Since settling into their Montecito home in 2020, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have enjoyed more than casual neighborly interactions with Oprah Winfrey—sometimes leading to unexpected hilarity.
In a recent episode of Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Oprah recalled a memorable moment when the Duke of Sussex called her with an unusual request.
“I get a call from Harry, Prince Harry, on Easter Saturday, and he says, ‘Sorry to bother you, O, but we have a duck problem here,'” Winfrey said, channeling her best British accent.
According to Oprah, a duck had wandered into the Sussexes’ yard, laid eggs, and hatched ducklings. “And he said, ‘Our pond is a stream, we don’t have a pond, so can we bring the ducks over to your pond?’”
Oprah agreed, noting that her close friend Gayle King’s grandchildren were visiting for the Easter weekend. “I said, ‘Wait until I can get the kids to come down to the pond so they can see you put the ducks in the pond.’ And he goes, ‘No, we’re coming right away, we’re coming over!'”
Upon their arrival, chaos quickly ensued.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(734x239:736x241):format(webp)/oprah-1-2617dbd7b0764b158512db98dfc350e5.jpg)
“As he opens the door, the mama duck flies out. And he’s got all the baby ducks in a box,” Oprah recounted. “We’re chasing the mama duck who is in the front yard and has flown to the other side. We’ve got her ducks. Harry’s running after, Meghan gets out, she’s running after, chasing the mom and trying to get her to come back to her ducks.”
“For like half an hour, we’re running around with the ducks in a box. We have video. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” she added with a laugh.
While Meghan had previously posted a sweet video of the ducklings calmly following their mother across the road on Instagram, Oprah’s behind-the-scenes version offers a far more comedic backstory.
“The ducks also hit the jackpot,” Ripa joked. “They’re like, ‘Wait a minute, we show up at Prince Harry’s house and now we’re at Oprah’s!’ Excuse me. That duck knew what it was doing when it laid its eggs.”
That’s not the only feathered anecdote Winfrey has shared involving her royal neighbors. During the podcast, when Ripa teased about gifting Oprah baby chickens, Winfrey joked that she’d simply walk them over to Harry and Meghan’s house, given the couple’s own fondness for backyard birds.
In fact, the Sussexes gave viewers a look at their custom chicken coop during their 2021 interview with Oprah, which featured a red wooden structure labeled “Archie’s Chick Inn”—a charming nod to their son, Prince Archie.
