Why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Interview with Oprah Winfrey was an Epic Mistake

Was Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey and epic mistake? Did the couple overestimate their ability to manipulate the masses?

It's been a year since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sat down with Oprah Winfrey to share their royal woes with the former Queen of Daytime Talk.

The couple complained about everything, from their "spectacle" of a royal wedding to losing their security and taxpayer funding. The couple also made a baseless accusation against a member of the British Royal Family regarding their son's skin tone, and generally disparaged Harry's family.

Despite a little bit of a boost in their popularity post-interview, Harry and Meghan have essentially been struggling to regain their footing in the year since it aired. In fact, they've stepped into one controversy or another, which has made many doubt their authenticity and relationship with the truth when it comes to their life inside the monarchy.

Meghan's been publicly revealed as a liar in her court case, after emails and text messages that she told the court were deleted were submitted to the judge by her former communications secretary.

Harry has shown himself as an entitled man with a limited grasp of the country he now calls home. If the couple were thinking that this interview would be a springboard to their future successes, they've been sadly mistaken. Do you think Harry and Meghan made a mistake with their Oprah interview? Has it aged well for them?

NOTE: Harry and Meghan's full interview with Oprah is no longer available. I was only able to find bits and pieces, while reconstructing some of their comments from various news reports and clips.

Royal News Network combines news and commentary, so certain points and conclusions are my own.

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[annegrant]

The real disgrace was Oprah’s pathetically soft interviewing of her with no challenging of her statements. Oprah’s dramatic shout out “What” was just a joke. She seriously shattered any reputation she might have had as a serious commentator

[trueblue]

It wasn't a mistake. I didn't care much for the monarchy but thanks to Meghan, I grew to admire the future queen Catherine. She is so classy, humble, and down to earth. Quite a contrast between the two.

[carolineokelley]

Wait...she was suicidal when she was pregnant, but she said she would never hurt her child like her father hurt Is anyone getting how crazy this woman is???

[cobo]

BIGGEST MISTAKE for all 3 - Harry, Meghan, AND Oprah!!!!

[justinbarber]

Free and easy with the truth is an understatement. She claimed she sobbed through the entire Critique de Soleil - I was there and witnessed with my own eyes that this is a lie. Didn’t she claim to have had her passport taken but somehow managed at least a dozen overseas holidays during her short stint as a working royal.

[sandrasmith]

What always gets me thinking about the wedding is a couple of things. When Diana came out on the steps with Prince William and Catherine came out on the steps with Prince George both still looked like they were pregnant, as I did when I had my first child and it took me two years to lose the baby weight. When Diana appeared with Prince Harry and Catherine appeared with Princess Charlotte they didn’t look like they had just had a baby and neither did I with my next two. MM knew that Catherine was due to give birth 3/4 weeks before the wedding so I bet she thought Catherine would look fat and frumpy and tired so she would outshine her. Catherine looked fabulous and you wouldn’t know by her appearance that she was a brand new mum.
The other point is that Eugenie was due to get married then but because Harry was a Senior Royal, his wedding took priority and hers was bumped back to the October. So she wanted to get one up on both Catherine and Eugenie. Then at Eugenies wedding she made it clear she was pregnant to try and steal the limelight from Eugenie. Vile creature that she is!

[morningglory]

The Oprah interview was a disastrous PR Stunt because it displayed so many red flags. It was because of this interview that I changed my mind about her. I initially supported the Harkles, thinking they needed to do what they need to do for their mental health. Then, the interview revealed her hidden agenda to smear the royal family because I questioned what was the whole point of this? What were they looking to gain from doing this expose interview. The more she talked, the more I found her to be inauthentic and superficial. I thought that whole flower girl dress conflict was a petty and frivolous thing to get upset about. It seemed ridiculous to me that she found it difficult to adapt to protocol and royal customs, because she is an actress, and actors do their research to embody the characters they are playing. They research the mannerisms, behavior, and language of their characters. I completely agree with you in her pretending to be a young and naive girl for a woman in her late 30s is a ridiculous caricature for her. The fact that she is also playing the race card for someone who is considered "white-passing" is ridiculous as well. She is so light-skinned that I have a hard time believing anyone questioning how dark her baby's complexion would be. This interview revealed them to be a couple of spoiled and entitled brats that are demanding titles for their children, demanding security for their family and demanding money for their very expensive and extravagant lifestyle. I lost all respect for them because they chose to leave the family and wanted to pursue their own thing independently, yet they expect his family to pick up the check for their security and they want titles for a baby that wasn't even born in the UK, and they haven't even met yet. They have been nothing but disrespectful and hurtful towards the royal family, and they expect to have their demands be met. These two need to grow up!

