TORONTO -- The day after her bombshell interview was broadcast in Canada, Oprah joined long-time friend and colleague Gayle King to discuss her conversation with Prince Harry and Meghan.
The iconic American TV host also aired some previously unseen interview clips where the couple gave more context to their reasoning for leaving the U.K., and how their relationships with other members of the Royal Family have suffered.
The original interview which had millions tuning in on Sunday was three hours, Oprah said, but was cut down to approximately 85 minutes.
CBS broadcast and released the clips on social media.
In one clip, Oprah asks the couple point-blank, “Did you leave the country because of racism?”
Prince Harry replied that racism “was a large part of it,” recalling in particular a fundraiser for his charity Sentebale, where an attendee begged the Prince to “please don’t do this with the media, they will destroy your life” and warned the Prince that it wasn’t just the U.K. press that was “bigoted,” but the U.K. itself.
‘THE QUEEN IS BUSY’
In another clip, Harry and Meghan told Oprah about how an invitation to visit Queen Elizabeth II at her residence at Sandringham was abruptly cancelled, following the release of a letter in early 2020 announcing the couple’s plan to step back from their formal royal duties.
The Duke of Sussex claims they planned to meet the Queen as soon as they returned to the U.K. from Canada, but shortly after they arrived they received a message from a private secretary that Her Majesty was now busy.
“She’s busy all week,” the Duke said, recalling the message. “She’d just invited me. 'The Queen’s busy...do not come up here.'”
‘TOXIC ENVIRONMENT’
In the interview, Prince Harry and Meghan spoke about feeling “alienated” from the rest of the family, with Harry describing his relationship with his sibling William, as “needing space.”
In an unaired clip, Harry expands on how the tabloids in the U.K. created a “toxic environment of fear” for the family, “but I will always be there for him [William], I will always be there for my family,” he said.
Oprah asks if anyone from the Royal Family ever expressed they were apologetic or sympathetic for the couple feeling they had to leave.
“So has anybody said, ‘I’m sorry you had to make that move,’ or ‘I’m sorry you felt that you had to do that because you felt we were not supporting you?’” Oprah asks.
Prince Harry replied that nobody had, and that the feeling was “this was our decision, therefore the consequences are on us.”
The couple also compared the press coverage of Meghan to that of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.
“Kate was called ‘Waity Katie,’ waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was really hard… this is not the same,” Meghan said.
"If a member of his family will comfortably say, 'We've all had to deal with things that are rude,' rude and racist are not the same," the duchess said. "And equally, you've also had a press team that goes on the record to defend you, especially when they know something's not true. And that didn't happen for us."
Oprah also clarified one of the most potent revelations of her interview: explaining on “CBS This Morning” that neither Prince Philip nor the Queen had been the ones to question what colour baby Archie’s skin would be when he was born.
