May 25, 2022 • 11 mins
Unimaginable secrets. Unyielding power. Devastating rifts and shocking allegiances. With surprising new interviews as well as historic sound, Vanity Fair’s DYNASTY https://listen.vanityfair.com/dynasty-podcast examines the ties that bind the most influential families in the world today, taking you inside their lives for a glimpse at the inner workings of privilege.
The DYNASTY debut season goes deep on the modern Windsors with Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl and staff writer Erin Vanderhoof, who reexamine the complex, sometimes fiery family dynamics—from the intimate side of the queen’s early reign to Harry and Meghan’s royal split to Prince Andrew’s shameful scandal—with razor-sharp insights, fresh reportage, and exclusive guests. Listen & follow Dynasty: https://listen.vanityfair.com/dynasty-podcast
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, one of the co hosts
of Vanity Fair's newest podcast, Dynasty. Dynasty is dedicated to
revealing the shocking behavior, devastating riffs, secret alliances, epic romances,
and complicated dynamics that shape the most influential families in
the world today. Keep listening for a preview of our
first season covering the British royal family, the Windsors, and
(00:23):
don't forget to follow Dynasty wherever you get your podcasts.
After spending the holidays in Canada, Megan Markel and Prince
Harry are back home in England and today they shot
the world with a bombshell announcement. Harry and Meghan are
stepping back from royal life and setting up a new
home in North America. This da night, We're married. We
(00:46):
were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to
serve For those reasons. It brings me great sadness that
it has come to this. The decision that I have
made for my wife and I to step back is
not one I made lightly. There was so many months
of talks, after so many years of challenges. It was
(01:09):
an email that just made you just stop everything you
were doing. There were whispers that perhaps they were thinking
about leaving Britain, but the Palace just gave that absolutely
no credence at all. Every time we asked, and I
remember very clearly asking their head of colms, we were
sort of told no, no, absolutely not. And then the
(01:33):
Sun published an exclusive. Dan Wootton, who has brilliant sources,
suggested very strongly that they were not going to be
around for very long. But I don't think anyone expected
that within hours of that Sun's splash, Bucking and Palace
would be announcing that Harry and Megan were standing down
(01:53):
as working royals. That was January and it was one
of those days where I come in the British new
cycle has already been running for a morning by the
time I sat down at my desk, and nobody seems
to know what's going on. And so I kind of
had a story that was all ready to go, which
is nobody seems to know what's going on, and right
(02:14):
when we were, you know, getting ready to send it
to the lawyers, we get this email that says that
Megan and Harry they're out. Well within minutes of getting
that email, erin, I know you were filing. I think
I was filing from the back of a taxi on
my way to Westminster, where I was going to the
studio to report Live for Entertainment tonight. I tried for
(02:35):
that entire journey, which must have taken about forty minutes,
to get hold of someone, anyone from the Palace. I
think I must have called twenty different numbers, thirty different numbers,
and eventually, with minutes before going on air, I managed
to get through to a very senior aid who was
able to give me a briefing. It was very evident
to me, when all of those mobiles went straight to
(02:56):
voicemail and the switchboard was in meltdown at the Palace
that this had taken them as much by surprise as
it had us. I mean, it makes sense. This wasn't
just a media emergency. Harry and Meghan had held official
palace roles, real jobs with a staff and diplomatic duties,
(03:19):
public engagements, charities and patronages, so when they decided to leave,
it wasn't just a publicity statement. It threatened how the
royal organization would operate. So fast forward to February. It's
been almost a year since the couple announced that they
were taking a step back from the royal roles and
moving across the pond the megsit. Right after that, the
(03:41):
pandemic hits Prince Andrew's and the headlines for all the
wrong reasons, you know, Jeffrey Epstein, no good news for
the world or for the Windsors. And still Harry and
Meghan's relationship with the family could be described as icy
at this point, But intact the previous spring, they reportedly
celebrated their son Archie's first birthday. I was told there
(04:02):
had been family FaceTime chat. Harry was at this point
in very regular contact with the Queen, to the point
that she was laughing with one of her friends about
how often he was video calling her. But all of
that was going to change. Good evening, I mean, Hannamancy,
the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tell their side of
the story in a long awaited interview. I don't know
(04:26):
how they could expect we would still just be silent
what they had to say about the royal rift that
has rattled the foundations of Buckingham Powells the Oprah interview.
