How Meghan Markle and Oprah met and became friends

Winfrey famously attended Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry

(Getty Images)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are set to be interviewed by American TV juggernaut, Oprah Winfrey.

It will mark the couple’s first televised interview since they stepped down from their royal duties at the start of 2020.

Harry and Meghan will speak to Winfrey for a two-part primetime special due to be aired by CBS on 7 March.

According to the network, the interview will cover “everything from stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood, philanthropic work to how she is handling life under intense public pressure”.

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Winfrey was just one of the A-list celebrities who attended the couple’s wedding in May 2018, describing it as “transformative” in an interview after the event.

“It was a cultural moment and you could not be there or watch on television and not feel that there was a shift that just happened in the middle of it,” she said. “It’s bigger than them.”

But how did Meghan and Winfrey meet?

It has been reported that Winfrey had only met the Duchess once prior to being invited to her wedding and the impending interview is the result of a three-year discussion between the two women.

The 67-year-old got in touch with Meghan through CBS, The Times reports, and they spoke on the phone.

Since the wedding, there have been numerous incidents where Oprah has spoken publicly in support of Meghan and Harry.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Winfrey said she was “proud” of the couple’s decision not to reveal the name of their godparents for their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor.

When they announced their departure from the royal family, Winfrey told TMZ.: “I support them 1,000 percent.

“You know why I support them? I support them because I believe, when you have thought about this as long as they have - and even in the Queen’s statement [she] says, ‘This has been going on for months,’ these discussions have been going on for months — and when Harry said in that charity statement the other day that he had to make the decision to move forward in peace with his new family.”

Winfrey is also friendly with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland. After photos emerged of Ragland leaving Winfrey’s home with gifts, reports claimed that the TV host had showered her with gifts in a bid to get her to do a tell-all interview.

Winfrey laughed off the reports. “I love the story, it was that Meghan’s Mum came to my house and she left with gifts. Do you know what the gifts were?” she told Entertainment Tonight.

“For lunch we had dessert with kumquats and she said, ‘I love kumquats and I said, ‘I have a kumquat tree, do you want some kumquats?’

“For all of the people who said I’m giving her gifts, I’m trying to bribe her for an interview, they were kumquats.”

Harry and Meghan will speak to Winfrey for a two-part primetime special due to be aired by CBS on 7 March.