The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a splash at a star-studded literary event last week, held at a bookstore in Montecito, California. At the event, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle rubbed shoulders with big names and laughed with some of their close friends, before Meghan stood up to speak.
But halfway through her emotional speech, while Meghan spoke about the safe space of bookstores, billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey arrived late and awkwardly rushed in to take her seat. A close friend of the couple, Oprah and two other female mentors were the inspiration for the name of the Montecito store, ‘Godmothers’, after Prince Harry gave them the affectionate nickname while promoting his memoir ‘Spare’.
The awkward moment was captured on video and shared on social media, showing Oprah walking into the store and taking a seat in the front row. But despite being an A-lister, Oprah was able to slip in relatively incognito, in a “surreal” moment described by one attendee.
Elizabeth Holmes said: “Meghan had just started speaking and I was really focused on filming that and Oprah was so discreet, so she was in the green room prepping for her panel and then she was seated while Meghan was speaking.”
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential figures in the literary world, as well as wider America (Image: Getty)
The Daily Mail reported that Holmes went on to add: “She came in so quietly that I didn’t even realise, I am sat there studiously filming and then all of a sudden it’s like Oprah right there, and she is like ‘sorry’ and I am like no you never need to say sorry. Anyway, surreal.”
The event was being hosted by the Duke and Duchess’ two other “fairy godmothers”, literary agent Rudolph Walsh and cosmetics entrepreneur Victoria Jackson, who own the bookshop. They kicked off the intimate evening with a few words at the “family and friends” event, with a few brief words, which Meghan reportedly cheered, shouting: “Woo!”
Letting their hair down amongst their peer group, Harry and Meghan could be seen laughing with friends in pictures, as well as embracing their close-ally and neighbour Oprah. In a comedic moment during the evening, the Prince is even said to have cracked a decent joke when asked for a book recommendation.
With copies of his autobiography ‘Spare’ and Meghan’s children’s novel proudly on display around the bookshop, quick-witted Harry pointed to a stack of his books at the front of the store.
Cosmetics star Victoria shared her joy at seeing the couple at the event with Town and Country magazine, saying: “Seeing them be able to come here and be in a safe space… it’s what we want it to be.
“Their support, and the light that it will shine on Godmothers, is pretty extraordinary.”
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Source: The Wall Street Journal
