The Duchess of Sussex said she phones the Queen “just to check in”.
Meghan suggested that stepping down as working royals meant she and Harry did not have to follow royal protocols and could react to family events, like anyone else.
During her interview with Oprah Winfrey, she recalled the first time she met the Queen, describing it as “lovely and easy”.
Meghan said when the Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to hospital: “I just pick up the phone and I call the Queen – just to check in.
“That’s what we do, it’s like being able to default to not having to every moment go ‘Is that appropriate?’.”
Meghan told Winfrey that “everyone welcomed” her to the royal set-up.
She said the Queen gave her “some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace” for the pair’s first joint engagement together, and that the monarch also shared her blanket while travelling together between visits.
Meghan said the first time she met the Queen at a lunch at Royal Lodge, Windsor, Harry asked her if she knew how to curtsey.
She said: “I remember Harry and I were in the car and he said ‘My grandmother is going to be there so you are going to meet her.’
“I said ‘Great’
“He said ‘Do you know how to curtsey?’
“I didn’t think it’s what happened inside.
“I said ‘It’s your grandmother.’
“He said ‘It’s the Queen.’
“That was the first moment that the penny dropped.”
Meghan said she and Harry then practised curtseying before meeting the Queen.
She told Winfrey: “We sat there and we just chatted. And it was lovely and easy.”
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Oprah With Meghan and Harry is on ITV at 9pm on Monday March 8. You can watch the full interview afterwards on the ITV hub
