The Firm: Buckingham palace finally issued a short statement on behalf of the Queen about the Meghan/Harry/Oprah situation saying, “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.”

  In the interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday night in the US, Harry and Meghan both said they felt like prisoners of the royal family and that someone they wouldn’t name had expressed concern about the potential skin color of their first child. Meghan is mixed race.

  The Duchess said she had become suicidal under Palace isolation and control and the battering of the tabloid press, but was denied professional help.

  The Queen’s statement ignored that. She said, “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”

  What that means, aside from they’re not going to talk about it, is that someone inside the royal operation denies talking to Harry about the skin color of the couple’s baby. 

Done With This: The first head to roll in the wake of the Harry and Meghan revelations is that of British television host Piers Morgan, who abruptly announced his departure from his show “Good Morning Britain” after walking off the set in a spat with his weatherman about criticism of the Duchess.

  As things grew heated in an on-air discussion of Markle and Harry following the big Oprah interview, Morgan had said he doesn’t believe Markle’s claim about becoming suicidal and asking for help within the palace. He said, “I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.” 

  Weatherman Alex Beresford, who is mixed race like Markle, suggested that Morgan’s venom stemmed from being spurned by Markle. 

  Beresford said, “Has she said anything about you after she cut you off? She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to. And yet you continue to trash her.” 

  Morgan got up from his chair saying, “Okay, I’m done with this, sorry, no, sorry… see you later, sorry, can’t do this.”

  The Office of Communications, which oversees British television, received 41,000 complaints about what Morgan said.

  He eventually came back to the set, but now he says he’s done and a statement from his network said only, “ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.”

  Morgan is a former tabloid newspaper editor and for three years was a late night host on CNN.

  Outside his home this morning, Morgan backed up his condemnation of Markle saying,  “I don’t believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth and I think the damage she’s done to the British monarchy and to the Queen at a time when Prince Philip is lying in hospital is enormous and frankly contemptible.”

  Morgan is accused of being sore because Meghan stiffed him. He and Markle had been friends and actually met in a British pub before Markle that same night met Harry for the first time. Morgan never heard from her again.

The Party of Trump: Donald Trump sent a lawyer-letter to the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee demanding that they stop using his name and picture in fundraising for the 2022 elections. Trump has been busy fundraising in his own name and doesn’t want competition.

  The RNC’s chief lawyer Justin Riemer says the party “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

  Trump may intend to run for president again and help politicians supporting him, but one working theory is that he’s really raising money for himself to pay off enormous loans coming due in the next couple of years.

Black Lives: Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, who was wrongly shot and killed in her bedroom during a botched Louisville police raid, has been cleared of attempted murder for wounding a police officer. Walker successfully argued that he fired his gun because he believed unknown assailants had crashed into the couple’s apartment.

  Taylor’s death at the hands of police a year ago became one of the major incidents motivating the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The Spin Rack: The FBI has released security video of a hooded person planting two pipe bombs the night before the Capitol insurrection in hopes of getting an identity. The bombs didn’t go off. — The Pentagon is extending the presence of the National Guard at the US Capitol until May 23^rd. It’s an armed camp. — Beth Moore, a major figure in the Southern Baptist Church, has left the church because of its support for Donald Trump. It’s a tad late, but still significant.  — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has signed a law banning all abortions in that state except to save a woman’s life.

The Obit Page: Roger Mudd, the former CBS News Washington correspondent who was assumed to succeed Walter Cronkite in the anchor chair and didn’t get it, has died at home in McClean, Virginia at 93.

  He was one of the fixtures of CBS News from 1961 to 1980, when he resigned after CBS appointed Dan Rather to the anchor chair rather than Mudd. He went to NBC and later PBS.

  Mudd famously destroyed the presidential candidacy of ted Kennedy, asking the senator why he wanted to be president, and Kennedy was unable to give a coherent answer.  

Last Word: It’s been a year since Fox News host Sean Hannity declared that the media was using “this new hoax” to “bludgeon” Donald Trump. The “hoax” was the coronavirus pandemic. As of this morning, 527,705 Americans are dead in the hoax.