EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: BBC star Mishal Husain hits back at Meghan Markle over claims her engagement interview was ‘orchestrated’

When the Duchess of Sussex launched a barrage of bombshells at the Royal Family in her Netflix docuseries with Prince Harry in 2022, one of those caught in the flying shrapnel was Mishal Husain.

The BBC star had conducted the television interview which aired after Meghan’s engagement to Prince Harry was announced five years earlier. The former actress suggested that Husain’s interview with the couple had been an “orchestrated reality show”.

Adding insult to injury, Meghan complained that the distinguished Radio 4 presenter was “not empathetic enough, not warm enough” to conduct the interview, according to a senior royal source. Meghan was said to have preferred fellow American Oprah Winfrey to have been chosen for the role.

Now, however, the usually mild-mannered Husain has been forced to respond to criticism from the Duchess of Sussex.

She suggests the attack left her bewildered. And, far from Meghan being the naïve victim of some coordinated establishment plot, she and Harry appear to have thought long and hard about what they would say about their plans.

“When the Duchess of Sussex said my engagement interview with her and Harry was an ‘orchestrated reality show’ I didn’t know what to think,” Husain writes in the August issue of Saga magazine. “It seemed like they had thought about what their new lives would be like and what marriage would mean to her in particular.”

Husain adds that there was no indication of the trouble to come.

“There was nothing to indicate what was going to happen,” he says. “They were two people who were so happy for each other and for life.”

After the Netflix series aired, the BBC’s director-general at the time of Husain’s interview, Lord Hall, rejected Meghan’s criticism, saying it was “simply untrue” to suggest the chat was staged.

After the interview, Husain borrowed a line from the late Queen Elizabeth’s response to Meghan’s allegations of racism within the royal family. “Recollections may vary,” Husain said wryly on the Today show. “But my recollection is certainly very good. I was asked to do an interview and I did.”

Sixties icon Christie cuts a cheerful figure

Movie star Julie Christie cast a spell on generations of men, was the lover of Terence Stamp and Warren Beatty, and was voted responsible for one of the sexiest moments in cinema — “a pivotal erotic scene, unsurpassed in the history of cinema,” according to one enamored critic — for her performance opposite Donald Sutherland in the thriller Don’t Look Now.

The Oscar winner, now 84, still cuts a chic figure even when running errands near her home in east London.

She was seen pulling a shopping cart while wearing cargo pants, a denim shirt and white sandals.

Her striking red scarf and tortoiseshell sunglasses completed the modern look.

It was the first time she had been seen in public since Sutherland’s death last month at the age of 88.

Now at the Acropolis! Tyrone’s fiancée’s bachelorette party

How about this rock’n’roll hen party? Faye Harris, the daughter of heavy metaller Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, partied with her friends ahead of her wedding to Tyrone Wood, son of Rolling Stones star Ronnie.

The party was held in Athens, but the hens were almost unable to attend due to weekend travel problems caused by the computer crash. “Nothing can stop us from celebrating,” said one of them. “Not even the biggest computer blackout in history.”

Hard rock life! Nigel Kennedy is forced to relearn how to play the violin

Punk violinist Nigel Kennedy says he was forced to relearn his craft after going partially deaf. He blames a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine he received in 2021

“I eventually lost my hearing after the third injection,” the 67-year-old musician tells me. “I could hear things, but not if they were in tune easily, so I had to retrain myself.”

It took a lot of mental intelligence and concentration to regain my hearing and teach myself again.

Why Danielle is a very merry widow

Danielle De Niese was due to perform at Glyndebourne last year but cancelled her appearance to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical Aspects Of Love.

Now, the celebrated soprano may have found an ingenious way to get the best of both worlds.

I hear that The Merry Widow, which she is performing in at Glyndebourne, East Sussex, might get a transfer to the West End.

“Senior representatives from Cameron Mackintosh’s team and the Nimax theatre group have been watching the show,” says my man in the stalls.

Danielle, 45, tells me: ‘It’s so exciting to have a successful show that’s in such high demand.

“And some very good friends came to see the show and raved about it to anyone who would listen.”

Is Adam Peaty engaged to girlfriend Holly Ramsay?

Does swimmer Adam Peaty have something to celebrate as he prepares for the Paris Olympics?

BBC presenter Gabby Logan suggests triple Olympic gold medallist Peaty is engaged to his girlfriend Holly Ramsay, daughter of foul-mouthed TV chef Gordon Ramsay.

During BBC One’s Olympic preview programme there was a clip of Peaty with the restaurateur.

Logan commented: “His (Peaty’s future) father-in-law, of course, is Gordon Ramsay.”

Peaty, 29, who has a three-year-old son with his long-term ex-partner Eirianedd Munro, met Holly, 24, when she was competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 in the same series as her sister, Tilly.

Holly’s spokesperson insists the couple are not yet engaged.