Oprah Winfrey Cracks a Joke About Harry and Meghan’s "Sussex" Surname

On July 16, Oprah Winfrey appeared on Kelly Ripa’s podcast, Let’s Talk Off Camera, where the pair got on the topic of Winfrey’s friends and neighbors Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. As she recounted some stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the media mogul ended up poking a bit of fun at the couple and their famous last name.

During their chat, Ripa asked Winfrey what she would do if anyone ever gifted her baby chicks. “I’d run them straight over to the Sussexes’s,” Winfrey joked while mispronouncing the name by adding extra ‘exeses’ at the end. She then emphasized the bit by repeating “the Sussexes” one more time.

For context on the ducks, Meghan shared an Instagram video last Easter that revealed a duck had given birth to some chicks in her and Harry’s backyard. As for the surname, Harry and Meghan’s royal moniker became a subject of media coverage back in March, when Meghan revealed on an episode of her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, that she had officially changed her last name.

In the episode, guest star Mindy Kaling kept referring to Meghan by her maiden name, Markle, prompting the duchess to say: “It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle—you know I’m Sussex now.”

Meghan Markle photographed at the 2025 Invictus Games.

Meghan further explained why she made the change, adding: “You have kids and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children.’”

Traditionally, royal family members adopt their titles as a family surname, and Harry and Meghan were gifted the title of “Sussex” by Queen Elizabeth II back in 2018, following their marriage. Since stepping down from their senior roles as royals, the pair stopped using “His or Her Royal Highness,” but retained the Sussex title.

Meghan opened up about the name again during an interview with People. “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she told the outlet. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”

The duke and duchess have maintained a close relationship with Winfrey for years, and she was even a guest at their wedding. Upon their exit from the royal family and move to Montecito, California, in 2020, the talk show host was the first person to sit down with the couple for an official tell-all interview.