Meghan and Harry used their wedding to network, meet Oprah, plan royal exit, author says

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The May 2018 royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was a major social event for the Who’s Who of the political and entertainment elite. One guest, media icon Oprah Winfrey, barely knew the couple yet was still in attendance.

Some speculate that their marriage ceremony, amid its passionate purpose, also served as a strategic way of networking for the now-former Duke and Duchess of Sussex, The Mercury News reports. Just six months after exchanging vows, they met with Winfrey to discuss what lay ahead. Then, it was in March 2021 that their major interview took place with the OWN mogul, during which they accused a member of England’s royal family of being racist and expressed other frustrations.

In The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth, and the Turmoil, author Tina Brown states that some wedding guests “were a portrait not of Meghan’s intimate circle but of the friends she most wanted to recruit into her inner circle.”

Andrew Morton, the author of two books on the royal family, echoed these sentiments in a recent episode of the God Save the Queen podcast.

“Harry was having conversations in a London hotel with Oprah Winfrey [back] in November 2018, just six months after they’d been married,” said Morton. “So, they were thinking about a different direction of travel pretty early on.”

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And, as Prince Harry and Markle’s actions have demonstrated, they’re all about their independence from expectation. From their 2019 tour of South Africa to exploring the possibility of living in New Zealand to spending the 2019 holiday on Vancouver Island, Prince Harry and his bride have made their way around the globe.  

After their idea of leaving the royal family leaked to the press in early 2020, a discussion reportedly occurred between the couple, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth. Prince Harry and Markle ended up wanting to adhere to their royal duties part-time. However, that did not go over well, and they have since seceded from the royal family.

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Currently residing in California, the two uphold various commitments that include support of numerous causes, deals with Netflix and Spotify, and work related to U.S. politics. 

On Saturday, Prince Harry and Markle were spotted driving from their Montecito estate to Winfrey’s $100-million home just minutes away, noted The Mercury News. 

Only time will tell if this latest meeting with their esteemed neighbor will result in another blast of media attention for the stateside duo. Either way, there’s a good chance Oprah again knows — ahead of the rest of us — what they will do next.

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