Oprah Winfrey says the Queen's funeral could be an opportunity for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to make peace with the royal family

• Oprah Winfrey spoke to Extra about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
• She said she hopes Queen Elizabeth's funeral helps them make peace with the royal family.

Oprah Winfrey thinks it's possible Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could make peace with the royal family at Queen Elizabeth's funeral.

Winfrey spoke to Extra's Jenn Lahmers at the Toronto Film Festival about her documentary "Sidney," which tells the story of the late actor Sidney Poitier.

During their conversation, Lahmers asked Winfrey if there is potential for the Queen's death to unite the royal family, as Extra reported. Queen Elizabeth II, 96, died peacefully at Balmoral on Thursday.

"Well, this is what I think, I think in all families — you know, my father passed recently, this summer, and when all families come together for a common ceremony, the ritual of, you know, burying your dead, there's an opportunity for peacemaking," Winfrey told Lahmers. "And hopefully, there will be that."

Winfrey interviewed Markle and Harry in March 2021 about their step back from the royal family.

In the interview, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said members of the royal family made racist remarks about Archie, the firm disregarded Markle's mental-health issues, Kate Middleton made Markle cry during the week of her wedding, and Charles cut the couple off financially following their step back.

The interview put additional strain on Markle and Harry's relationship with the royal family. Though Harry briefly united with his family following Prince Philip's death, Insider's Mikhaila Friel and Anneta Konstantinides reported that little had changed between the couple and the royal family a year after the interview.

Markle and Harry attended the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, but they were not photographed with other members of the royal family.

And at the time of Queen Elizabeth's death, the pair were in the UK for charity events, but they had no official royal visits on their schedule.

But things seemed to change quickly after the Queen died, indicating Winfrey's hope that there may be a reconciliation between Harry and Markle and the rest of the royal family.

Harry joined his father and brother at Balmoral on Thursday after the Queen's doctors announced they were concerned for her health, and he and Markle appeared alongside Prince William and Princess Kate at Windsor Castle for a walkabout organized by the new Prince of Wales.

King Charles III also extended his love to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in his first address as monarch, and Harry "honored" his father as the new king in the statement he released about the Queen's death on Monday.

As Insider's Mikhaila Friel reported, that hope for peace could be more likely to become a reality if the king gives Archie and Lilibet princely titles.