Meghan Markle says she called the Queen after she heard Prince Philip was hospitalized

• Meghan Markle said she found out Prince Philip was hospitalized while filming her Oprah interview.
• She said she called the Queen to check in after hearing the news.
• "I just picked up the phone and called the Queen just to check in," she said. "That's what we do."

Meghan Markle said she found out that Prince Philip was hospitalized while filming her interview with Oprah Winfrey, and that she called the Queen to "check in."

On the day she shot the second part of her Oprah interview last month, the Duchess of Sussex said she woke up to a note about the news from a member of her team in the UK.

"I just picked up the phone and I called the Queen just to check in," Markle said in the CBS interview with Oprah.

She highlighted how the casualness of the phone call contrasted with her royal life in the UK.

"That's what we do. It's like being able to default to not having to every moment go, is that appropriate?" Markle said.

Buckingham Palace announced Prince Philip had been taken to the hospital "as a precautionary measure" for an infection on February 16. He was later transferred to a specialist hospital where he underwent a successful procedure for a preexisting heart condition. The 99-year-old was then transferred back to a private hospital on Friday where he is recovering, Buckingham Palace said, according to The Telegraph.

Both Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, made a point to compliment the Queen during their interview, which was largely negative about the royal family.

Harry said that he and his grandmother have a "really good relationship," and that he's actually spoken to her more since moving to America.

"I've spoken more to my grandmother in the last year than I have done for many, many years," he said.

Meanwhile, Harry says that his father, Prince Charles, stopped taking his calls before Harry announced he was stepping back from royal duties.

The couple said that they've had Zoom calls with the Queen and Philip, so that the couple can bond with their son Archie.

Markle said the Queen "has always been wonderful to me" and shared a happy memory of the Queen sharing her blanket with her during a royal engagement tour together in 2018.

"It made me think of my grandmother," Markle said. "She's always been warm and inviting and really welcoming."

Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Markle's comment to the Queen.