We'll get to that. We'll get to that, Aaron, We're
going to give a whole episode to that. But I
think what was so interesting is that just after the
(04:47):
announcement that that interview was happening, the Palace declares that
Harry and Megan's split working Royals is now permanent, which
means Harry loses all his honorary titles and titles, particularly
royal ones, mean profile and money. The move revealed not
(05:08):
just a fractured institution, but a fractured family. And then,
just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, you're
watching BBC News from London. A short while ago, Buckingham
Palace announced the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip,
the Duke of Edinburgh. In a statement, the Palace said,
(05:28):
it is with deep sorrow that her Majesty the Queen
announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness,
the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This is Dynasty, a
podcast from Vanity Fair. In this series, we're exploring the
(05:50):
families at the seat of power, how they claimed it
and how they maintain it. This season we're talking about
the British Royals, the Windsors. We're taking you inside one
of the most powerful families in the world. We're going
to look at it all. Incredible wealth and privilege, very
bad behavior, clashes with the press, and of course some
(06:13):
epic love affairs and royal weddings. I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, Vanity
fairstaff writer and I'm Katy Nichol Vanitife Royals correspondent. Welcome
to Vanitife's Dynasty The Windses, Episode one, Never Complain, Never Explain.
(06:35):
In America, from the time that we're children, were taught
about these pieces of paper, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution
in the Bill of Rights. We put them on display
in Washington, d C. But we also breathe life into
them because they're imbued with our ideals. Britain also has
documents at the basis of their system, but to symbolize
(06:57):
the story of how they became a nation. Though the
UK has a Emily, Elizabeth's role as queen emphasizes that
her blood is the same as William the Conqueror and
all of the monarchs who followed him. The royals connect
the country to its very beginnings, so in that way,
the royal family's power comes from their family line and
continuing it means marriage and children exactly and That's precisely
(07:22):
why discord within the family is so damaging and such
a threat, because it's not just like the family squabbles
that you and I might have. The stakes for the
royal family are much much higher. Look at Harry and Megan.
The rejection of their roles sent shock waves through the palace.
It wasn't technically a constitutional crisis, but it rocked the
(07:46):
institution to the core and actually caused a complete revision
of the top tier of royals. The Oprah interview changed
how a lot of people felt about the Royals. Megan
and Harry lifted the lid on life inside the monarch key.
They described why they were so unhappy they had no
choice but to leave. That's the sad irony of the
(08:06):
last four years, as I've advocated for so long for
women to use their voice, and then I was silent.
Were you silent or were you silenced? The latter we
heard Harry accused his family of cussing off his finances,
(08:29):
a row of titles, and then the devastating revelation from Megan,
who said she was so unhappy she'd had suicidal thoughts
while she was pregnant with Archie. One of the most
shocking moments of that interview came when Megan and Harry
alleged that somebody in the royal family had been making
(08:50):
comments about the color of their unborn child skin and
what it might look like. They left the family member
who made the racist comments unnamed, but that just sparked
its own frenzy of speculation, and it just kept getting uglier.
A well sourced report detailed complaints from former staffers of
Kensington Palace about Megan's alleged bullying behavior during your time
(09:11):
as a senior royal, and the Palace decided to investigate.
Megan denied the allegations, which she called just the latest
attacks on her character. It was clear that the war
was on. It was certainly curious timing. I think this
was the Palace going into battle mode. It had braced
itself for the interview, and a few days after oprah Ad,
(09:34):
the Queen releases a statement. It's just sixty words, sixcinct
and to the point. Here's the Queen's statement, as read
on Entertainment Tonight on March nine. The whole family is
saddened to learn the full extent about challenging the last
few years have been for Harry and Megan. The issues raised,
particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary,
(09:57):
they are taken very seriously and be addressed by the
family privately. Harry, Megan and Archie will always be much
loved family members. The three words that jump out to
me most in that statement our recollections may vary, which
I think is just a stroke of genius um And
the Queen does have brilliant speechwriters. Who knows whether they
(10:17):
were her words or theirs, but they certainly made it
clear that there was more than one interpretation to what
Harry and Megan had alleged on OPRAH. Now, just after
this statement has been made, William and Kate are on
an official visit to a school in London and reporter
asks if he's spoken to his brother, to which he replies, no, then,
(10:41):
and can you just let me know? Is that the
Royal family arranged family sir very much. To call this
a pr disaster would be an understatement. It was more
than a simple lifting of the veil. It was a
rare siege on the palace walls. The institution was unprepared.
