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One year after officially completing their duties as senior royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey. During the primetime special on March 7, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made some explosive claims about Britain’s most famous family. The program was nominated for an Emmy but after it failed to win, a royal expert did not hold back while giving his take on why it didn’t pick up the award.

Oprah Winfrey interviewing Meghan Markle for CBS Primetime Special
Oprah Winfrey interviewing Meghan Markle for CBS Primetime Special | Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images

Meghan and Harry’s sitdown with Oprah lost to a docuseries

The interview was nominated for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.

The program was up against My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy, United Shades Of America with W. Kamau Bell, and the documentary series Vice. The CNN docuseries Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy was the big winner in the category.

Royal expert rips the primetime special

Oprah Winfrey interviewing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for primetime special
Oprah Winfrey interviewing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for primetime special | Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images

Royal commentator and film critic Richard Fitzwilliams weighed in on why the Sussexes’ primetime special, which had high ratings, didn’t snag the award.

“They were given too easy a life – there wasn’t a single point that Oprah pushed them on,” he told the Daily Star. “Oprah as an interviewer never pushed them. It was clearly rehearsed and parts of it were questionable. You can see why an awards ceremony would see flaws that the average viewer would not pick up on. The fact that it did so well with the audience wouldn’t give it a right to win by itself.”

Several claims made by the couple during that sitdown with Oprah were later debunked including what Meghan said about Archie not getting a title. The Duchess of Sussex also claimed that she and Harry were married in a private ceremony days before their royal wedding, but the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby came out to say that was false.

“I had a number of private and pastoral meetings with the duke and duchess before the wedding,” Welby explained to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “The legal wedding was on Saturday [May 19, 2018]. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a serious criminal offense if I signed it knowing it was false.”

Emmy host joked about the interview during the award show broadcast

Cedric the Entertainer hosting the 73rd Emmy Awards
Cedric the Entertainer hosting the 73rd Emmy Awards | Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images
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Cedric the Entertainer, who hosted the award show, joked about the Sussexes’ interview with Lady O during the telecast.

He told the crowd: “As great as The Crown is, it pales in comparison to the real monarchy… Ooooh I mean that Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan. That was the real tea right there, wasn’t it!? Meghan must put it on that boy because he renounced his throne quicker than Eddie Murphy in Coming to America.”