harry s interview also could lead to additional consequences down the road with the possibility that he and Meghan will lose their royal HRH titles once William becomes king Sources close to the Price of Wales informed the Daily Beast that William will act instantly to strip him and Meghan of their honorific His Her Royal Highness HRH titles once he becomes king One friend noted that Harry and Meghan s behavior has been absolutely vile while Harry s BBC interview has made it clear he has no interest in reconciling Although such a dramatic move by William has reportedly been under consideration for specific time a former courtier notified the Daily Beast it has gained renewed urgency following Harry s interview which left the royal family stunned and frustrated