(11:02):
The allegations that Megan and Harry shared really prompted many
to question what place a hereditary monarch he has in
the modern world. And just as all of that is
playing out, the Palace announced that Prince Philip had died
on April ninth. I want to hear more about this
royal funeral and how it revealed that all was not
(11:23):
well in the House of Windsor head over to the
Dynasty feed by searching Dynasty by Vanity Fair wherever you're
listening now, or via the link in this episode's notes
Hey there, I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, one of the co hosts
of Vanity Fair's newest podcast, Dynasty. Dynasty is dedicated to
revealing the shocking behavior, devastating riffs, secret alliances, epic romances,
and complicated dynamics that shape the most influential families in
the world today. Keep listening for a preview of our
first season covering the British royal family, the Windsors, and
(00:23):
don't forget to follow Dynasty wherever you get your podcasts.
After spending the holidays in Canada, Megan Markel and Prince
Harry are back home in England and today they shot
the world with a bombshell announcement. Harry and Meghan are
stepping back from royal life and setting up a new
home in North America. This da night, We're married. We
(00:46):
were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to
serve For those reasons. It brings me great sadness that
it has come to this. The decision that I have
made for my wife and I to step back is
not one I made lightly. There was so many months
of talks, after so many years of challenges. It was
(01:09):
an email that just made you just stop everything you
were doing. There were whispers that perhaps they were thinking
about leaving Britain, but the Palace just gave that absolutely
no credence at all. Every time we asked, and I
remember very clearly asking their head of colms, we were
sort of told no, no, absolutely not. And then the
(01:33):
Sun published an exclusive. Dan Wootton, who has brilliant sources,
suggested very strongly that they were not going to be
around for very long. But I don't think anyone expected
that within hours of that Sun's splash, Bucking and Palace
would be announcing that Harry and Megan were standing down
(01:53):
as working royals. That was January and it was one
of those days where I come in the British new
cycle has already been running for a morning by the
time I sat down at my desk, and nobody seems
to know what's going on. And so I kind of
had a story that was all ready to go, which
is nobody seems to know what's going on, and right
(02:14):
when we were, you know, getting ready to send it
to the lawyers, we get this email that says that
Megan and Harry they're out. Well within minutes of getting
that email, erin, I know you were filing. I think
I was filing from the back of a taxi on
my way to Westminster, where I was going to the
studio to report Live for Entertainment tonight. I tried for
(02:35):
that entire journey, which must have taken about forty minutes,
to get hold of someone, anyone from the Palace. I
think I must have called twenty different numbers, thirty different numbers,
and eventually, with minutes before going on air, I managed
to get through to a very senior aid who was
able to give me a briefing. It was very evident
to me, when all of those mobiles went straight to
(02:56):
voicemail and the switchboard was in meltdown at the Palace
that this had taken them as much by surprise as
it had us. I mean, it makes sense. This wasn't
just a media emergency. Harry and Meghan had held official
palace roles, real jobs with a staff and diplomatic duties,
(03:19):
public engagements, charities and patronages, so when they decided to leave,
it wasn't just a publicity statement. It threatened how the
royal organization would operate. So fast forward to February. It's
been almost a year since the couple announced that they
were taking a step back from the royal roles and
moving across the pond the megsit. Right after that, the
(03:41):
pandemic hits Prince Andrew's and the headlines for all the
wrong reasons, you know, Jeffrey Epstein, no good news for
the world or for the Windsors. And still Harry and
Meghan's relationship with the family could be described as icy
at this point, But intact the previous spring, they reportedly
celebrated their son Archie's first birthday. I was told there
(04:02):
had been family FaceTime chat. Harry was at this point
in very regular contact with the Queen, to the point
that she was laughing with one of her friends about
how often he was video calling her. But all of
that was going to change. Good evening, I mean, Hannamancy,
the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tell their side of
the story in a long awaited interview. I don't know
(04:26):
how they could expect we would still just be silent
what they had to say about the royal rift that
has rattled the foundations of Buckingham Powells the Oprah interview.
