After several weeks of headlines, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey finally aired in the US on Sunday night - and it was more explosive than anyone could have imagined.
A little more than a year after they decided they would step back from the Royal Family, the couple sat down with Oprah to put their side of the story forward and reveal what was really going on behind closed palace doors.
Here are the 12 most shocking revelations from the interview.
Meghan says member of Royal Family aired racist concerns over colour of son’s skin
Meghan revealed a member of the Royal Family had “concerns and conversations” about how dark the colour of Archie’s skin might be when he was born.
Meghan refused to name the member of the Royal Family but said that conversations were relayed to Prince Harry.
“I think that would be very damaging to them,” Meghan said.
Meghan contemplated suicide
Meghan told Oprah that she contemplated suicide at the height of her crisis in the monarchy.
“You were having suicidal thoughts?” Oprah asked during the two-hour interview.
“Yes. It was very clear and very scary,” Meghan said. “I just didn’t see a solution.”
Prince Charles stopped taking Prince Harry’s phone calls
Harry revealed his father “stopped taking his calls” following discussions about his exit from the Royal Family.
Harry told Oprah that his father had asked him to put his and Meghan’s plans to leave “in writing,” which he did, but the future king was still unhappy with Harry’s decision.
Harry admitted he felt “let down” by his father, who went through a similar situation with his mother, Princess Diana of Wales.
“He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson,” Harry said. “But at the same time, of course I will always love him. But there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”
Meghan says Royal Family lied for others, but wouldn’t protect her
Meghan said that the Royal Family tried to silence her, refused to protect her and Prince Harry, and lied to protect other members of the family.
“They were willing to lie to protect other members of the family, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband,” she said.
Asked “were you silent or were you silenced,” Meghan said it was “the latter.”
She described the royals’ structure as being divided into two parts: the family and the “people running the institution.”
Archie wasn’t given a royal title or offered security
While Meghan was pregnant, she was told the Royal Family didn’t want the baby to have a prince/princess title. That meant he wouldn’t receive any of the security that’s usually afforded to royal children.
The logic given to her was that because he wasn’t being made a prince, he wouldn’t need security — something that struck her as nonsensical.
“He needs to be safe,” she told Oprah. “If you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect their protection — we haven’t created this monster machine around us, in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder. You’ve [The Firm] allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.”
Meghan didn’t elaborate on who in the Royal Family was making these decisions.
It hurts that none of the Royal Family have spoken up to support the couple
“There have been many opportunities for my family to show some kind of support,” Harry said. “Female members of parliament, Conservative and Labour, called out the colonial undertones of article and headlines written about Meghan. And yet no one from my family ever said anything over those two years.”
He thinks the reason they haven’t stepped in, he said, is because “they’re scared of the tabloids turning on them.”
The couple are expecting a girl
Harry and Meghan announced they are expecting a girl.
The royals had previously announced that they were having their second child in a sweet announcement on Valentine’s Day.
Prince Harry says he was ‘trapped’ in the Royal Family
Harry told Oprah he felt “trapped” in his life as a senior member of the Royal Family, and likely would have never left his position had he not married Meghan.
Prince Harry described the process as a years-long negotiation that was only possible with his wife’s support and came after the Royal Family regularly failed to offer aid during times of pain and hardship.
“I was trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are,” he said. “My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.”
Oprah pressed the royal about his statements, and asked if he would have left the family eventually.
“The answer to your question is no. I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped as well,” he replied. “I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped.”
Harry heartbreakingly compares Meghan to Princess Diana
Harry said that the media’s treatment of his wife painfully reminded him of how the press treated his late mother, Princess Diana of Wales.
“My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” he said. “And I’ve said that before, on numerous occasions, very publicly.
“What I was seeing was history repeating itself. More perhaps, or far more dangerously, because then you add race in, and social media in. And when I’m talking about history repeating itself, I’m talking about my mother.”
They secretly got married before the royal wedding
The couple actually tied the knot three days before their royal wedding.
“We called the archbishop and we just said, ‘Look ― this thing, this spectacle is for the world.’ But we want our union between us ― so the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury,” Meghan said. “Just the three of us.”
Harry echoed her and sang, “Just the three of us.”
Meghan says Kate Middleton made her cry, despite reports saying the opposite
The Duchess of Sussex explained that, despite reports stating otherwise, it was the Duchess of Cambridge who made her cry in the weeks leading up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
“The reverse [of what was reported] happened,” Meghan said. “And I don’t say that to be disparaging toward anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it and she apologised and she brought me flowers and a note apologising and she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right? To just take accountability for it.”
“What was shocking was, six or seven months after our wedding, that the reverse of that would be out in the world,” she added.
The couple are relying on the money left to Harry by Princess Diana
Harry said he’s relying on the money that’s been left to him by his mother after they lost access to any royal cash when they made their decision to leave the Royal Family,
“I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that we wouldn’t be able to do this.”
CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry airs on ITV at 9pm tonight and on ITV Hub
Useful websites and helplines
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.