One must feel sorry for the Queen

As mother and grandmother, the Queen really has had more than her fair share of family squabbles and crises over the years. And that's a huge understatement. Which makes it all the more sad and disrespectful that at the age of 94 she is still having to put up with dramatic and hurtful divisions within the wider royal family. The Meghan and Harry debacle must be causing her untold grief, especially when she is worrying about the state of health of her 99-year-old husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. There have been calls for the Oprah Winfrey interview with Meghan and Harry to be postponed while Prince Philip is in hospital but of course that's impossible. The interview is tied up with so much money - millions and millions of dollars - that it's too late to delay it. So it will go ahead tonight in the US and in the UK tomorrow. Poor Queen. The Sunday Times tells us she won't be watching but you can bet your life she will be given a summary of the main accusations and allegations, if there are accusations and allegations. She's already "cheesed off" according to the same newspaper, so no doubt she will be even more cheesed off by the time she gets her summary. Throughout this breakaway by Meghan and Harry, the Queen has always stated that they remain loved as part of the family. But loving and being cheesed off don't mix very well. Secretly, although we will never know, she must be more cheesed off with Meghan than Harry. Harry after all is her beloved grandson and Meghan has not only removed him from the royal family bubble but has taken him and the great granchild to live in Hollywood. Does the Queen do Facetime or Skype or WhatsApp video and if so does she chat to Meghan as well as Harry, or is friendly family conversation now out of the window? This is the trouble with the Super Strict Protocol that covers every aspect of the Queen's life. Unless she actually says something herself, like when she admitted 1992 was an annus horribilis after the breakdown of three of her children's marriages and the devastating fire at Windsor Castle, we can only rely on so-called royal aides or sources who whisper what's going on to royal correspondents on national newspapers or TV broadcasters. One never knows whether these whispers are all authorised by the Queen herself or whether she is kept away from this sort of under-the-table insights and it's left to cunning officials to do the whispering. However, I can't believe that the latest revelation about alleged bullying of staff by Meghan was not sanctioned by the monarch. Would a royal official have dared come up with this juicy morsel without telling the Queen first? Whoever was behind it all, it's another symptom of what the Queen is no doubt already defining as her second annus horribilis, and at her age that's terribly unfair. I doubt Meghan and Harry will ever be forgiven.