YouTubers who tricked royal 'experts' tell LBC why they did the prank

8 March 2021, 14:27

By Sam Sholli

Two YouTubers revealed to LBC why they tricked royal 'experts' into giving commentary on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey - despite not having seen it.

The four Royal pundits, which included the Queen's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter, gave interviews to a fake news company formed by YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners a couple of days before the interview aired.

The commentators were told by the YouTubers that their interviews would be shown immediately after the CBS programme was aired, also giving them a standard on-air fee for their appearances.

"We verified that neither we nor them had seen it before," Mr Manners explained to James O'Brien.

Asked by James why they carried out the prank, Mr Manners replied: "Ultimately these are the kind of people that wear cashmere on breakfast television sets and once shared a taxi with Princess Margaret and feel that they've got a sort of insight into the Royal Family.

"They are then both duping media organisations and the public with their views that arguably...are not that informed."

"And that's shaping what I think now is becoming quite a toxic debate."

During the Oprah Winfrey interview, the Duchess of Sussex told the US talk show host that while she was living as a Royal in England, she had suicidal thoughts and simply "didn't want to be alive anymore."

She also said that while she was pregnant a senior member of the family had ‘concerns and conversations’ over the colour of the baby’s skin.