LOS ANGELES (AP) – In an extensive interview aired on Sunday, Harry and Meghan described painful palace discussions about their son’s skin color, losing royal protection and the intense pressure that led the Duchess of Sussex to contemplate suicide.
The interview with Oprah Winfrey was the first couple since they relinquished their royal duties, and the two-hour special included numerous revelations that could reverberate on both sides of the Atlantic.
Harry told Winfrey that he was caught up in the royal life and was surprised that he was financially disrupted and lost his safety last year. He also said that he felt that his family did not support Meghan, who acknowledged her naivety about the royal life before marrying Harry, while she endured tabloid attacks and false stories.
Meghan, who is biracial, described that when she became pregnant with her son Archie for the first time, there were “worries and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born.” The statement prompted Winfrey to confidently ask, “What?”
While Winfrey was silent, Meghan said she struggled to understand why there were concerns in the royal family about her son’s skin color. She said it was difficult for her to “compartmentalize” those conversations.
Meghan, the actor formerly known as Meghan Markle, who starred in the TV drama “Suits,” said she became worried that her son did not have a royal title because it meant he would not be secured.
Meghan said everyone’s treatment during pregnancy was “very difficult”. More than the title of “prince”, she felt most troubled because of the safety and protection of her son.
“She has to be safe,” one Meghan remembered with tears in her eyes. “We’re not saying you don’t make him a prince or a princess, whatever. But if you say that the title will affect their protection, we did not create this monster car around us in terms of click bait and tabloid feed. You allowed this to happen, which means our son needs to be safe. ”
The interview was broadcast in the United States for a full day before being broadcast in the United Kingdom. The revelations are not over: Winfrey teased uninteresting excerpts from the interview that will be presented on Monday morning on CBS.
In a rare positive moment in the interview, Harry and Meghan revealed that the second will be a girl. The interview opened with Winfrey gushing over Meghan’s pregnancy and complaining that COVID-19 protocols are preventing her from hugging.
Winfrey, at various points in the interview, went through headlines about Meghan and at one point asked about the impact on mental health. Meghan replied that she had experienced suicidal thoughts and sought help through the palace’s human resources department, but was told there was nothing she could do.
“I was very ashamed to say that at the time and a shame to have to admit it to Harry, especially because I know how much he suffered,” she said. “But I knew that if I didn’t say it, I would do it. And I just didn’t want to, I didn’t want to be alive anymore. ”
And Harry said there are lasting effects on Meghan’s treatment and her relationship with her family.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Harry said of his relationship with his father. “I am just really disappointed. He went through something similar. He knows how he feels the pain. And Archie is his nephew. I will always love him, but it has been very bad. ”
Harry said that the royal family interrupted him financially at the beginning of 2020, after announcing that he intends to retire from his roles. But he could afford the security of his family because of the money left behind by his mother, Princess Diana.
In response to a question from Winfrey, Harry said that he would not have left the royal life if it had not been for his wife. He said their relationship revealed the rigors of royal life.
“I couldn’t, because I was caught myself,” Harry said. “I did not see a way out.
“I was caught, but I didn’t know I was caught,” Harry said, before adding, “My father and brother are trapped.”
Harry acknowledged that he does not currently have a close relationship with his brother William, who is the heir to the throne after their father, Prince Charles.
Harry disputed rumors that he had deliberately blinded his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, with his decision to separate. He suspects that the rumors came from the institution.
“I never blinded my grandmother,” he said. “I respect them too much.”
Meghan was also complimented by the queen, despite the fact that she said at one point that she realized that some in the palace were willing to lie to “protect the other members of the family.”
“The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.
Sunday’s special interview opened with Meghan, who describes how naive she was about the basic rules of royal life before she married her husband, Harry, almost three years ago. “I didn’t quite understand what it was,” she said. She also mentioned that she did not know how to court until she first met Queen Elizabeth II and did not realize that it would be necessary.
“I will say that I entered it naively because I did not grow up knowing too much about the royal family,” said Meghan. “It was not something that was part of the conversation at home. I didn’t follow anything. ”
Meghan said she and Harry lined up during their yard because of their “cause-motivated” work. But she did not fully understand the pressure of being tied to the prestigious royal family.
“There was no way to understand what the day would be like,” she said. “And it’s so different because I didn’t romanticize any element of it.”
The couple married at Windsor Castle in May 2018, and their son, Archie, was born a year later. Harry and Meghan’s departure from royal duties began in March 2020 in connection with what they described as racist intrusions and attitudes by the British press towards the duchess.
At the top of the interview, Winfrey said that no subject is limited and that Meghan and Harry are not paid for the special.
In the UK, the interview is seen as poorly timed. It will air while Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, Prince Philip, remains hospitalized in London after undergoing a heart procedure.
It is unclear what public reaction, if any, the queen and other members of the royal family will have to Sunday’s interview. The British Sunday Times, citing an anonymous source, reported that the queen would not follow her.
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Kelvin Chan of London contributed to this report.