The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have gained much support and criticism in equal measures following their controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey over the weekend. A distant relative has now chimed in. Karl von Habsburg, Archduke of Austria and the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, describes the interview as gossip and garbage.
The two-hour long interview was broadcast on Sunday in America on CBS with more than 17m Americans tuning in. A further 11m people, or roughly a fifth of the UK population, saw the interview the following day on ITV.
Austria’s Archduke says: “The two are so far behind in the line of succession, if not to say practically non-existent, that they play no role at all in this regard. And for that reason alone, such a globally broadcast appearance seems completely inappropriate to me. If there are actually problems or dissonances in the private sphere, then it would be more appropriate to discuss and clarify such things specifically in a private setting. For me this media-staged appearance is a non-issue. It is only internal gossip and garbage.”
The Archduke is the first royal and distant relative who have spoken negatively on the interview.
Karl von Habsburg is the son of Archduke Otto von Habsburg, Crown Prince of Austria and Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, and the grandson of the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, Charles I. He is head and sovereign of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. Karl von Habsburg served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Austrian People’s Party. He is known for being Pro-European and is also an advocate for the Pan-European movement.
