Sunrise's Edwina Bartholomew doubles down on Meghan rant

Edwina Bartholomew has doubled down on her stance on Meghan Markle's excuse for not attending Prince Philip's funeral, saying the Sussexes should 'stop with the PR war'.

The Sunrise host raised eyebrows yesterday, when she told the Sussexes to 'shut up' over reports the Duchess of Sussex isn’t attending Prince Philip’s funeral as she doesn't want the spotlight to be on her.

The palace has claimed that the duchess was reportedly "advised by her physician not to travel".

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Fans were shocked with Edwina's outburst online, with one person writing: "I thought you weren't that person. Telling someone pregnant and struggling with mental health to 'Just Shut Up' you need to apologise."

Edwina responded, saying: "Not trying to take away from anyone’s battle with mental health. They are a grieving family. I’m not sure why it is useful to have a different version of events out in the public domain.

"Why not just tow the line this week of all weeks? It may not be true and I may be wrong but it just feels like the whole family should rally around the Queen at the moment and stop with the PR war."

Yesterday on Sunrise, Edwina slammed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, saying: “That just really gets my goat”.

“I’ve reserved judgement about those two for quite some time, but if that is true, it just makes me so angry.

“I still liked Harry and Meghan, I just, I just feel I’ve turned now.”

Kochie chimed in, calling Meghan Markle the “Yoko Ono of the royal family.”

Edwina continued, admitting that Meghan was “right”, as if she had travelled to the UK for the funeral on Saturday, “there would have been a lot of attention on her and it would have distracted I think.”

“But just for them to say that out loud.. just go with the palace line would you for once, just shut up.”

Kylie Gillies added: "And don’t hide behind doctor’s orders if it’s not, that’s not cool”.

Edwina disagreed, saying: “No do I think. Just pretend that’s what it was and then we can all continue on.”

People took to Twitter to call out Edwina, with one person saying: “This was a poor excuse for #EdwinaBartholomew to publicly bash an 8 month pregnant woman who quite clearly, as with any woman this far into a pregnancy, would be unable to fly.”

The source also told the Daily Mail that Meghan thinks this is a good opportunity for Prince Harry to reconnect with his family.

"Meghan said it's during these times when family should come together, put their differences aside and unite as one. She said this is what Prince Philip would want and that she's willing to forgive and move forward."

Harry has not been to the UK since he and Meghan left in March 2020 just as the pandemic and lockdowns began worldwide. This will be his first opportunity to reunite with his brother, Prince William, and his father, Prince Charles, who is believed to be "looking forward" to the reunion.

Harry will be able to leave quarantine after five days rather than 10 if he provides a negative coronavirus test, however, he will be able to attend Philip's funeral regardless, as official guidelines state those coming from abroad can leave isolation "on compassionate grounds".

Philip's funeral will be held on Saturday at 3pm London time with just 30 guests due to coronavirus restrictions.

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