[JREwing-Dallas]

Plus she was pregnant at the time. Where was her gynecologist, midwife, etc...?
And Harry and his brother and Sister in law formed a mental health foundation before Meghan came on the scene....he had contacts.
They tried "to win hearts and minds" like Diana, but overplayed their hands

[jeaneliza]

Thank you for this overview. In the UK here... and deeply offended like many by MM treatment of the British public and RF who welcomed her with open arms (and funded her 32 million 'spectacle' wedding). I was horrified by the Oprah interview. She insulted the British people by calling her wedding a spectacle (funded by us taxpayers and the RF). You just had to see the crowds cheering and good wishes on the day to see how she was welcomed. Oprah fell down by not challenging some of the statements! Harry has had a troubled past and many were so happy for him when he found Meghan. On top of that of course her treatment of her family is appalling. So many spiteful lies in the Oprah interview and the lies to the court about her involvement in the book. Too many bridges burnt back here in the UK. The general British public who took her to their hearts won't allow her back in. Such a shame, she had a wonderful opportunity yet has created so much misery. Will never understand why MM became so spiteful. The RF is an historic institution with protocols and traditions. Of course it may take time to settle and adapt but the vitriol???!!!!

[Cubagrizz]

Harry said years ago that William helped him when he was having a struggle, long before he met Megan, with his mental health so, why wouldn’t Harry have just taken Megan where he went or to see the person he saw when he needed help? I just didn’t buy any of that. The palace assisted Diana in receiving mental health assistance years before I believe I read, I just can’t see the total failure of Harry not knowing some way to help her.

[katherinekelly]

The “Going to HR” when feeling suicidal floored me. Meghan was in her thirties- no one goes to HR when they need a doctor and she had worked enough to know this. Also surprised that Oprah didn’t echo my comment/disbelief in their interview. Oprah ran a large company with many employees and had an HR dept - she can’t seriously think any of her employees went to HR when they felt suicidal ?!? If they did, the HR dept would encourage them to seek medical attention
This is like saying you went to HR with a broken leg - the only follow-up question should have been ‘Why on earth did you do that?’

[bettyb.]

Is Oprah wondering if she just ruined her reputation by doing this "soft" interview?

[janderson]

It is interesting to compare the two segments of the Oprah interview. You nailed her attempt to mimic Diana, with her 'smokey eye' look and her vulnerable, victim narrative. Contrast that with the portion filmed in the chicken pen (what's up with that?) where she is no longer wearing her poor-little-orphan-girl make-up and her entire demeanor is different. There she is more assertive, brash and in control. She can't have it both ways - one of these two scenarios is an act, if not both! This woman is fake to the core

[eedwards]

Diana was still a teenager when she got engaged, and turned 20 less than a month when she married. MM was closing in on 40 - almost twice Diana's age - had a career and had been married before. And she lived in the era of Yahoo and Google. There is NO WAY she knew nothing.

"My Country 'Tis of Thee" is the U.S. song that shares the same hymn tune. Our national anthem has about forty different words to it. Prince Louis can sing it, and he's four.

Catherine doesn't need titles because she is very comfortable with herself. She knows she is loved - as a daughter, sister, wife, mother - and she doesn't have a child's need to run around screaming "watch me, see me, aren't I great?"

The Met Police are NOT for sale, no matter who offers to pay. If they allow the Sussexes to pay, they open themselves up to anyone asking for that.

Harry did know his wife was lying, but he went along with it and even backed her up.

[lilyof-the-valley]

New subscriber. Watching from the UK. I'm so glad that the number of American YouTubers speaking objectively about the Sussex duo, is growing. Thank you for sharing 🙏👍👏👏👏

[cheechalker]

The irony is Diana deeply regretted that interview because it started the ball rolling toward divorce, which is not what Diana wanted

[katherinekelly]

I don’t understand why anyone would lie about something so easy to check - like whether or not you got married 3 days before your wedding ?

[pkc]

Let's also remember she forgot to invite 99% of her family to her wedding. Henry will continue to live off his mother's name. She will accue you of being racist if she can't control you.

[marysifling]

No one (common people) will ever forget the Oprah interview. The interview was the beginning of the duo’s downfall. So many of us are looking and listening for the downfall with glee.

[christinefoley]

The letter Me-gain wrote when she was 12 years old was a class project. Her entire class wrote letters. If you research the company was in the process of changing the narrative of the advertisement prior to the class letters from Me-gain's class.