Prince Harry snuck away from the royal family for a secret meeting with Oprah Winfrey and a producer in a London hotel room back in 2018, it has been revealed.
Jon Kamen, chairman and CEO of media company RadicalMedia and the exec who joined the famous duo that day, told the Wall Street Journal how the prince met with the talk show host in secrecy to plan his Apple TV series on mental health.
Kamen said he watched as Harry opened up to Oprah about his struggles with mental health and decided that this should be the format for the series which launched this May.
Prince Harry met Oprah Winfrey and a producer in London hotel room in 2018. Pictured, the Duke and Duchess were interviewed by Oprah in March 2021
Harry in a six-episode series on mental health for Apple TV+ called The Me You Can’t See
‘Guys,’ Kamen told his producing partners, ‘the format of this show—we witnessed it in that hotel room.’
A six-episode series on mental health, The Me You Can’t See, was released by Apple in May.
Each episode was anchored by a conversation between Prince Harry and Winfrey.
‘I always wanted to be normal, as opposed to Prince Harry,’ he says in the documentary.
It is not clear if the meeting took place before or after Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018, where Oprah earned herself a guest spot among the royal family.
A six-episode series on mental health, The Me You Can’t See, was released by Apple in May with each episode anchored by a conversation between Prince Harry and Winfrey
But it reveals how Harry and Meghan were already carving out commercial ventures and building up their Hollywood contacts over a year before the couple sent shockwaves through the royal family and across the globe when they announced they were quitting life as working royals and starting a new life in Hollywood.
Kensington Palace announced in April 2019 that Harry was producing a mental health series with Oprah.
Prince Harry took part in Zoom meetings with Winfrey throughout the process, initially in England, then Canada and latterly in California.
The prince shared his elite contacts with first producers, suggested the setting up of an advisory board to help navigate the sensitive topics they were exploring.
Since leaving the UK in 2020 and moving to California, the couple have secured tens of millions of dollars in deals with media companies like including Apple, Spotify and Netflix
Harry also vetted subjects, looked to interview people from outside the West, took an active interest in the early editing of the shoe making notes on the production faster than Winfrey.
Since leaving the UK in 2020 and moving to California, Prince Harry and Meghan, have managed to secure tens of millions of dollars in deals with media companies like including Apple, Spotify and Netflix.
The Netflix deal alone is said to be worth in the region of $100 million.
The deals have been several years in the making with a great deal of hustling behind-the-scene in order to lay the groundwork.
The couple has been working to carve out careers in Hollywood since quitting their roles as senior working members of the royal family last January.
The couple founded production company Archewell Productions and struck a five-year deal with Netflix in the fall.
In December, they announced an exclusive deal – worth an estimated $25 million -with Spotify for their Archewell Audio podcast, which they said would include podcasts and programming ‘that uplifts and entertains audiences around the world.’
Spotify said a full series would launch in 2021 but, as of September, the couple have only released one holiday special in December which featured their son Archie and Elton John.
Harry appeared to be sporting a secret mic during his visit with Meghan Markle to an iconic Harlem soul food joint Friday, in a sign the couple may have been recording the NYC tour
A tell-tale wire was spotted poking out from underneath the prince’s shirt and trailing into his chino pocket as he leaned forward to hug Melba restaurant owner Melba Wilson
It is not clear if the couple are recording their New York City trip as part of their contract with Netflix or Spotify – or as another commercial venture.
The couple has not publicly announced plans to televise their trip to the Big Apple.
However, much of their visit has largely been kept under wraps with the purpose and contents of their closed-door meetings with lawmakers and officials being closely guarded.
On Saturday, the couple visited the United Nations building to meet with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, ahead of Global Citizen Live – which is expected to be their final stop on the tour on Saturday evening.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry visited the United Nations building to meet with Un Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed Saturday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10028685/Harry-secret-meeting-Oprah-director-London-hotel-room-sneaking-away-royal-family.html
