Meghan Markle’s close friend Janina Gavankar attacks Queen’s statement on Oprah interview

Meghan Markle‘s close friend has firmly rejected the Queen’s statement that ‘recollections may vary’ over claims made by the Sussexes in their Oprah interview. 

Janina Gavankar, the actress, said: ‘Though their recollections may vary, ours don’t.’

She also said the duchess gave her backing before she appeared on TV – despite Meghan reportedly agreeing a period of silence to cool tensions with the Palace. 

The monarchy is reeling from the CBS interview, where the couple said a member of the royal family was ‘concerned’ over how dark Archie’s skin would be, and that Meghan was not given adequate support for her mental health.

An eventual statement from the Queen promised to investigate the matter privately, but also appeared to contest their version of events. 

Yesterday, Gavankar, who has known Meghan for 17 years, took appeared on ITV’s This Morning to insist the Sussexes were confident of their claims.

Janina Gavankar is pictured with Meghan Markle, whom she has been friends with for 17 years

She said: ‘After reading this short statement that came out from Buckingham Palace today, I felt two things.

‘One side, I thought: I am so thankful that they are finally acknowledging the experience.

‘But on the other side, I am well aware that the family and the staff were well aware of the extent of it, and though their recollections may vary, ours don’t, because we lived through it with them. There are many emails and texts to support that.’ 

While Gavankar stressed she was not speaking on Meghan’s behalf, she revealed she had talked to the duchess before being interviewed. 

Asked by presenter Phillip Schofield if she had spoken to Meghan about coming onto the show, she replied: ‘Oh yes, absolutely, I talk to them of all the time.

‘We watched the special together, actually. We’re all happy that we are in a new era, we get to tell the truth.’ 

Janina Gavankar spoke to presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to Oprah Winfrey in the interview shown on Sunday

It came hours after sources close to the Sussexes signalled the couple had accepted the Queen’s desire to resolve the matter privately within the family, according to the Telegraph.

The 94-year-old monarch will personally extend an olive branch to Harry in a bid to defuse the situation.   

A source told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a long way to go but hopefully things will start to move in the right direction in order for bridges to be built.’

It is hoped Harry and Meghan will now take the same approach. Before the interview their PR team insisted it would be the ‘last word’ on the family rift.

The couple said that they felt they ‘needed to have their say’ but now ‘considered the matter closed’ and wanted to ‘move on’.

But since the screening, a raft of close friends and supporters have pushed their case on social media and over the airwaves.

Gavankar, 40, yesterday said the couple would now concentrate on ‘humanitarian and environmental work’ following the interview.

Meghan and Gavankar, who lives in Los Angeles, became friends after meeting when they were both starting out as actresses in the early 2000s.  

The actress, who is best known for her roles in Ben Affleck movie The Way Back and Apple TV’s The Morning Show, added of the Sussexes: ‘I think they are feeling free. 

‘It is nice to see them feel free. Now they can get back to what they really were focused on and how they really met and fell in love, that was through humanitarian and environmental work, they have Archewell.

‘They have been doing that kind of work way before they met each other and now they can do it together. It is actually a really good time.’

Gavankar, who attended the 2018 Royal Wedding and took the couple’s 2019 Christmas card photo, dismissed allegations of bullying after a number of claims were made against Meghan.

‘I have known her for 17 years and I have seen the way she regards the people around her and the people she works with, and I can say she is not a bully,’ the actress said. 

‘But I can also say that I am personally glad people are doing their due diligence because I also know why someone had to leave, and it was for gross misconduct.

‘The truth will come out, there are plenty of emails and texts about that.’ 

It follows Buckingham Palace’s statement saying that the issues raised in Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview, especially over race, were ‘concerning’ and would be addressed by the Queen and her family privately.

The Royal Family said it was taking ‘very seriously’ the couple’s shocking allegation that a member of the family – not the Queen or Duke of Edinburgh – raised concerns about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone might be before he was born.