LOS ANGELES (AP) – In an extensive interview on Sunday, Harry and Meghan described painful discussions in the palace about their son’s skin color, losing royal protection and the intense pressure that led the Duchess of Sussex to contemplate the suicide.
The interview with Oprah Winfrey was the first of the couple since they left royal duties and the two-hour special included numerous revelations that could reverberate on both sides of the Atlantic.
Harry told Winfrey that he felt trapped by royal life and was surprised that he was cut financially and lost security last year. He also said he felt his family did not support Meghan, who acknowledged her naiveté about royal life before marrying Harry, as she endured tabloid attacks and fake stories.
Meghan, who is biracial, described that when she was pregnant with her son Archie for the first time, there were “concerns and conversations about the darkness her skin might have when she was born.” The statement led Winfrey to incredulously ask “What?”
While Winfrey was sitting in silence, Meghan said she struggled to understand why there were concerns in the royal family about her son’s skin color. He said it was hard for him to “compartmentalize” those conversations.
Meghan, the actor formerly known as Meghan Markle, who starred in the TV drama “Suits,” said she was worried that her son would not have a royal title because it meant he would not be provided security.
Meghan said processing everything during her pregnancy was “very hard.” More than the title of “prince,” she felt most concerned for the safety and protection of her son.
“You have to be safe,” Meghan recalled with teary eyes. “We’re not saying don’t make him a prince or a princess, whatever it is. But if you say the title will affect your protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of click bait and tabloid forage. You have allowed this to happen, which means that our child must be safe.
The interview aired in the United States a full day before it aired in Britain. The revelations are not over: Winfrey mocked uninterviewed pieces that would be shown Monday morning on CBS.
In a rare positive moment of the interview, Harry and Meghan revealed that their second would be a girl. The interview opened with Winfrey blabbering on about Meghan’s pregnancy and lamenting that COVID-19 protocols prevented them from embracing each other.
Winfrey at various times in the interview posted headlines about Meghan and at one point asked about the impact on mental health. Meghan responded that she experienced suicidal thoughts and had sought help through the palace’s human resources department, but was told they could do nothing.
“I was embarrassed to say it at the time and a shame to have to admit it to Harry, especially because I know how many losses he suffered,” he said. “But I knew I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t say it. And I didn’t, I didn’t want to be alive anymore. “
Harry, too, said there are lasting impacts on Meghan’s treatment and her relationship with her family.
“There’s a lot to work on,” Harry said of his relationship with his father. “I am just disappointed. He has experienced something similar. He knows how the pain feels. And Archie is his grandson. I will always love him, but there is a lot of bad that has happened.
Harry said the royal family cut him off financially in early 2020 after announcing his plans to retire from his roles. But he was able to pay for his family’s safety because of the money left by his mother, Princess Diana.
In response to a question from Winfrey, Harry said he would not have left real life if it were not for his wife. He said their relationship revealed the restrictions of royal life.
“I couldn’t, because I was trapped myself,” Harry said. “I did not see any way out.
“I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped,” Harry said, before adding, “My dad and my brother, they’re trapped.”
Harry acknowledged that he does not currently maintain a close relationship with his brother William, who is heir to the throne after his father, Prince Charles.
Harry disputed rumors that he intentionally blinded his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, with his decision to separate. He suspects the rumors came from the institution.
“I’ve never blinded my grandmother,” she said. “I have too much respect for him.”
Meghan was also courteous to the queen, though she said at one point that she realized some of the palace were willing to lie to “protect other family members.”
“The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.
Sunday’s special interview opened with Meghan describing the naivety she had about the basic rules of real life before she married her husband, Harry, almost three years ago. “I didn’t quite understand what the job was,” he said. He also noted that he did not know curtsy before first meeting Queen Elizabeth II, and did not realize that it would be necessary.
“I’ll say I got into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family,” Meghan said. “It was not something that was part of the conversation at home. It wasn’t something we followed. “
Meghan said she and Harry lined up during their courtship because of their “cause-motivated” work. But he did not fully understand the pressure of being linked to the prestigious royal family.
“There was no way to understand what the day-to-day would be like,” he said. “And it’s very different because I don’t romantic any element of it.”
The couple married at Windsor Castle in May 2018 and their son, Archie, was born a year later. The departure from the real duties of Harry and Meghan began in March 2020 for what they described as racist intrusions and attitudes by the British media towards the Duchess.
At the top of the interview, Winfrey said no topic was off-limits and that Meghan and Harry were not charging the special.
In Britain, the interview is considered timeless. It will be broadcast while Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, Prince Philip, remains hospitalized in London after undergoing a heart procedure.
It is unclear what public reaction the queen and other members of the royal family will have in Sunday’s interview. The British Sunday Times newspaper, citing an anonymous source, reported that the queen would not see him.
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Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.