The Queen to speak on TV hours before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's bombshell interview with Oprah

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The Queen to speak on TV hours before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's bombshell interview with Oprah
Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry.Chris Jackson/Getty Images
  • The Queen will not be watching the Oprah interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, a new report says.
  • Instead, the 94-year-old is ramping up her official engagements in the coming days to show "where the focus is."
  • Hours before the interview, the Queen will hold a speech of her own to mark Commonwealth Day.
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The Queen has no plans to watch the highly anticipated Oprah Winfrey interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and will increase her official engagements in the coming days to show "where the focus is," according to The Sunday Times.

The Queen is expected to address the UK on Sunday afternoon as part of the televised event that will mark Commonwealth Day. The speech will air just hours before the Oprah interview.

The royal family is bracing themselves for the bombshell interview with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are expected to talk about their departure from royal duties last year and the strained relationships it brought about in the family.

The two-hour interview special, released by CBS, is set to air in the US on Sunday and in the UK on Monday.

The Queen, aged 94, is also set to ramp up her official engagements this week to show the country that she is "focusing on the big issues" rather than the toxic PR battle between the Sussex's and the palace.

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"You will see next week Her Majesty has quite a few things going on. I don't think anyone should expect Her Majesty to stay up and watch the interview. She won't," a source close to the Queen told the Times.

"What should Monday really be about? Children going back to school, the effectiveness of the vaccine program - these are the big issues the royal family wants to focus on, not news about the circus that is Oprah and all things Sussex," the source added.

Earlier this week, Buckingham Palace announced it was investigating claims that Markle bullied, "humiliated," and made members of her staff cry during her time with the royal family.

A spokesperson for the couple denied the claims to The Times, and said the allegations were a "smear campaign" intended to undermine the Oprah interview.

"Let's just call this what it is - a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation. We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of The Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet," the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Times.

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The palace is also reportedly just as much in the dark about the interview as any member of the public waiting to see it, according to The Guardian. Even the Sussexes have not received a "final cut" from the producers, the paper added.

The Times wrote that palace officials are "prepared to retaliate with fresh disclosures about the couple's behavior if the monarchy is attacked." They also warned they "will come out swinging" if Meghan and Harry attack individuals in the interview, the Times reported.

"The mood in the family is: can everyone just shut the hell up and can we just get on with the day job," another senior source told the Times.

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