We'll get to that. We'll get to that, Aaron, We're
going to give a whole episode to that. But I
think what was so interesting is that just after the
(04:47):
announcement that that interview was happening, the Palace declares that
Harry and Megan's split working Royals is now permanent, which
means Harry loses all his honorary titles and titles, particularly
royal ones, mean profile and money. The move revealed not
(05:08):
just a fractured institution, but a fractured family. And then,
just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, you're
watching BBC News from London. A short while ago, Buckingham
Palace announced the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip,
the Duke of Edinburgh. In a statement, the Palace said,
(05:28):
it is with deep sorrow that her Majesty the Queen
announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness,
the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. This is Dynasty, a
podcast from Vanity Fair. In this series, we're exploring the
(05:50):
families at the seat of power, how they claimed it
and how they maintain it. This season we're talking about
the British Royals, the Windsors. We're taking you inside one
of the most powerful families in the world. We're going
to look at it all. Incredible wealth and privilege, very
bad behavior, clashes with the press, and of course some
(06:13):
epic love affairs and royal weddings. I'm Aaron Vanderhoff, Vanity
fairstaff writer and I'm Katy Nichol Vanitife Royals correspondent. Welcome
to Vanitife's Dynasty The Windses, Episode one, Never Complain, Never Explain.
(06:35):
In America, from the time that we're children, were taught
about these pieces of paper, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution
in the Bill of Rights. We put them on display
in Washington, d C. But we also breathe life into
them because they're imbued with our ideals. Britain also has
documents at the basis of their system, but to symbolize
(06:57):
the story of how they became a nation. Though the
UK has a Emily, Elizabeth's role as queen emphasizes that
her blood is the same as William the Conqueror and
all of the monarchs who followed him. The royals connect
the country to its very beginnings, so in that way,
the royal family's power comes from their family line and
continuing it means marriage and children exactly and That's precisely
(07:22):
why discord within the family is so damaging and such
a threat, because it's not just like the family squabbles
that you and I might have. The stakes for the
royal family are much much higher. Look at Harry and Megan.
The rejection of their roles sent shock waves through the palace.
It wasn't technically a constitutional crisis, but it rocked the
(07:46):
institution to the core and actually caused a complete revision
of the top tier of royals. The Oprah interview changed
how a lot of people felt about the Royals. Megan
and Harry lifted the lid on life inside the monarch key.
They described why they were so unhappy they had no
choice but to leave. That's the sad irony of the
(08:06):
last four years, as I've advocated for so long for
women to use their voice, and then I was silent.
Were you silent or were you silenced? The latter we
heard Harry accused his family of cussing off his finances,
(08:29):
a row of titles, and then the devastating revelation from Megan,
who said she was so unhappy she'd had suicidal thoughts
while she was pregnant with Archie. One of the most
shocking moments of that interview came when Megan and Harry
alleged that somebody in the royal family had been making
(08:50):
comments about the color of their unborn child skin and
what it might look like. They left the family member
who made the racist comments unnamed, but that just sparked
its own frenzy of speculation, and it just kept getting uglier.
A well sourced report detailed complaints from former staffers of
Kensington Palace about Megan's alleged bullying behavior during your time
(09:11):
as a senior royal, and the Palace decided to investigate.
Megan denied the allegations, which she called just the latest
attacks on her character. It was clear that the war
was on. It was certainly curious timing. I think this
was the Palace going into battle mode. It had braced
itself for the interview, and a few days after oprah Ad,
(09:34):
the Queen releases a statement. It's just sixty words, sixcinct
and to the point. Here's the Queen's statement, as read
on Entertainment Tonight on March nine. The whole family is
saddened to learn the full extent about challenging the last
few years have been for Harry and Megan. The issues raised,
particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary,
(09:57):
they are taken very seriously and be addressed by the
family privately. Harry, Megan and Archie will always be much
loved family members. The three words that jump out to
me most in that statement our recollections may vary, which
I think is just a stroke of genius um And
the Queen does have brilliant speechwriters. Who knows whether they
(10:17):
were her words or theirs, but they certainly made it
clear that there was more than one interpretation to what
Harry and Megan had alleged on OPRAH. Now, just after
this statement has been made, William and Kate are on
an official visit to a school in London and reporter
asks if he's spoken to his brother, to which he replies, no, then,
(10:41):
and can you just let me know? Is that the
Royal family arranged family sir very much. To call this
a pr disaster would be an understatement. It was more
than a simple lifting of the veil. It was a
rare siege on the palace walls. The institution was unprepared.
(11:02):
The allegations that Megan and Harry shared really prompted many
to question what place a hereditary monarch he has in
the modern world. And just as all of that is
playing out, the Palace announced that Prince Philip had died
on April ninth. I want to hear more about this
royal funeral and how it revealed that all was not
(11:23):
well in the House of Windsor head over to the
Dynasty feed by searching Dynasty by Vanity Fair wherever you're
listening now, or via the link in this episode's notes
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