Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's new surname mocked by friend Oprah amid controversy
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been rinsed in public by a powerful pal this week, in the form of Oprah Winfrey.
The TV host has long been a close friend to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, following their move from the UK to the US in 2020.
She famously interviewed the couple the following year during a damning discussion about the British royal family, during which a number of bombshell allegations were made by the pair.
Appearing on a podcast this week, however, Winfrey took the opportunity to fire a dig in Harry and Meghan's direction with regards to the 'Sussex' title.
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Chatting to Kelly Ripa for her Let's Talk Off Camera podcast this week, the 71-year-old kicked things off by recalling a sweet story about the pair.
Winfrey claimed Harry, 41, and Meghan, 43, had gotten in touch with her around Easter-time just gone, asking if she might be willing to help them relocate a group of ducklings.
"I got a call from Harry, Prince Harry, on Easter Saturday," she told listeners. "'Sorry to bother you, O, but we have a duck problem here. Our pond is a stream, we don’t have a pond, so can we bring the ducks over to your pond?'".
She went on to recall that she had another celebrity gal pal, Gayle King's grandchildren visiting that day: "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!"
The anecdote prompted host Ripa to ask Winfrey whether she'd appreciate it if someone gifted her baby chicks one day - a supposedly common practice during the Easter season.
"I'd run them straight to the Sussexes," Winfrey laughed back.
The producer then repeated the couple's surname again, however, making sure to slur the 's', and add a couple more 'x's' to make light of the moniker's notoriously tricky means of pronunciation.
Winfrey continued chuckling away, however, confirming she means no harm with her comments.
For those in need of a reminder, back in March, former Suits actress Meghan broke the news that she, her husband and their two children - son Archie, six, and daughter Lilibet, four - had secretly been using the surname 'Sussex' for some time.
Speaking to PEOPLE Magazine earlier this month, she revealed that the name was bestowed on them by the late Queen Elizabeth II on their wedding day before being passed on to their kids.
"It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognised how meaningful that would be to me until we had children," the Duchess said.
"I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together."
The mother-of-two also emphasised her new family name in her Netflix lifestyle series As Ever, Meghan, in which she told off actress Mindy Kaling for incorrectly referring to her as 'Markle'.
"It's so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I'm Sussex now," she told The Office US star. "You have kids and you go 'No, I share my name with my children'.
Meghan added: "I didn't know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go 'This is OUR family name. Our little family name'."
Topics: Meghan Markle, US News, Prince Harry, Celebrity, Royal Family, UK News
Rhianna Benson