Meghan, Harry and Oprah: What to know before Sunday’s highly-anticipated primetime interview

In the United States, the interview will air Sunday, March 7, at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS and run for two hours. (It was originally scheduled for 90 minutes when it was announced in mid-February, but the network quickly realized it had a gold mine.) The special can also be seen on Paramount Plus (which until last week was known as CBS All Access), as well as live-streaming services such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV.

The interview will air in the U.K. on ITV on Monday at 9 p.m.

In a news release, CBS touted the “wide-ranging interview” will start with Winfrey sitting down with Meghan: The two will discuss everything from “stepping into life as a royal, marriage, motherhood, philanthropic work to how she is handling life under intense public pressure.” Harry will eventually join them as the couple will talk about their move to California, as well as “their future hopes and dreams for their expanding family.” (The couple recently announced Meghan is pregnant with her second child; their son, Archie, will turn 2 in May.)

In preview clips, the interview looks much juicier. Among the teasers released by CBS, Winfrey explains that no subject is off-limits, as she tells the couple, “You’ve said some pretty shocking things here.” She’s also seen asking Meghan, “Were you silent? Or were you silenced?”

And in one of the most-circulated videos, Winfrey asks, “How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?” In response, Meghan insinuated that “the Firm” (a term for the royal family that speaks to its power) had not been truthful about her and Harry: “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.”

There has been an extraordinary amount of coverage leading up to the interview, which all traces back to Harry and Meghan’s courtship. Meghan, who is biracial, faced racist and sexist attacks, while the tabloid coverage of the couple was brutal in general.

After Harry and Meghan got married in May 2018, reports surfaced of tensions within the royal family, and culminated with their bombshell decision in January 2020 to “step back” as senior royals and move to North America. The couple has since settled into a $15 million estate in Montecito, Calif., (where they are neighbors with Winfrey) and have landed a pricey production deal with Netflix and a partnership with Spotify for podcasts.

Buckingham Palace also recently announced that the pair will lose their royal patronages and honorary military titles, with a pointed statement about how “Following conversations with The Duke, The Queen has written confirming that in stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.”

Now, the palace appears to be quaking at the thought of Harry and Meghan spilling any details about the notoriously private royal family. As The Post’s William Booth and Karla Adam reported, “the palace is said to be bracing for possible embarrassments” resulting from the special.

Besides the obvious, one clue is a curiously timed story in the Times of London last week, which reported that Meghan “bullied” and “humiliated” staff members, sometimes to tears, when she joined the royal family. These allegations stemmed from a 2018 complaint, but people approached the Times of London now “because they felt that only a partial version had emerged of Meghan’s two years as a working member of the royal family and they wished to tell their side, concerned about how such matters are handled by the palace,” the paper wrote.

In another notable move, the palace — which is generally silent on public drama — spoke up to say “we are clearly very concerned about allegations” and “will look into the circumstances outlined in the article.”

A Sussex spokesperson refuted these claims, saying, “The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma.” The spokesperson also added, “It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining The Duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and The Duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.” Some of Meghan’s famous friends, such as her longtime “Suits” co-star Patrick J. Adams, also jumped to her defense.

While there’s no word on the specific timing, it’s telling that it’s taking place after the couple’s recent legal victories against British tabloids. In February, Meghan won a privacy case against the Mail on Sunday; she sued the publication’s owner, Associated Newspapers, after the outlet published a private letter she wrote to her estranged father after her and Harry’s wedding. A judge ruled that the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline must run front-page apologies to the duchess.

Harry also was victorious in a case last month after he won an apology and “substantial damages” from the same publications, which reported he “turned his back” on the armed forces (where he served in the Marines) after he stepped down as a senior royal.

It’s no secret that Harry has long despised the scrutiny of the British media, which he said was “destroying” his mental health. One clip of the Winfrey interview shows Harry saying, “My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” referring to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a 1997 car crash as she was being pursued by paparazzi in Paris.