Over their years in the public eye, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have largely kept their relationships with the queen private. But during the CBS special Oprah with Megan and Harry, Meghan spoke to Oprah about where things stand between her and the queen following her and Harry’s decision to step back from their senior royal family roles.
Meghan began the interview by describing her first meeting with the Queen. “There wasn’t actually a huge formality the first time I met Her Majesty the Queen,” she said. However, her future husband did ask if she knew how to curtsy. Turns out, Meghan didn’t.
“I learned [how to curtsy] very quickly right in front of the house,” she said. “We just practiced and then walked in…And I met her and apparently I did a very deep curtsy—I don’t remember it—and then we just sat there and we chatted. And, um, it was lovely and easy and I think, thank God I hadn’t known a lot about the family. Thank God I hadn’t researched. I would have been so in my head about all of this.”
She also revealed there have been numerous challenges between her, Harry and the rest of the royal family—some of them shocking—but that there are no hard feelings between her and the Queen.
“It’s hard for people to distinguish the two because it’s a family business, right? So there’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution,” she explained.
“The queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me. I mean, we had one of our first joint engagements together. She asked me to join her, and I went on the train. And we had breakfast together that morning and she gave me a beautiful gift and I just really loved being in her company, and I know we were in the car—Yeah, she gave me some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace—and we were in the car going between engagements. And she has a blanket that sits across her, her knees, for warmth and it was chilly and she was like, Meghan, come on, and put it over my knees as well.”
Ahead of Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview, ELLE.com learned about where things between the Queen, her grandson, and his wife stand currently, including that the Queen was “sympathetic and supportive” of Harry in a recent phone call ahead of the 12-month review period of their stepping back from their working royal family roles.
Queen Elizabeth is “delighted about her grandson’s happiness,” a source told ELLE.com in late February. Harry reassured her that he and Meghan “intend to carry on their duty to the family,” and reiterated he has no intention to embarrass the family despite suggestions in the tabloids that the couple’s interview with Oprah could damage relations. The queen remains supportive of Harry to live a more private life and as a grandmother, only wants his family to be able to thrive, knowing her grandson had been struggling.
During her engagement interview with Harry, Meghan spoke about her first meeting with the queen. “I have [met the queen],” she said in 2017. “A couple of times, yeah. It’s incredible, A) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honor and respect for her but the love and respect he has for her as his grandmother. All of those layers have been important to me. She’s an incredible women.”
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