Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 07, 2026

Queen plans TV special on same day as Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview

Queen plans TV special on same day as Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview

The Queen will take part in a special TV show celebrating the Commonwealth hours before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview is aired in the USA.

Other senior royals will join the Queen in the special annual message ‘A Celebration For Commonwealth Day’, which will take on an extra significance following the cancellation of the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. The event has been scrapped for the first time in nearly half a century because of coronavirus.

Harry and Meghan’s intimate interview with Oprah Winfrey is being screened in a 90-minute special on CBS at 8pm in the US on Sunday, March 7, which will be in the early hours of Monday UK time.

Just hours before, the Queen’s message will be broadcast on BBC One at 7pm on the Sunday night.

Charles, The Prince of Wales, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex will also take part in the show.

‘Megxit’ was finalised in a 12-month review last week when Buckingham Palace confirmed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would never return as working royals, and that the Queen had stripped them of their royal patronages and Harry of his honorary military roles.

In a statement thought to have been taken as an insult by the couple, the Palace said: ‘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.’

The Queen stripped Meghan and Harry of their royal roles before pointed comments about ‘public service’ were exchanged


Harry and Meghan replied: ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal,’ prompting accusations they were being disrespectful to the Queen.

The Queen is the symbolic head of the Commonwealth and regards the role very highly.

Last year’s Commonwealth service, just weeks before England went into its first national lockdown, was Harry and Meghan’s final appearance before they quit royal duties and left to start an independent life in the US.

The remaining Royals will share their perspectives of the importance of our Commonwealth links, the Abbey said.

The service, which was due to be held on Monday, March 8, is a key part of the royal calendar and has been held every year since 1972.

Some 2,000 people usually gather at the church in central London in celebration of the voluntary association of 54 nations.

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, said: ‘The Commonwealth Service is one of the Abbey’s most important annual services, but as it is not possible to gather here, we have seized the chance to take the celebration well beyond these walls.

‘We are so pleased that this rich and vibrant BBC programme with the royal family and the Abbey at its heart will celebrate our global connections at a time when we are all so physically isolated.’

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
HMRC’s 2029 Tax Shift Could Overlap Old and New Self-Assessment Bills
Thetford Disorder Prompts Expanded Police Powers Amid Asylum-Housing Protests
Cambridge Faces Calls for Independent Review of Jason Arday Appointment
Scotland’s ‘Cock of the North’ Woodland Is Being Felled After Wind Damage
Reform UK and Greens Unite Against Vast Solar Plans for Kent Marshland
New Zealand Draws Wealthy Americans With Revamped Investor Visa
Senate Panel Votes to Hold Anthony Fauci in Contempt After Fifth Amendment Testimony
Cambridge Professor Jason Arday Resigns as University Opens Inquiry Into His Credentials
Manchester Power Failure Disrupts Trains Across North West Into Friday
Lightning Strike Kills Yala FC Player During Match in Southern Thailand
Senate Scrutinises AI-Driven Personalised Pricing
Spain Seeks Mainland Transfers for 1,100 Children Stranded in Ceuta
Spain and Morocco Trade Blame After 72,000 Migrants Enter Ceuta
Met Police Investigated Journalist Who Questioned Cambridge Professor
Badenoch Defends Tory Candidate Jailed for Antisemitic Abuse of Luciana Berger
NHS Spends £240m a Year Storing Paper Records Despite Digital Push
Apple Seeks Court Order to Stop OpenAI Using Alleged Trade Secrets
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Comcast: Tied to a Chair and Hit in the Face With Cake: The Regular Humiliation Ritual at the US Corporate Giant
Aston Martin Faces Legal Threat Over £550m Rescue Deal
Reform UK Wants the Royal Navy to Return Channel Boats to France
US and Japan Step In to Support the Yen in Rare Joint Intervention
The AI Pricing Problem: Companies Cannot Predict Their Own Bills
Europe’s Heat and Drought Are Now Disrupting Power, Shipping and Tourism
Apple’s OpenAI Lawsuit Becomes a Public Fight Over AI Hardware
UK Man Jailed After Keeping His Mother’s Body in a Freezer and Claiming £78,000
A SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon — and Scientists Hope to Watch
World War II munitions discovered after wildfires in southern France
BP profits reach four-year high amid Middle East conflict
Europe’s Drying Rivers Trigger Power Cuts, Factory Shutdowns and Wildfire Emergencies
Nigel Farage Expresses Openness to Potential Alliance with Restore Britain
Triple Lock Lifts UK State Pension but Leaves a Wider Retirement Gap
Danube Drought Forces Hungary’s Paks Nuclear Plant Into Full Shutdown
Ceuta Death Toll Rises as Spain and Europe Clash Over Border Response
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
Modern Slavery Decisions Broaden the Al Fayed Inquiry’s Frame
FIFA’s Retreat Leaves a Larger Question Over Who Guards the Game
Two Firefighting Crew Members Die in Helicopter Collision West of Athens
Ceuta Border Surge Recasts Europe’s Migration Debate
Burnham Promises a Harder Channel Response as Crossings Test His New Government
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
Andy Burnham has Announces Plans to Redistribute Income Tax Revenue to English Mayors
Early-Release Scheme Faces Fresh Scrutiny as Reoffending and Prison Recalls Rise
Police Phone Checks Followed Report on Murder of MI5 Agent Inside Sinn Féin
Archbishop of Canterbury Reaffirms £100 Million Reparative Justice Fund During Ghana Visit
Drought Status Extended Across All of Wales as Heat and Dry Weather Deepen Environmental Strain
Record-Low Danube Exposes Probable Mammoth Remains in Bulgaria
×