In their first interview after they controversially gave up their royal duties and titles and shifted to the US “in pursuit of a new life”, Harry and Meghan, who are expecting their second child, sat down for an exclusive tete-a-tete with Oprah Winfrey.
The celebrated host, straight off the bat, kicked off the tell-all by saying that the interview was being conducted keeping Covid-19 protocols in mind, that “no topic was off limits” and that Harry and Meghan hadn’t been paid for the interview. Meghan spoke first and was later joined by Harry, with the couple revealing that they are expecting a baby girl in the summer. The interview was aired in the UK on Monday night, 24 hours after the US telecast.
• Meghan, who often got tearful during the course of the chat, revealed that she didn’t know the ways of the royal family before she and Harry tied the knot in 2018.
“I will say I went into [this marriage] naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family,” said Meghan. “I’ve never looked up my husband online. Everything we thought I needed to know, he was telling me,” she added. Meghan also told Oprah that she didn’t “fully understand” what it meant to be a ‘working royal’ before her marriage.
Meghan said her biggest regret was believing the royal household when they said they would protect her. From early on, she said that they suggested she continue with her acting career because there was “no money available to put her on the royal payroll”.
• Harry and Meghan revealed that they were married “secretly” in their backyard three days before their public wedding — which they referred to as a “spectacle for the world”. “Three days before our wedding, we got married. The vows we have framed. We called the Archbishop (of Canterbury), and we just said, ‘Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us,’”said Meghan. The ceremony was “just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury,” she beamed.
• Meghan also lifted the lid on the much-publicised spat that she had with her sister-in-law Kate Middleton, married to Prince William, which reportedly made Kate cry on the day of the Harry-Meghan wedding. Meghan, 39, revealed that “it was the reverse” and that it was she who actually cried, after a disagreement with Kate over the dresses of the flower girls at the wedding. “I say that not to be disparaging to anyone because it was a really hard week [of the wedding], and she (Kate) was upset about something. She owned it and she apologised, and she brought me flowers and a note apologising. She did what I would do if I knew I hurt someone. To just take accountability for it… I would’ve never wanted that to come out about her,” revealed Meghan.
• Perhaps the most shocking bit of the interview was when Meghan revealed that a member of the royal family had expressed reservations about their son Archie’s skin colour, even before he was born, on account of Meghan being biracial. “What?!” exclaimed Oprah in shock, and there was a pause for a moment. “In those months when I was pregnant… [there were] concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born,” said Meghan. When asked who was having those conversations, Meghan declined to reveal, saying, “I think that would be very damaging to them.” When Oprah asked Harry the same question, he, too, refused to name the member involved.
• Meghan revealed that the Palace never had any intentions of making Archie a prince. “He wasn’t going to receive security,” she revealed. When asked how she was told Archie wasn’t going to be a prince, Meghan revealed, “There’s no explanation. It was a decision they felt was appropriate.” On whether Archie being called a prince was important to her, she said, “If it meant he was going to be safe, then of course. All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don’t personally have,” she revealed.
• Meghan dropped a bomb when she said that she had considered suicide while being a part of the royal family and that she was “discouraged” from seeking help for her mental health “because it wouldn’t be good for the institution”.
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. That was a clear, real, frightening and constant thought,” said Meghan, breaking down.
Harry revealed that he “went to a dark place” himself when Meghan revealed her thoughts of suicide to him. “I was ashamed to say it... ashamed to admit it, but I knew If I didn’t say it, I would do it,” Meghan added. Harry said that he had then decided to move Meghan away because he “didn’t want a repeat” of what had happened to his mother, Princess Diana. “I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you with my wife by my side because I can’t begin to imagine what it must’ve been like for [my mother] going through this process by herself all those years ago,” he said. “It’s been unbelievably tough on the two of us, but at least we have each other.”
They also said that one of Diana’s best friends ended up being a source of comfort, as she was one of the few people who truly knew what Meghan was going through. Meghan said that she had been “silenced” as opposed to choosing “silence” during her stint in the royal family. At one point, she revealed, she did not have access to her own keys or passport.
• The couple said their relations with several members of the royal family are strained. Harry defined his relationship with his older brother, William, with the word “space”. But he also added, “I love William to bits. He’s my brother... we’ve been through hell together, and have a shared experience. But we are on different paths.” He said his father, Prince Charles, had stopped taking his calls for a while. “I feel really let down,” he said of Charles. “There’s a lot of hurt that has happened”. He added that he “felt trapped” being part of the royal family and that Meghan had “saved” him.
Harry also said that the family had cut him and Meghan off financially when they moved to the US, and it was only the money he had inherited directly from Diana that enabled them to set up a home in California and negotiate deals with Netflix and Spotify.
• The couple, however, only had kind words for Queen Elizabeth, Harry’s grandmother. “The Queen has always been wonderful to me. I just really loved being in her company... she’s always been warm and inviting and really welcoming,” said Meghan. She also offered a heart-warming anecdote about an outing where the Queen offered to share her blanket to keep Meghan warm.