Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey has finally aired, and it’s revealed the couple’s side of what has been going on behind Palace walls since their decision to step back as senior members of the royal family. Throughout the bombshell interview, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex got candid on everything from the Firm’s alleged “concerns” over Archie’s skin colour and claims Kate Middleton made Meghan cry weeks prior to her royal wedding to Harry in 2018, to parallels between their situation to that of the late Princess Diana. Below, the most damning revelations from the historic interview.
“I didn’t think that was what happens inside.” Meghan’s First Introduction To The Queen.
During the interview, Meghan opened up about her first time meeting Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. She reveals it was when the couple were going to lunch at the Royal Lodge—the residence where Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, reside, where Harry learned that Her Majesty was attending a church service nearby.
Harry asked Meghan if she knew how to curtsy, to which Meghan says she was shocked by the question considering they were behind closed doors.
“I thought genuinely that was what happens outside I thought that was part of the fanfare. I didn’t think that was what happens inside. And I said, ‘But it’s your grandmother,’ and he said, ‘It’s the Queen,'” Meghan told Oprah. She goes on to tell the television host that she got a crash course from Harry and Fergie and “then just we sat there and we chatted and it was lovely and easy.”
“No one knows that.” The Couple Wed Three Days Prior To Their Royal Wedding In 2018.
Meghan revealed that she and Harry actually wed three days prior to their official wedding in 2018.
“Three days before our wedding, we got married,” the duchess said. “No one knows that. 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.”
Harry added, “Yeah, just the three of us.”
“The reverse happened.” Meghan On Reports Kate Middleton Made Her Cry.
A rumour that began to swirl following the couple’s wedding was that Meghan had made her new sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, cry, to which Meghan revealed: “The reverse happened.”
“No. [I didn’t make Kate cry],” Meghan explained. “No, the reverse happened. And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone because it was a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about it, and she owned it, and she apologised, and she brought me flowers and a note apologising and she did what I would do.”
Meghan went on, “What was shocking was that six, seven months after our wedding, the reverse of that would be out in the world. I would’ve never wanted that to come out about her ever even though it had happened. I protected that from ever being out in the world. A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining—yes, the issue is correct about the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry and it really hurt my feelings, and I thought in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding that it didn’t make sense to not be just doing what everyone else was doing, which was try to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad.”
“There wasn’t a confrontation, and I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that because she’s apologised and I’ve forgiven her,” Meghan continued. “What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do but what happened to me and the people that were a part of my wedding going to my comms team, saying, I know this didn’t happen.”
“They didn’t want him to be a prince or princess.” Meghan On The Royal Family Deciding Not To Give Archie A Title.
Following the arrival of Meghan and Harry’s first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, the royal family decided that he would not be given a title—a decision Meghan claims restricted him of proper security.
“They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security,” she revealed. “This went on for the last few months of our pregnancy where I was going, hold on for a second,” adding, “They said [he’s not going to get security], because he’s not going to be a prince. Okay, well, he needs to be safe so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince or princess, but if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect that protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder you’ve allowed that to happen which means our son needs to be safe.”
Meghan went on to explain that there was no suitable explanation given from the Palace as to why Archie would not be given a title, but that if it meant he wouldn’t get security, she did want him to have a title. “If it meant he was going to be safe, of course. All the grandeur around this stuff is an attachment I don’t have… the most important title I will ever have is mum.”
There were “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he was born.” Meghan Says The Royals Were Concerned About Archie’s Potential Skin Colour.
One of the most shocking revelations to come out of the interview was Meghan’s claims was over the Palace’s “concerns” about her son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor’s, skin colour, which also correlated to concerns over his title.
“The first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren…” Meghan said. “In those months when I was pregnant, all around the same time… So we have in tandem the conversation of, ‘He won’t be given security, He’s not going to be given a title.’ And also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
“What? Who is having that conversation with you?” Oprah asked, audibly surprised. “There’s a conversation with you… ? Hold up. There’s a conversation?”
“There are several conversations… With Harry,” Meghan replied.
“With how dark your baby is going to be?”, Oprah asked.
“Potentially. And what that would mean or look like,” she continued.
“And you’re not going to tell me who had that conversation?” the host continued.
Meghan replied, “I think that it would be very damaging to them. That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him.”
Later, when Oprah asked Harry about it, Harry said: “That conversation… I am never going to share. But at the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked… I am not comfortable with sharing [the question]. But that was right at the beginning—’What would the kids look like?'”
“To have a boy and then a girl, what more could you ask for?” The Couple Revealed They Are Expecting A Baby Girl.
On Valentine’s Day, 2021, the couple revealed they were expecting a second child—which they confirmed is a baby girl. “Amazing. Just grateful, like—to have any child, any one or any two would have been amazing, but to have a boy and then a girl, what more can you ask for?” Hary said, adding, “now we’ve got our family. We’ve got the four of us and our two dogs and it’s great.”
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.” Meghan On Her Breaking Point.
One of the most heartbreaking revelations came when Meghan and Oprah discussed her mental health as a result of the relentless public scrutiny she received following her royal wedding, especially while she was pregnant with Archie, which was only heightened by a lack of support from the royal family.
“Yeah, there was [a breaking point],” she told Oprah. “I just didn’t see a solution. I would sit up at night, and I was just like, ‘I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out’—and again I wasn’t seeing it—but it’s almost worse when you feel it through the expression of my mom or my friends or them calling me crying like, ‘Meg, they’re not protecting you.’ And I realised it was all happening just because I was breathing.”
She went on to say her mental health became so bad, she was having suicidal thoughts. “Look, I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it, to Harry especially, because I know how much loss he’s suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it that I would do it—and I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought.”
“There’s nothing we can do to protect you.” Meghan On The Lack Of Support From The Palace.
Meghan revealed that when she approached the royals about her deteriorating mental health, she said they actively discouraged her from seeing anyone about it.
“I remember how [Harry] just cradled me and I was, I went to the institution and said that I needed to go somewhere to get help, said that I’ve never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere, and they said I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
“I had no idea what to do.” Harry On Trying To Help Meghan While She Struggled With Her Mental Health.
Harry got candid on how he felt “incapable” of helping his wife while she was struggling mentally—which brought back parallels to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
“I had no idea what to do,” he said. I wasn’t prepared for that. I went to a very dark place as well. And I wanted to be there for her. I was terrified,” adding, “I didn’t have anyone to turn to”.
He continued, “I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them. I don’t know whether they’ve had the same feelings or thoughts. I have no idea. It’s a very trapping environment that a lot of them are stuck in.”
Meghan told Oprah that she was being transparent about her struggle to help others who may be battling with mental health.
“I share this because there’s so many people who are afraid to voice that they need help. And I know personally how hard it is to—not just hard it is but when your voice is silenced, to be told no…This was emails, begging for help, saying very specifically I am concerned for my mental welfare…Nothing was ever done. So we had to find a solution.”
If you or someone you know needs help, it is available. Call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyondblue 1300 224 636.
“My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected.” Meghan On Her Sole Regret.
When Oprah asked if the couple had any regrets, Meghan answered, “I have one. My regret is believing them when they said I would be protected. I believed that. And I regret believing that, because I think had I really seen that that wasn’t happening, I would have been able to do more. But I think I wasn’t supposed to see it; I wasn’t supposed to know.”
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