Months after stepping away from royal life, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Sunday engaged in an extraordinary interview with Oprah Winfrey. In the two-hour, pre-recorded tell-all, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who now live in Santa Barbara, opened up about their decision to step back from senior royal life.
They spoke about their lives inside the palace, including making bombshell revelations about racism within the Royal Family, mental health, and how the last few years of their relationship have been like. Here are seven things we learned from the explosive interview:
Meghan had ‘suicidal thoughts’
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The Duchess of Sussex revealed she had suicidal thoughts as she struggled with life inside the royal family, finding it isolating and lonely. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he [Harry] just cradled me.” She said when she asked the palace for help, she was denied. “They said, my heart goes out to you because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution.”
Secret wedding
Three days before their public wedding ceremony on May 19, 2018, Meghan and Harry married in private. The couple tied the knot in the garden with just the Archbishop of Canterbury. “This spectacle is for the world,” Meghan said. “But we want our union for us.” She said her marriage certificate in their home now, in Santa Barbara, has the actual date.
Racism
Meghan claimed that while she was pregnant with Archie, a member of the royal family had a conversation with Harry about Archie’s skin color. “In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of, ‘You won’t be given security, not gonna be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.” Meghan refused to say which royal raised those concerns: “I think that would be very damaging to them.”
Kate made Meghan cry
Meghan said the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry ahead of her wedding, not the other way round as it was reported. Meghan said Kate was a “good person”. She however added: “A few days before the wedding she [Kate] was upset about something, pertaining to – yes the issue was correct – about the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. And it really hurt my feelings.” Kate apologized at the time and brought her flowers, she said.
Harry’s father stopped picking his calls
Harry said his father Prince Charles stopped taking his calls following his decision to step aside from royal duties. He, however, said he still has a good relationship with the Queen. “I had three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father, before he stopped taking my calls,” Harry said, recalling the moments following his decision to leave. “There’s a lot to work through there. I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar — he knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson.
“But at the same time, of course, I will always love him,” Harry said. Harry then said of his brother: “I love William to bits, he’s my brother, we’ve been through hell together … but we’re on different paths.” He said “the relationship is space at the moment,” and that “time heals all things — hopefully.” All in all, Harry said he was trapped while in the palace, but just didn’t know he was trapped. When Oprah asked exactly how he was trapped, he said: “Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father, my brother, they are trapped.” Meghan also said she was barely allowed to leave the house because people at “the Firm” (the royal household) were always anxious about “how things might look”.
Harry cut off financially
Harry said he “never thought” he would have his security detail removed following his move to step back from royal duties. He said his family “literally cut me off financially” in the first quarter of 2020 and so he had to go for the Netflix and Spotify deals to pay for his security. The only other money he has left is what Princess Diana left him, he told Oprah.
They are going to have a baby girl
Harry and Meghan revealed that their second child will be a girl. “Amazing, just grateful,” Harry said. “To have any child, any one or any two, would have been amazing. But to have a boy and then a girl, what more could you ask for?”
But this would be their last child. “Two is it,” they said.
