Idris Elba has spoken in support of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to sit down for a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, as they face a storm of criticism.
Last month, Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, were seen making shocking claims of racism within the Royal Family and lack of mental health support when their interview was broadcast – one year after they stepped down from their senior duties.
And 48-year-old actor Idris, who attended the couple’s 2018 wedding with wife Sabrina Dhowre and served as a DJ at their reception, is now defending their decision to speak out, as he insists their voices shouldn’t be taken away.
Support: Idris Elba has spoken in support of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to sit down for a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, as they face a storm of criticism
Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he said: ‘I will say that everyone has to have their opportunity to speak up about what they feel, you know. You cannot take someone’s voice away, that’s all we have to communicate.’
During her bombshell interview with Oprah, Meghan accused a member of the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ her son Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.
The Duchess of Sussex, who is expecting her second child, also described her ‘pain’ that officials had denied Archie the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect him by denying him 24/7 security.
Meghan refused to say which royal had the conversation with Harry about Archie’s skin colour, claiming it would be ‘damaging’ to the person in her husband’s family who raised it.
Bombshell interview: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey sparked shockwaves when it was broadcast internationally last month
But Oprah has since revealed Prince Harry asked her to make clear that neither the Queen nor Prince Philip made the remark.
However, Harry’s brother Prince William asserted that the Royal Family is ‘very much not racist’ as he was questioned about the interview during a public engagement.
Prince Harry claimed during the interview that racism drove him and Meghan out of Britain and the Queen was too busy to meet him in a series of unseen clips from his bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview.
The Duke of Sussex accused the Queen of snubbing him after she was allegedly overruled by royal aides when she tried to invite him and Meghan on a trip to Sandringham after they announced they were stepping down.
The big event: Screen star Idris, who attended the couple’s 2018 wedding with wife Sabrina Dhowre and served as a DJ at their reception
Harry said he received a message from the Queen saying he wanted them to visit ‘the moment you land’, but he later got a message from his private secretary at the time saying the trip had been cancelled.
However, the Archbishop of Canterbury has rejected the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s claim that he married them at a secret ceremony before their Windsor Castle wedding.
Breaking his silence on what the couple told Oprah Winfrey three weeks ago, Justin Welby said he signed Harry and Meghan’s wedding certificate on the day millions watched them marry.
The legal wedding was on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at St George’s Chapel, he said. In her interview, Meghan raised eyebrows when she told Winfrey that she and Harry were married ‘just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury’.
Wedding: Breaking his silence on what the couple told Oprah, Justin Welby said he signed Harry and Meghan’s wedding certificate on the day millions watched them marry
But the 65-year-old told an Italian newspaper on Tuesday: ‘The legal wedding was on the Saturday.
He was asked ‘what happened with Meghan and Harry? Did you really marry them three days before the official wedding?’
But then he added: ‘I had a number of private and pastoral meetings with the duke and duchess before the wedding.
‘The legal wedding was on the Saturday. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offence if I signed it knowing it was false.
‘So you can make what you like about it. But the legal wedding was on the Saturday. But I won’t say what happened at any other meetings.’
Vows: The couple raised eyebrows when they said they’d tied the knot ahead of their big ceremony, though they later clarified they were ‘personal vows’ before the legal wedding
Harry and Meghan, who have now been completely relieved of their royal duties, backtracked on their private ceremony claim in a statement last week.
It had drawn heavy suspicion, partly because a legal marriage in the UK requires two witnesses.
A spokesman for the couple told US website the Daily Beast: ‘The couple exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19.’
A backyard exchange of vows is not a marriage. Despite this, Harry chipped in during the Oprah interview, adding it was ‘just the three of us’.
The Archbishop’s comments this week, while not categorically denying a private ceremony, quash any doubts about when and where the couple legally tied the knot.
Previously, he had declined to speak out as pressure grew on him to debunk the claim.
California dreaming: Harry and Meghan have been based in California since stepping down from their duties as senior royals early last year. Pictured together in 2019
