Oprah Winfrey has already promised that no subject is off limits in her much-anticipated interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and clips released before Sunday's main event suggest that the Sussexes will not be holding any punches.
In a direct challenge to Buckingham Palace, which has announced that it is opening an investigation into claims that Markle had bullied former royal staff, the former actress says: “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.”
Ahead of Sunday's sit-down, we look back at some of the most shocking and revealing royal interviews – and how they were received by the public.
Prince Charles & Princess Diana, 1981: ‘Whatever in love means’
When Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their engagement in 1981, it marked the first time they had spoken to the press as a duo.
The interview is best remembered for being stilted and awkward, most notably when the couple are asked if they are in love. A bashful Diana, then aged 19, responded with an enthusiastic "of course". Charles, meanwhile, famously opted for an uninspiring "whatever in love means".
In retrospective, his response was telling, but at the time people were so swept up by the duo's fairytale wedding that they opted to ignore the warning signs.
Prince Charles, 1994: 'I have tried to do the right thing by everybody'
While many remember Princess Diana's bare-all Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, it was actually Prince Charles who first went on camera to admit he'd had an affair. In an interview with his biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, in 1994, Prince Charles confronted rumours that he had been unfaithful, publicly admitting to his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, which he says only started once his marriage to Diana "became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried".
It was an unprecedented move that, many say, permanently changed public perception of the royal family.
After the documentary aired to negative press, Prince Charles wrote a letter to Marjorie Dawson, Princess Alexandra’s former maid and personal dresser, reflecting on the experience. "I suspect it was what is called 'living dangerously', but it seems difficult to avoid nowadays,” he surmised.
Princess Diana, 1995: ‘There were three of us in this marriage’
It is difficult, now, in an age of social media-induced oversharing, to appreciate quite how shocking it was for Princess Diana to speak so openly in her now-famous 1995 Panorama interview with journalist Martin Bashir.
An incredible 23 million people tuned in to watch “the people’s princess” give her account of her marriage to Prince Charles, which she immortalised in the now famous quote: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
Her vulnerability and frankness as she also opened up about her struggle with bulimia, self-harm, her extramarital affair and her view that Charles was unfit to be king, earned her plenty of public sympathy.
Meghan Markle: ‘I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip’
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's coming interview with Oprah promises to be their most high-profile yet, the Sussexes have a precedent of sharing their feelings on camera.
In an interview with Tom Bradby for a documentary that aired to coincide with their royal tour of South Africa in 2019, Markle was asked about her emotional wellbeing in the face of mounting negative press coverage.
“Look, any woman, especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable, and so that was made really challenging… And especially as a woman, it’s really – it’s a lot,” she responded.
She herself acknowledged that this was not in keeping with the traditional British approach of maintaining a stiff upper lip, while thanking Bradby for bothering to ask if she was okay.
“I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a 'stiff upper lip' – I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging,” she said. “I never thought this would be easy; but I thought it would be fair,” she added.
The interview did little to endear her to an already hostile British press.
Prince Andrew, 2019: "The people that I met and the opportunities that I was given to learn, either by him or because of him, were actually very useful.”
Arguably the most damaging royal interview in recent times was given by Prince Andrew to Emily Maitlis, in a Newsnight special.
The Duke of York had been planning to “set the record straight” regarding his friendship with the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein, but ultimately resulted in his decision to stand down as a senior working royal. He gave a confusing account of his actions and shocked many by refusing to denounce Epstein. He was universally panned for his efforts.
The five pillars of Islam
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
In%20the%20Land%20of%20Saints%20and%20Sinners
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20Lorenz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Liam%20Neeson%2C%20Kerry%20Condon%2C%20Jack%20Gleeson%2C%20Ciaran%20Hinds%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
