Prince Harry, 42, and Meghan Markle, 45, have no plans to apologize to Prince William and Kate Middleton over their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, a source close to the couple said.
The denial rejects a report published Oct. 6, 2026, by the Daily Express, which framed such an apology as the Sussexes’ opening move toward peace with the royal family. A source close to Harry and Meghan told PEOPLE the report was “nonsense.” Two royal writers who cover the couple separately said the same thing.
What the Report Claimed
The report focused on the most incendiary moment of the Winfrey interview, broadcast March 2021. Meghan gave an account of royal family members discussing how dark her first child’s skin might be, before his birth. Neither Meghan nor Harry has identified the relative involved.
The report cited an unnamed source who said the couple now view the interview as their one big regret and believe they had gone too far. The same report said the couple were seeking a sit-down with the Prince and Princess of Wales, where Meghan would apologize.
Royal Writers Dismiss the Story
Royal journalist Tom Sykes spoke to Page Six on Wednesday, Oct. 7. “It is total rubbish,” he said. Sykes said a source close to Harry told him the apology account was invented, and that Harry has long maintained he will not apologize for anything.
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, host of the “Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered” podcast, told Page Six the same day that her own sources assured her the story was false and that she has seen no evidence of a change of heart. “Prince Harry and Meghan remain defiant,” she said.
Still No Thaw With William
King Charles III, 77, met the family at Highgrove on July 10, which Buckingham Palace described as a private family occasion. William and Kate have largely made no public comment about the Sussexes since the move.
A Series of Public Ruptures
The breach traces through a series of very public ruptures. The couple announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back as senior working royals, then moved to Montecito, Calif. The Winfrey interview followed, then the six-part Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan” in late 2022 and Harry’s memoir “Spare” in January 2023. “Spare,” among the fastest-selling nonfiction titles on record, included a claim that William physically attacked him during a 2019 argument and widened the rift between the brothers.
Meghan told Winfrey she had suicidal thoughts while a working royal and did not receive the help she sought. She said Kate was the one who made her cry before the couple’s 2018 wedding, not the reverse as the British press had reported. Buckingham Palace issued a brief statement on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II calling the issues raised, particularly those of race, concerning, saying the family would address them privately and noting that recollections of events may differ. Days afterward, Gayle King, host of “CBS This Morning,” said on the program that Harry had spoken with both his father and his brother and that she had been told those conversations were not productive.
Harry and Meghan arrived back in the U.K. on Aug. 26, after six years in California, saying they wanted Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to grow up British and to be schooled in the country. A letter from King Charles dated Sept. 7 confirmed that Harry and Meghan would remain non-working members of the Royal Family, days after the Sussexes settled into a countryside retreat.
Harry said he was open to a reconciliation in a BBC interview in May 2025, given after he lost a court appeal over his security in the U.K. More than five years after the Winfrey broadcast, the people closest to him insist an apology is not the route he intends to take.
