John William Oliver the British comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention for his work in the United States on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as its senior British correspondent from 2006 to 2013. Interviewed by Jimmy Fallon, host John Oliver said he was not surprised by the way the royal family treated Meghan Markle.
As the media frenzy over Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry begins to die down a bit, host John Oliver is putting it back on. As a reminder, he had anticipated the problems encountered by Meghan Markle to integrate into the royal family in 2018, at the time of her marriage to Harry: “I would not blame her if she cancelled everything at the last moment. You don’t need to have seen the pilot episode of The Crown to understand that she’s going to enter a family that could cause her emotional complications.” He had been very critical of the royal family: “They’re a bunch of emotionally unstable, flawed people who do a ridiculous pseudo-job. This is who she’s marrying so I hope she likes them, it’s going to be weird for her.”
English expatriate in the United States, John Oliver knows well these subjects and it is thus quite naturally that Jimmy Fallon asked him if he had watched the interview this Monday March 15th: “Yes I watched it, from the beginning to the end, and I found it extraordinary. What I mean is, I didn’t find it surprising at all. Meghan Markle’s experience with the royal family is unfortunately what I expected. I grew up in England, I know the royal family from afar and they seem to be full of flaws, which is the nicest way I can say that.” When Jimmy Fallon asked if he found anything shocking in the interview, the Last Week Tonight host explained: “The only thing that shocked me afterwards was when Oprah explained the next day that Prince Harry wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t Prince Philip who had been racist. I thought, “Oh really? That’s really surprising.
John Oliver: The royal family doesn’t have the capacity to change
The Tonight Show host then asked him if this interview would lead to any changes: “It’s hard to say, because the main characteristic of the royal family is that they don’t change. That’s been the case for centuries, time passes, governments come and go but the royal family remains, unchanging”. Accustomed to not mincing his words, John Oliver didn’t let this opportunity to criticize the royal family pass him by: “As the years go by, you realize that not changing is not really a good thing because it means that the world is changing around you and you’re refusing to change. I don’t think they’re going to change, because they don’t have the ability to, but they obviously should.