Royal Family

Gayle King says the Meghan Markle-Prince Harry interview with Oprah would have been temporarily 86'd ... if Prince Philip had died following his trip to the hospital.

Oprah's BFF revealed Wednesday on her "Gayle King in the House" SiriusXM radio show there was a plan in play to pull the plug on airing the interview on CBS if Philip had passed.

Gayle said, "Well, just so you know, they had done that interview before Prince Philip went into the hospital. If something, God forbid, had happened to him, the interview would not have run at this particular time. But, the interview was done and was scheduled before he went into the hospital. But, a lot of people have raised that point."

Prince Philip, of course, was admitted to the hospital in mid-February before word leaked that his condition was much more serious than the Palace admitted. He had been battling an infection related to a pre-existing heart condition, for which he eventually underwent surgery.

Donald Trump wants to go head-to-head with Meghan Markle for the Presidency, but first, he's doing something critics say he failed to do while in office ... and that's encouraging Americans to get the COVID vaccine.

Trump made it clear Tuesday he's siding with the Queen over Meghan, and says he's not a fan of Prince Harry's wife. In a telephone interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he wants MM to follow through with the political ambitions she reportedly has.

Not shockingly, 45 sees running against a political neophyte as the perfect incentive for his potential run to be 47.

As you know ... Meghan and Harry are beefing with the palace over allegations of racism within the Royal Family. Trump says the Queen is a "tremendous person," but he just doesn't like Meghan.

Trump also granted Dr. Fauci's recent wish, encouraging all Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19 ... especially his supporters, the majority of whom say they won't get the shot, according to recent surveys.

Prince Harry's spoken with Prince William and Prince Charles about his bombshell interview with Oprah, but it didn't go very well ... according to Gayle King.

Gayle says conversations have begun between Harry and his family in an attempt to heal after the explosive allegations they made, but she's hearing the talks have been "not productive" so far.

Part of the problem -- according to the "CBS This Morning" anchor -- is that Buckingham Palace is giving Meghan Markle the cold shoulder, and not doing anything to give her a break.

Case in point -- Gayle and her CBS colleagues say the 2018 bullying claims against Meghan are being investigated, but there's no such known investigation into the allegations of racism against the Royal Family.

Prince Philip is finally heading home -- the Duke of Edinburgh was just cut loose from the hospital where he's been staying for damn near a month ... and seems to be in high spirits.

Queen Elizabeth's main squeeze was spotted Tuesday leaving King Edward VII's Hospital in London, where he was riding in the back seat and flashing smiles as paps fired off some shots ... this following a pretty lengthy absence out of the public eye. Remember, he was first admitted in mid-February.

The 99-year-old's hospital stay was, at first, said to be simply precautionary because he wasn't feeling well, but eventually, the truth leaked out -- he was battling an infection related to a pre-existing heart condition, for which he eventually underwent surgery.

Phil briefly visited a specialized cardiac care facility in St. Bartholomew Hospital, before coming back to the King Edward hospital ... where he finished out his recovery amid a lot of speculation about his health.

Of course, the guy has had regular visits to the doc over these past few years -- so the health scares happen from time to time. Still, this one stood out ... especially as his grandson, Prince Harry, went public with the family racism drama he says he and his wife, Meghan Markle, experienced during her early tenure with the Royals.

Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister has gone from armchair psychologist to marriage counselor for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but not a very hopeful one ... because she's predicting divorce.

Samantha Markle -- who has no relationship with Harry or Meghan and has never been with them since they hooked up -- says Meghan and Prince Harry are inevitably heading for a split unless they get some serious counseling and go on an apology tour to undo all the damage they've done to the Royal Family.

It doesn't sound like Sam's holding her breath for that though, and she suggests Harry's probably already questioning his marriage to Meghan ... whom she accuses of nonstop lying.

It's pretty incendiary stuff from Samantha, who thinks it's only a matter of time before Harry pulls away ... and divorce lawyers get involved. Again, she has no connection to the Royals either, but that hasn't stopped her from weighing in.

As we reported ... Meghan's half-sister trashed Meghan earlier this week for turning her back on their family ... claiming she suffers from "narcissistic personality disorder."

During the Oprah interview, Meghan said she's had little to no relationship with Samantha for more than 2 decades. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Samantha from writing a memoir titled, "The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister."

Unsurprisingly, Meghan's father Thomas also weighed in on Oprah's interview -- specifically Meghan's revelation of her mental health struggles -- claiming she might not have reached the point of feeling suicidal if she hadn't bailed on him and the fam.

Samantha has more thoughts on the broken relationship between Meghan and their dad, and what it would take to fix it.

Prince Harry still seems pretty upset about losing his Royal security privileges, and ya can't blame him ... especially because cops say he and Meghan Markle had an unwanted visitor on their property TWICE during the holidays.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a 37-year-old man named Nickolas Brooks was caught trespassing at the Montecito, CA home of the Duke on Duchess on Christmas Eve, but Santa Barbara County Sheriff's officers let him off with a warning.

We're told the warning didn't work because cops say Brooks showed up on the property again on Dec. 26 ... so this time he was arrested.

