Prince William Felt Sick Before Oprah Winfrey Interview
Prince William was described as being “literally sick with worry” before the March 2021 oprah winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle aired. Christopher Andersen says the Prince of Wales was too distracted to think about food and spent a full week retching in the bathroom as the broadcast approached.
Christopher Andersen's Claim
Andersen makes the allegation in the Kate Middleton biography Kate! The Courage, Grace and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen. He wrote that the Princess of Wales “could hear her husband retching in the bathroom” for a full week, a claim that turns the interview into more than a televised sit-down and into a direct stress test for the family at the center of it.
William is 43, and the timing matters because the interview aired in March 2021, when Harry and Markle were already speaking publicly about conflict inside the royal household. In entertainment terms, that is the part that changes the reading of the event: the program was not only a ratings moment, but a pressure point for an institution managing a highly visible response.
Harry, Meghan, and Race
During the interview, Harry said there was “a lot of hurt” between him and William. Meghan said unnamed members of the royal family had raised “concerns” about their unborn child’s skin color, while the discussion also revisited the argument over Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress before Markle’s May 2018 wedding.
The interview’s reach extended beyond the conversation itself. Prince Archie was born in May 2019, Princess Lilibet in June 2021, and Andersen’s 2021 book Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan also says Charles III allegedly wondered what the children would look like. A spokesperson for Charles III strongly denied that story, which leaves Andersen’s account as the version driving the latest wave of attention.
Buckingham Palace Draft
Buckingham Palace drafted a statement during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and the first version did not mention racism. Kate Middleton insisted that the statement include the race issue, and the final text said, “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. They are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
Andersen also wrote that Kate suggested adding “while some recollections may vary,” a phrase Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand later said Harry and Markle were not surprised by in Finding Freedom in August 2021. For readers following the royal fallout, the important point is simple: the Oprah interview did not just reopen old arguments — it forced the palace to draft language around race, memory, and private family disputes in real time.
