Meghan Refused to Sit With Harry During Oprah Interview When He Criticized His Family

FTD News

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00:00Meghan had doubts about sharing the spotlight.

00:02Meghan Markle had reservations about sharing the spotlight,

00:05planning her Oprah interview as early as 2019.

00:08Even before leaving royal duties,

00:11Meghan was focused on a major televised moment

00:14rather than smaller press appearances.

00:17Long before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry

00:19sat down with Oprah Winfrey for their interview in March 2021,

00:22the idea for that conversation had already been in the works.

00:26According to royal author Valentine Lowe,

00:28Meghan had agreed to speak with Oprah way back in 2019

00:32when she and Harry were still working royals.

00:35Meghan Markle was hesitant to share the spotlight

00:37and had already begun planning her Oprah interview

00:40as early as 2019.

00:42The interview was originally meant to happen that fall,

00:45but for various reasons,

00:47it didn't come together until much later.

00:49What's especially revealing is Meghan's reluctance

00:51to participate in other media opportunities in the meantime.

00:55While their team was planning the couple's tour

00:57of Southern Africa,

00:58in late 2019,

01:00a royal aide suggested doing an interview

01:02with a trusted British journalist,

01:04Tom Bradby.

01:05Meghan prioritized the Oprah tell-all

01:07over other media opportunities.

01:10But Meghan wasn't interested.

01:12She was already looking ahead

01:13to the big sit-down with Oprah

01:14and didn't want anything else to overshadow it.

01:17Harry and Meghan refused to be interviewed together.

01:20Eventually, Harry and Meghan did agree

01:22to speak with Tom Bradby during their Africa tour,

01:24but only under one strict condition.

01:27They would not be interviewed together

01:28or appear in the same picture.

01:30This wasn't just a creative choice.

01:32It was about preserving the deal they had with Oprah.

01:35They didn't want to risk ruining the impact

01:37of what they planned to reveal later on.

01:39Even though they kept their distance on camera,

01:42Meghan's solo conversation with Bradby

01:44still sparked headlines.

01:46When he asked how she was coping with the media pressure,

01:48she thanked him for simply asking.

01:50Not many people have asked if I'm okay, she admitted,

01:54adding that things had in fact been a struggle.

01:57It was one of the first moments

01:58where the public saw just how overwhelmed

02:00she was feeling behind the scenes.

02:02Palace staff picked up on Meghan Markle's exit plans early.

02:06Even back then, royal insiders were beginning to sense

02:09that something was off.

02:10According to Lowe, there were small but telling signs

02:13that Harry and Meghan might not be planning

02:15to stay with the royal family much longer.

02:17Their calendar after the Africa tour was suspiciously empty.

02:21And behind the scenes, Meghan's U.S.-based team

02:24was becoming more involved.

02:26Her business manager, lawyer, agent,

02:28and public relations contacts from Sunshine Sachs

02:31were all active during this time,

02:33raising eyebrows at the palace.

02:36Staff were beginning to wonder whether the couple

02:37was working on projects beyond their royal duties.

02:40In hindsight, these quiet moves seem to have been

02:43the earliest clues that Megxit was already underway,

02:46even if it hadn't been announced yet.

02:48The Meghan and Harry-Oprah interview

02:50sent rumors through the palace.

02:52By the time Harry and Meghan finally sat down with Oprah,

02:55on March 2021, they were no longer working royals.

02:59The couple used the opportunity to speak freely,

03:02and what they revealed stunned the world.

03:04They claimed that someone within the royal family

03:06had made comments about how dark Archie's skin

03:09might be when he was born.

03:11Meghan also said that Catherine, Princess of Wales,

03:14had made her cry in the lead-up to her wedding

03:17over a disagreement about bridesmaid dresses.

03:20Those statements were just the beginning.

03:22Meghan also opened up about her experience feeling isolated,

03:25attacked by the media,

03:27and unsupported behind palace walls.

03:29In one emotional moment,

03:31she admitted that there were nights

03:32when she felt really low.

03:34Her honesty shocked many viewers,

03:37and Prince Harry supported her

03:38by talking about how difficult it had been

03:40to watch her struggle.

03:42Meghan claimed there was a secret wedding

03:43that was later debunked.

03:45One of the more surprising parts of the interview

03:47was Meghan's claim that she and Harry

03:49had secretly married three days

03:51before their public ceremony at Windsor Castle.

03:53She said they had a private exchange of vows

03:55at their home, Nottingham Cottage,

03:58led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

04:00At the time, it sounded like a sweet and romantic detail.

04:05But just two weeks later,

04:06the official wedding certificate was made public,

04:09and it told a different story.

04:10According to the document,

04:12their actual legal wedding took place

04:14on May 19th, 2018,

04:16just as the world had watched.

04:18The witnesses listed were Prince Charles

04:20and Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland,

04:22confirming that the Grand Royal wedding

04:24was, in fact, the real one.

04:26The film was 1,000-195.

04:27The film was made by the

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