Our sources say Brooks drove all the way from Ohio, but it's unclear what he wanted from Harry and Meghan ... or if they were even home at the time of his visits.

Brooks has been charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing.

The incidents might seem like no big deal, but they highlight a much bigger point Harry suggested during last week's bombshell TV interview with Oprah -- he's worried about the safety of his family.

Harry told Oprah when he and Meghan left their senior royal roles and moved to North America ... Buckingham Palace stripped them of their UK security team.

Harry says he pointed out that the risks to him and his family were no less despite their change in status ... but he claims that didn't change the decision.

The killing of George Floyd has been recreated in an awful attempt at parody -- with a French magazine using Queen Elizabeth as Derek Chauvin kneeling on Meghan Markle.

Charlie Hebdo just released a new edition of its weekly publication -- and it features a crudely drawn cartoon version of QE2 pressing down on the Duchess of Sussex's neck ... who's laid down on the ground and struggling for air -- much like George Floyd last year.

The caption reads ... "POURQUOI MEGHAN A QUITTE BUCKINGHAM," which translates to "Why Meghan left Buckingham." There's a quote bubble coming from Meghan as well in the drawing, which roughly comes out to, "because I couldn't breathe anymore."

The message they're trying to communicate -- or so it seems -- is that Meghan felt smothered by Royal racism (headed up by the Queen). It turns out to be a swing and a miss -- 'cause folks aren't entertained.

Many are calling the magazine racist ... demanding they pull the new issue. While Charlie Hebdo pegs itself as a satire, a lot of people say this goes way too far -- mocking Floyd's death for cheap thrills. Not only that, but it's inaccurate ... according to Harry and Meghan.

Remember, Harry explicitly ruled out his grandmother and grandfather as the party who allegedly brought up skin color concerns as it pertained to Archie. There's a lot of speculation it was either Prince Charles or Prince William -- but the latter denied as much.

Bill Maher delivered again Friday night, with a blistering review of America ... a "silly country" he says, especially when compared to China.

The 'Real Time' host dissected the American psyche ... a country that is now obsessed with Dr. Suess' books. By contrast, he notes China couldn't give "a crouching tiger, flying f***," because they're not "silly people."

The "silly people" reference is from "Lawrence of Arabia," but Bill said the moniker fits like a glove in the U S of A.

Maher concedes China does a lot of "bad stuff," but then he lowers the boom, grousing, “We all know China does bad stuff" ... but there’s got to be something between a totalitarian government that knows what to do and a representative government that can’t do anything at all.”

He wasn't done. Bill divides the country into 2 groups -- half the U.S. is consumed with whether Mr. Potato Head has a d***, and the other half is obsessed with wacky conspiracy theories.

But, wait -- there's more. Bill goes after the movement to favor equity over merit in college admissions, and while he's on the subject, he references a few classes filled with silly students ... The Philosophy of Star Trek at Indiana State University, The Sociology of Seinfeld at SUNY Oswego, and Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse at Michigan State.

Megyn Kelly is apparently amused by the image of Queen Elizabeth packing heat to settle the beef with Meghan Markle ... at least based on Megyn's Twitter account.

As you can see, the meme -- which Megyn retweeted -- shows the Queen holding a handgun with a silencer, with the caption, "When you spend £32 million on your grandsons wedding and his wife starts bitching about you to Oprah."

Her review of the threatening meme was ... "So good." She, or someone on her team, has since deleted the tweet -- but she's already made her position known on Harry and Meghan's interview.

Kelly played Monday morning QB, criticizing Oprah for not asking the couple to be more specific about the racist allegations -- and made it clear she didn't buy Meghan's claim she didn't know anything about the Royal family before hooking up with Harry.

We reached out to Megyn's camp about the tweet ... so far, no word back.

Prince William insists the Royals are "very much not a racist family," but photos of him and his wife being carried on elevated thrones don't exactly reflect that.

The pictures resurfaced Thursday after the Duke of Cambridge emphatically denied the allegations of racism made by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during their Oprah interview.

They show him and Kate Middleton being carried on thrones back in 2012 by people of color in the Solomon Islands. William and Kate were on their Diamond Jubilee tour of the British Commonwealth nations in the South Pacific at the time.

During the tour, they were carried on the backs of locals several times ... including in the nearby country of Tuvalu.

Understandably, these images juxtaposed with both William's and Buckingham Palace's statements about alleged racism have people wondering ... if the British monarchy has an issue with white supremacy.

While one could say the throne carrying ceremony is tradition, one would also have to look at why and how that tradition began -- and that's where race and colonization become an issue.

Meghan Markle’s friend is calling BS on the Royal Family's claim it didn't fully understand the challenges Meghan and Prince Harry were going through ... and she says she has receipts.

"The Morning Show" actress, Janina Gavankar, has been friends with Meghan for almost 2 decades, and she spoke out earlier this week to support her pal and call out Buckingham Palace for essentially playing dumb about her mental health struggles.

Janina says she has emails and texts proving the Queen's family and staff were all fully aware of what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were going through ... which contradicts Buckingham Palace saying they didn't know the "full extent."

