Britain is reeling from a “bombshell” interview given by Meghan Markle to Oprah Winfrey in which she said an uncaring royal family had made her feel suicidal and hinted at racist attitudes within Buckingham Palace.

“I just didn’t want to be alive any more; I thought it would have solved everything for everyone,” Meghan, who now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Prince Harry, told Oprah.

When she was pregnant with her son Archie, there were “also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born”, alleged the former American actress, the first mixed-race woman to marry into the royal family.

Neither Meghan nor Harry would reveal the identity of the person who took such a view.

Archie — in marked contrast to Prince William and Kate’s three children -- was denied a royal title at birth, apparently on the ground of his ethnicity.

Meghan said she did not care about titles but was worried that without one, Archie would be denied adequate security. She said the story put out by Buckingham Palace at the time — that Meghan and Harry had themselves decided that Archie should not have a title — was not true. She accused the palace of “perpetuating falsehoods”.

The couple revealed they were married privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before their spectacular wedding in Windsor on May 19, 2018, which was “for the world”. They are now expecting their second child, a daughter, in the summer.

Meghan made a point of exempting the Queen from her criticisms: “The Queen has always been wonderful to me. I loved being in her company.”

But she was surprised when told she would have to curtsey to the Queen even in private: “I thought genuinely that that was what happens outside.”

Harry said he felt “let down”. At one point, his father, Prince Charles, “stopped taking my calls... because I took matters into my own hands” and decided with Meghan to step down as senior royals and leave Britain.

He said he had to do deals with Netflix and Spotify to pay for security after his family “literally cut me off financially”.

Oprah Winfrey has interviewed some 37,000 people. But there probably hasn’t been one quite like this, triggering almost a culture war between Britain and America.

Few have missed the parallels with the damaging interview Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, gave to journalist Martin Bashir in 1995, speaking openly about mistreatment by royal family members.

Buckingham Palace may take time to respond, according to Charles Anson, a former press officer for the Queen.

But TV presenter Piers Morgan, who has set himself up in opposition to Meghan, showed no such reluctance. Describing the interview as “vile, destructive, self-serving nonsense” and “an absolutely disgraceful betrayal of the Queen and the royal family”, he asked: “Is it too late for Oscar nominations?”

In the US, celebrities lined up to support Meghan. Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, said: “Royalty is not a shield from the devastation and despair of racism. I’m grateful that Meghan Markle is still here.”

Tennis star Serena Williams, a close friend of Meghan, took to Twitter to show support for her “selfless friend”.