Prince Harry says Queen was advised not to meet with him

"Come to Sandringham as soon as you land." That's what Prince Harry was told by the Queen in January 2020 in an unpublished Oprah interview (opens in new tab) with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that aired Monday morning. Let me give you some background: Prince Harry shared a letter with his family in early January explaining why he and his wife were stepping down as royal executives. A few days after this shocking news, Harry returned to England.

But Harry says something strange happened. The Queen told Harry to come and see her "at the moment" when he landed in England and to have a cup of tea and a chat.

"The moment he landed in England, I received a message from Fiona, his private secretary at the time: ...... The Queen's private secretary said, 'I can't come to Norfolk (to see the Queen). The Queen has been busy all week.'

Let me give you some background: this was at the very peak of the international hysteria over Harry and Meghan's departure from the Royal Family. It is hard to imagine anything more pressing for the Queen.

Harry said he called himself to speak with the Queen. He told her, "I was going to come anyway, but I heard you were busy right now." The queen said she had "written something in [her] diary" that she had not known before.

"I didn't want to push it, and I kind of knew what was going on," Harry said.

"Doesn't the queen do what the queen wants to do? Oprah asked.

"No..." Harry said.

"When you're the head of a company, you have people around you who give you advice. And some of that advice is really bad advice."