Though Janina says she's happy Queen Elizabeth's people are finally publicly acknowledging Meghan and Harry's issues, she adds ... "Though their recollections may vary, ours don’t because we lived through it with them."

Piers Morgan's fuming after claiming his friend, Sharon Osbourne, was shamed into making an apology for defending him ... and now he wants her 'Talk' cohorts to say sorry to him!

The ex-"Good Morning Britain" host said early Friday morning he can't believe "this is where we've reached" after Sharon posted a lengthy apology Thursday night for the on-air spat she had with her cohosts.

If ya missed it, Sharon went to bat for Piers against claims his criticism of Meghan Markle was rooted in racism.

In her mea culpa, Sharon said, "To anyone of color that I offended and/or to anyone that feels confused or let down by what I said, I am truly sorry. I panicked, felt blindsided, got defensive & allowed my fear & horror of being accused of being racist take over."

She added she doesn't condone racism, misogyny or bullying, and ... "There are very few things that hurt my heart more than racism so to feel associated with that spun me fast!!"

Piers, however, is adamant Sharon herself got bullied into posting that apology, and stood up for himself ... insisting that just because he "doesn't believe Meghan Markle's bulls**t" ... that doesn't make him a racist.

He added, "I demand an apology from those @TheTalkCBS bullies for their disgraceful slurs against ME."

Claudia Jordan says the Royal Family will continue to be labeled exactly what it claims it isn't -- racist -- until Archie gets the same respect as other royal babies.

Claudia -- who co-starred with Meghan Markle on "Deal or No Deal" -- tells TMZ ... if Queen Elizabeth wants to patch things up with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Royals need to prove the monarchy is inclusive.

She believes the best way to do that ... is to give Archie the title of prince and the private security that comes with that.

Claudia says Archie not only deserves security but NEEDS it ... citing rabid British media and fans that can be "stalker-ish."

While current British monarchy rules dictate only Prince William's firstborn -- George -- gets the title of Prince, that rule can be broken by the Queen. In fact, she did just that for Wills and Kate's other kids ... Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Claudia does acknowledge the Royals made sure there was a strong Black presence at Meghan and Harry's wedding, which at least made it seem the monarchy was down to become more modern and inclusive.

She now questions how genuine that was ... on the heels of Harry and Meghan's claim one or more family members were concerned Archie's skin might be too dark when he was born.

The Black choir that sang at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding has a hard time believing Prince Charles is racist, because he personally invited them to perform.

Ms. Karen Gibson, founder and conductor of the Kingdom's Choir, tells TMZ ... Charles came off as very sincere in his invitation, and he's gone out of his way to personally congratulate them on their success since the wedding.

As you know, there's widespread speculation Charles or Prince William is the Royal Family member Harry and Meghan claim was worried Archie's skin might be too dark. Harry told Oprah it wasn't Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip.

But, Karen tells us every interaction between her Black choir and Prince Charles has been gracious. So, she's finding it hard to believe he would have said such a thing about Meghan and Harry's firstborn.

Plus, the fact Charles invited the choir certainly makes it seem like he made an effort to make Meghan feel included.

Dean Stott, one of Prince Harry's close friends, says the royal bros are staring down a deadline to squash their beef over alleged racism and other issues in the monarchy.

Dean joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and told us how Harry and Meghan Markle are dealing with the fallout from their Oprah interview, and why it's important for Harry to open a dialogue with his brother.

Remember ... William revealed Thursday morning he has not spoken to Harry since the interview aired -- a sign of just how deep the rift is between the brothers.

Although there's been no movement yet, Dean believes there will be in the next few months because they'll be face-to-face soon. Harry and William are both scheduled to attend events this July to honor their late mother, Princess Diana.

As for the bombshell revelations in the Oprah interview ... Dean says he knew about some of the issues plaguing Harry and Meghan but was totally blindsided when they said someone in the royal family voiced concern about Archie's skin color.

Prince William is a man of few words, but the words are revealing ... super revealing.

Harry's older brother visited a school in London Thursday when a reporter asked point-blank if the Royals were a racist family. William addressed it head-on ... "We are very much not a racist family."

There has not been such a declaration from the Royals up to this point ... not even close. The Queen said Harry and Meghan's revelation was concerning ... that someone from the family worried about the color of Archie's skin, but William went further.

It's interesting he placed emphasis on his statement ... "We are VERY MUCH not a racist family."

William clearly knows ... there's lots of speculation that the comment about Archie's skin tone might have been made by him, or his dad, Prince Charles. The reason -- Harry apparently told Oprah the comment was not made by the Queen or Prince Philip. He apparently did not eliminate William and Charles, which adds to the speculation.

That said, William also revealed he has not spoken to Harry since the interview, adding he intends to do so.  That's a little weird ... what's he waiting for? It underscores the fractured relationship between William and Harry.

As we reported, they have hardly spoken since even before Meghan and Harry left England, and Harry made it clear during the interview ... they are still estranged, at least for now.

As you know, the Palace has said the racism allegations were being taken "very seriously." The statement went on to say, "The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan."