Oprah breaks her silence hours before Harry and Meghan interview airs

Oprah Winfrey has broken her silence about her world exclusive with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The talk show queen will speak with the couple in their first sit down interview, one year after they stepped down from their positions as senior working royals a year ago.

Oprah shared a photo from when the conversation was recorded, showing Prince Harry and Meghan in their Montecito backyard.

LIVE UPDATES: Meghan and Prince Harry's Oprah interview as it happens

"Today is the day," Oprah captioned the image.

Four teaser clips have been released ahead of the broadcast, which will take place at 9pm in the US and tonight in Australia. It'll air at 1am UK time.

Oprah's scoop with Harry and Meghan is undoubtedly one of her most anticipated of all time and even she believes it's the "best interview she's ever done".

This sit-down is already being compared to the BBC's Panorama interview of Diana, Princess of Wales, with Martin Bashir in 1995. Harry only added to that when he invoked the experience of his mother in another clip in which he talked about his and Meghan's painful split from the royal family.

The interview is a major part of Harry and Meghan's rebrand since they moved to the United States where they now have an even bigger audience.

Royal fans reacted to the photo from Oprah by comparing the broadcast to the Super Bowl.

Harry and Meghan are not being paid for the interview but there are some making big bucks off it.

CBS, which is broadcasting the interview, is paying a licensing fee of between $9million - $11.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The network is reportedly charging $422,000 for 30-second ads during the broadcast.

Tens of millions of Americans are expected to tune in.

Overnight – and just hours before the Harry and Meghan interview airs – the royal family got in first with their own television special.

The queen led senior royals, including Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duke and Duchess and Cambridge, and the Countess of Wessex, in a Commonwealth Day event.

It was broadcast this year as the regular Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey was not allowed to go ahead due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The timing of Harry and Meghan's tell all does not appear to be coincidental, coming one year since their final engagement as working royals, the Commonwealth Day service where Meghan wore that showstopping green frock.

At the time, much was made of the frosty body language between the Sussexes and Cambridges.

In the latest preview clip of Oprah's interview, Meghan revealed why they had chosen to go public now.

"We have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn't have said yes to then," she said. "That wasn't my choice to make."

The duchess said it was "really liberating" to now feel "able to speak for yourself".

In that clip – the longest teaser so far – Oprah says to Meghan: "So I just want to say, I called you either February or March 2018 before the wedding asking, would you please give me an interview. And you said 'I'm sorry, it's not the right time'. Finally we get to sit down and have this conversation."

Meghan replied: "I remember that conversation very well. I wasn't even allowed to have that conversation with you personally, right? There had to be people [from the communications team] sitting there."