Queen will ramp up engagements to 'show where the focus is' following Sussexes' Oprah interview

The Queen will increase her official engagements this week as the Royal family responds to the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Oprah Winfrey interview with a clear message about where the “focus” lies.

Her Majesty, 94, is expected to be seen at least once this week as she carries out official duties via Zoom from Windsor Castle.

All other senior members of the Royal family will also be highly visible as they conduct a raft of engagements, including marking International Women’s Day.

A senior Buckingham Palace aide said: “We will see them getting on with the day job.

“There are several engagements in the diary – they’ve been there for a while.”

The volley of royal engagements will leave the public in no doubt about “where the focus is,” one source said.

No members of the Royal family were expected to stay up into the early hours of this morning to watch the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ explosive Oprah Winfrey interview.

But they were each expected to receive a detailed breakfast briefing from aides, highlighting the main allegations and topics of discussion.

A palace aide said they would not “rush to respond” to the issues raised by the Sussexes and reserved the right not to comment at all.

One source told a newspaper that the couple were “playing with fire”, adding: “It's very high stakes because there's a lot that could come out in the wash that hasn't been told."

Watch: Prince Harry, Meghan set to air out grievances with royal family

While they were braced for damaging revelations about racism and the perceived failure to protect and guide the Sussexes, they were also hoping not to be drawn into the fray.

Aides said the mood at Buckingham Palace ahead of the interview was calm, as courtiers maintained the view that “this, too, will pass.”

One signalled the belief that the Sussexes were unlikely to win the PR battle as they said: “History teaches us that only the interviewer wins from these programmes.”

The Palace has repeatedly insisted that the focus should be on children’s return to school and the vaccination programme, rather than the “media circus” surrounding the Sussexes.

The family also remains concerned about the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, who has spent almost three weeks in hospital and remains at the King Edward VII hospital in central London, where he is recovering from a heart procedure.

The Cambridges are understood to have been focused on Prince George and Princess Charlotte's return to school this week and have relocated from Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, where they spent lockdown, to Kensington Palace. Prince Louis, who turns three in April, is also expected to start nursery soon.

The contrast between the Sussexes’ litany of complaints and the Queen’s own attitude to self-sacrifice was highlighted on Sunday as the monarch released her annual Commonwealth Day message just hours ahead of the Oprah interview.

In it, she has stressed the importance of keeping in touch with family to “transcend boundaries or division,” focusing on a message of unity.

Last year’s Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey was the scene of Harry and Meghan’s final official engagement as senior royals before they quit the working monarchy.

The couple had been hailed as the new stars of the Commonwealth after pledging to work with the association throughout their lives.

This year’s one-off BBC show was arranged after the annual Commonwealth Day event was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 crisis.

In the programme, the Prince of Wales was featured standing alone in the Abbey, where his youngest son performed his last public duty, as he delivered a speech.

Prince Charles said the pandemic had affected every country “cruelly robbing countless people of their lives and livelihoods”, but praised how people responded with “extraordinary determination, courage and creativity”.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were filmed making video calls to medical, charity and voluntary staff in South Africa, Bangladesh and Malaysia, while the Countess of Wessex spoke to three women from around the Commonwealth ahead of International Women’s Day.

The Duchess of Cornwall was interviewed by Clare Balding in the Abbey’s Poets’ Corner about the importance of reading for children during a disrupted year of education.

The bulk of the programme was filmed inside the Abbey, and presented by broadcaster Anita Rani, with musical performances throughout, and prayers by the Dean of Westminster.

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