A royal author has claimed that Meghan Markle was reluctant to take part in an interview alongside Prince Harry because their joint appearance with Oprah Winfrey had already been agreed two years before it aired.

Following the so-called ‘peace summit’ earlier this month, where images of Harry and Meghan’s press secretary meeting with King Charles’s communications secretary were revealed by The Mail On Sunday, relations between the Sussexes and the Palace appear to be warming.

If this is true, it will mark a high point in their relationship since Megxit. But four years ago the royals faced a particularly low point when Harry and Meghan sat down for a bombshell interview with US TV personality Oprah Winfrey.

Writing in his biography about the staff who serve the royals – titled Courtiers – author Valentine Low claimed that two years before the interview in March 2021, Meghan had already agreed to speak to Oprah.

The original interview was slated to take place in autumn 2019, when Harry and Meghan were still working royals.

According to Low, during the run up to Harry and Meghan’s tour of southern Africa in 2019, royal aide Sam Cohen suggested the couple should speak with British journalists.

‘At the same time as preparing for the Africa tour, the team was trying to persuade the couple it would be appropriate to do an interview with the British media. Sam Cohen suggested Tom Bradby of ITV, who already had a relationship with Harry, would be a good idea.’ Low wrote.

‘Meghan in particular was reluctant at first, her attention was focused on the prospect of doing an interview with Oprah Winfrey, which at that point was slated for the autumn of that year (it would eventually go ahead more than a year later, in March 2021.’

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Meghan Markle during the southern African royal tour. According to author Valentine Low, royal aide Sam Cohen suggested they should speak with British journalists

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Harry and Meghan during their interview with Oprah. The original interview was slated to take place in Autumn of 2019 when Harry and Meghan were still working royals

During their first meeting with ITV, Meghan was ‘distinctly cool’ but then the couple did agree with one condition.

‘There was one proviso: he and Meghan could not do the interviews together, or be in the same shot. That would go against the deal with Oprah,’ Low said.

Meghan’s interview with Bradby caused its own controversy, when the Duchess spoke about how she was struggling to cope with the media scrutiny on top of being a new mother and a newlywed.

During the interview she thanked Bradby for asking if she was OK, claiming ‘not many people have asked if I’m OK’.

And then when asked if it had been a struggle, she agreed with the reporter’s analysis.

Meghan’s reluctance to be interviewed was an indication Megxit was on the horizon, but it was far from the first indication the royal staff had noticed that the couple could be plotting an escape.

Low wrote: ‘There were clues that – again, with hindsight – might have suggested that Harry and Meghan did not see their long-term future as working members of the Royal Family.’

‘Their Africa tour was coming up, but there was nothing in the diary after that. What were they actually planning to do after November?’

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Royal aide Sam Cohen at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. It was said to be Sam’s suggestion that the royals consider giving an interview to the UK media during their royal tour of southern Africa

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In 2019, during an interview with ITV journalist Tom Bradby, Meghan was remarkably candid about how she was struggling to cope with the media scrutiny on top of being a new mother and a newlywed

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Meghan speaking to Tom Bradby. While she received praise in some circles for her openness, it was not the sort of answer many working royals would have been expected to give

He added: ‘Meanwhile, staff were increasingly aware of the presence in the background of Meghan’s business manager, Andrew Meyer, and her lawyer, Rick Genow, as well as her agent, Nick Collins, and Kaleigh Thomas Morgan of Sunshine Sachs.’

‘The US team had been very busy on Meghan’s behalf, working on deals not.’

Harry and Meghan did sit down with Oprah for their interview when they were no longer working royals, and instead revealed ‘the truth’ about their lives in the Royal Family.

The pair made allegations that rocked the monarchy during the 85-minute conversation.

They claimed comments had been made about how dark Prince Archie’s skin might be when he was born, while Meghan accused Catherine, Princess of Wales, of making her cry over bridesmaid dresses just days before her wedding.

Queen Elizabeth II then issued a statement saying the issues raised in the interview would be dealt with privately as a family, adding that ‘recollections may vary’.

Other bombshell claims included Meghan’s candid discussion about her mental health struggles during her time as a royal.

She said: ‘I just didn’t see a solution. I just didn’t see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just, like, I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out.

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Writing in his biography about the staff who serve the royals, Valentine Low revealed two years before the interview in March 2021, Meghan had already agreed to speak to Oprah

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Meghan during the Oprah interview. One of the more bizarre claims was that they were allegedly married in secret three days before their actual wedding in May 2018

‘And, look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he’s suffered.

‘But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. And I just didn’t I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.’

One of the more bizarre claims was they were allegedly married in secret three days before their actual wedding in May 2018 – and the Archbishop of Canterbury led the private ceremony.

Setting the scene, Meghan said they ‘were married’ at Nottingham Cottage – their home at the time, in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

But two weeks later, these claims were blown apart when the General Registrar Office revealed the couple’s wedding certificate for the first time.

It proved they were officially married on May 19, 2018 in the lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle after all, with the witnesses recorded as Prince Charles and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland.