A source close to the couple said that Prince Harry, 42, and Meghan Markle, 45, have no intention of offering an apology to Prince William and Kate Middleton over their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The denial rejects a Daily Express report published Oct. 6, 2026, which framed an apology as the Sussexes’ opening move toward peace with the royal family.
The source told PEOPLE the report was “nonsense.” Two royal writers who cover the couple said separately that they had been told the same thing.
The same source said the couple’s return to the U.K. has intensified negative British media attention, compared with their time in California. The source said reconciliation could still happen eventually, though there is little sign the Waleses are preparing for one.
What the Report Claimed
The Oct. 6 story focused on the most incendiary moment of the Winfrey interview, broadcast in March 2021. Meghan gave an account of members of the royal family discussing how dark her first child’s skin might be, before his birth. Neither Meghan nor Harry has identified the relative involved.
An unnamed source cited in the report described the interview as the couple’s single greatest regret and said they believed they had gone too far. The pair, that source added, wanted a sit-down with the Prince and Princess of Wales, where Meghan would apologize.
Royal Writers Reject Account
Royal journalist Tom Sykes, author of “The Dukes,” spoke to Page Six on Wednesday, Oct. 7. “It is total rubbish,” Sykes said. The apology account was invented, a source close to Harry had told him, and Harry has long maintained he will not apologize for anything.
The “Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered” podcast is hosted by royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, who told Page Six the same day: “Prince Harry and Meghan remain defiant.” Schofield said her own sources assured her the story was false and that she saw no evidence of a change of heart.
Emily Nash, HELLO!’s royal editor, said of the apology report: “The story was saying that they were going to apologise and they were going to do everything they could to reconcile with William and Catherine. Unfortunately, it’s just not true.”
Nash continued: “There’s been a big denial of this story, and it was described to me as nonsense, and that has now been spun into them refusing to apologise.” She also said, “This is essentially a story about no change.”
Christmas Away From Sandringham
An insider told Page Six on Friday, Oct. 9, that Harry and Meghan will not spend Christmas this year at Sandringham with the royal family. The insider said they are considering spending the holidays at the cottage in Northamptonshire where they are currently staying, and that Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, is expected to join them.
“There is a hierarchy,” the insider said. “And the King is the CEO, he’s the boss — what he says go, so it’s better not to put themselves in any difficult position.”
Harry and Meghan returned to the U.K. on Aug. 26 after six years in California. Their reason, they said, was that they wanted Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to grow up British and attend school in the country.
The homecoming was not quiet. Foreign paparazzi tried to photograph the children at their new school, and the couple rebuked them publicly. Photographers later pictured the two together at the Falkland Arms pub in Great Tew, Oxfordshire, in the Cotswolds. The hand-holding photographs drew wide coverage, and critics questioned whether the outing had been staged.
Since returning to Britain, Harry has been in contact with his father. King Charles III, 77, met the family at Highgrove in July to see his grandchildren, the first such visit in four years to include Meghan and the children. The brothers are still estranged. The standoff was previously described by a source as unchanged, with William in particular showing no sign of shifting. Since the move, William and Kate have largely made no public comment on the Sussexes.
Years of Public Ruptures
The breach opened through a series of very public ruptures. The couple announced in January 2020 that they would step back as senior working royals, then moved to Montecito, Calif. The Winfrey interview followed. Netflix released the six-part docuseries “Harry & Meghan” in late 2022, and Harry published his memoir “Spare” in January 2023. The book carried a claim that William physically attacked him during a 2019 argument, and it went on to become one of the fastest-selling nonfiction titles on record, widening the rift between the brothers.
Meghan told Winfrey she had experienced suicidal thoughts while a working royal and did not receive the help she sought. Kate, she said, was the one who made her cry before the couple’s 2018 wedding, not the reverse as the British press had reported.
Buckingham Palace responded with a brief statement on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, saying the issues raised, particularly those of race, were concerning and would be addressed privately by the family, and noting that recollections of events may differ.
Gayle King, host of “CBS This Morning,” said on the program days afterward that Harry had spoken with both his father and his brother, and she added that she had been told those conversations were not productive. Harry, speaking to the BBC in May 2025 after he lost a court appeal over his security in the U.K., said he would welcome a reconciliation.
The denial comes five years after the Winfrey broadcast, and people closest to Harry insist an apology is not his intended route.
