The Royal Family was left reeling this morning after Meghan Markle tearfully revealed that the stress of royal life made her suicidal when she was five months pregnant, claimed Archie was denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race and said Kate Middleton made her cry before she married Harry in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The couple also chose to reveal that they are having a baby girl to the tens of millions of people watching the CBS show broadcast in the US before accusing the Royal Family of racism and revealing the deep rift ‘Megxit’ has caused with Prince Charles and Prince William.
The Queen is not believed to have watched the show, broadcast at 8pm Eastern Time in the US and 1am UK time, but will this morning be briefed by aides on the sensational claims made by her grandson and his wife that could badly damage the reputation of the Royal Family around the globe.
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and told her husband she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.
Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said: ‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’.
She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night ‘haunt me’. She told Oprah she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported by the palace.
She said: ‘When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over’. Meghan said Harry had ‘saved my life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.
Meghan also sensationally claimed that a relative of Harry asked him ‘how dark’ their unborn child would be with the Duchess claiming Archie being mixed-race was a ‘problem’ for the royals after Oprah asked her if they were worried their son would be ‘too brown’.
The former Suits star said she would not name the person because it would be ‘too damaging’ for them. But she confirmed that the duke was asked the question – ‘how dark his skin might be when he’s born’ – ‘by family’. She then said Archie may have been denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race, but has never been told. Harry was also asked to identify the culprit but said he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ discussing it.
In the most extraordinary royal interview since Diana spoke to the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995, Meghan said her sister-in-law Kate made her cry in a row over dresses for the flowergirls, including Princess Charlotte, before her Windsor wedding. She said: ‘She (Kate) was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers’.
Harry also laid into his own family, claiming their ‘lack of support and understanding’, the couple’s mental health problems and fears ‘history repeating itself’ with Meghan like his mother Diana, who died in 1997.
Harry also said he felt ‘very let down’ by his father Prince Charles, accusing him of refusing to take his calls and and then ‘cut him off’ financially when they emigrated.
He said: ‘My father and brother. They’re both trapped’ and added that his mother Diana would be ‘angry and sad’ that he felt he had to leave the royal family, but ‘she saw it coming’. Harry said: ‘All she’d ever want for us is to be happy’, adding that his wife had ‘saved me’, declaring: ‘I myself was trapped, as well. I didn’t see a way out’.
In the most anticipated royal interview in decades, speaking to Oprah, Meghan and Harry steered clear of criticising the Queen or talking about the Markle family but revealed:
- The gender of their baby to Oprah – a girl due this summer;
- Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, made Meghan cry ahead of the royal wedding – but ‘owned it’ and apologised;
- Meghan described meeting the Queen for the first time and having to learn to curtsy from Fergie. Sussexes say they speak to Her Majesty regularly on Zoom and called last week when Philip became ill;
- Duchess claims she was ‘naive’ when she joined the Royal Family – and never researched what it would be like or anything about Harry. She said that she was initially welcomed by the royals, but was later ‘silenced’ and felt trapped. She said officials had ‘lied’ to protect other royals instead of them and took her ‘passport, my driving licence, my keys’;
- Meghan claims a member of Harry’s family was ‘worried’ about Archie’s skin colour when asked if he was ‘too brown’. Harry was asked about it and refused to say who it was;
- Duchess described being cradled by Harry after feeling that she no longer wanted to live; Meghan claimed she begged for help from Palace but denied it because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’;
- Harry says his family failed to ‘support’ and ‘understand’ them and reveals Charles stopped speaking to him and ‘cut me off financially’, leaving him to use Diana’s inheritance;
- Couple show of the hens they rescued from a factory farm for ‘Archie’s Chick Inn’ as Meghan says they want to ‘live authentically’ in their LA mansion. Couple also shared unseen picture of Archie at the beach;
- Harry says he is ‘hurt’ but ‘completely respects’ Queen’s decision to strip couple of all their patronages, but says he has ‘no regrets’ about their decision saying: ‘I’m really proud of us’.
- But Meghan said: ‘My regret is believing them when they said I’d be protected.’