It's gonna be the beginning
of the end for the monarchy.
- What I was seeing was history repeating itself,
but more dangerous because then you add race in.
- You came in as the first mixed-race person.
Did that concern you?
- I see the death threats.
I see the racist propaganda.
- A couple, holding hands with a chimpanzee.
"Royal baby leaves hospital."
- "From cotton picking to the Royal Palace,"
this was an actual headline.
- This ongoing, blatant racism, not only in the press,
but in the family.
- Concerns and conversations about how dark
his skin might be when he's born.
- What?
- It doesn't mean it's racist,
just because people of color say it is.
- It was an opportunity for my family
to show some public support.
Yet, no one's ever said anything.
I feel really let down.
Archie's his grandson.
- We're very much not a racist family.
- Can you just tell them the truth?
- Sounds like there was a breaking point.
- Just very scared of having to offer up our baby.
- There was a level of control by fear.
- The idea of our son not being safe.
I didn't know who to even turn to.
- Can you put up with this?
Can you deal with it?
- What was the tipping point
that made you decide you had to leave?
- I had just had that conversation with Harry.
- What was the conversation,
"I don't wanna be alive anymore?"
- Yeah, it was like these are the thoughts
that I'm having and I'm scared.
This is not who I am, but we had to go to this event
and I remember him saying, "I don't think you can go"
and I said, "I can't be left alone."
- Because you were afraid of what you
you might do to yourself?
- When Meghan fell in love with Prince Harry,
she wanted to make his family proud.
- I left everything because I love him
and I wrote letters to his family when I
got there saying,
"I am dedicated to this.
"I'm here for you.
"Use me as you'd like."
'Cause I just wanted to make them proud.
- The way that we hit it off with each other
and we were just so comfortable in
each other's company.
- Three days before our wedding, we got married.
No one knows that.
This spectacle was for the world,
but we want our union between us,
just the two of us in our backyard.
- Both of us have passions
for wanting to make change, change for good.
- It isn't enough to simply talk about equality,
one must believe in it.
- Meghan seemed to embrace
her new royal role with confidence.
- You came in as the first mixed-race person
to marry into the family.
- Growing up as a woman of color,
I know how important representation is.
How inclusive is that, that you can see someone
who looks like you in this family?
- But no matter how hard she tried,
it was never good enough.
- Meghan Markle is one of the most ruthless
social climbers I've ever met.
- Racist abuse online, aimed at Meghan Markle.
- Where is that racism?
I haven't seen it.
- Kate Middleton, homegrown bouquet,
follows the royal code, while
Meghan Markle's flowers
put Princess Charlotte's life at risk.
- They really seem to want a narrative
of a hero and a villain.
- There were undeniable racist overtones.
- It doesn't mean it's racist,
just because people of color say it is.
- Her hands are tied
and she isn't allowed to defend herself.
- The sad irony of the last four years
is I've advocated for so long for women
to use their voice and then I was silent.
- Were you silent or were you silenced?
- And when she became a new mom,
she was desperate to protect her
son from the hate.
- When you have a newborn, that's a lot.
You add this on top of just trying to be a new mom.
Just very scared of having to offer up our baby.
I see the death threats.
I see the racist propaganda.
- But behind the palace walls,
the story was even darker.
- They were saying they didn't want
him to be a prince.
- We had heard that it was you and Harry
who didn't want Archie to have a prince title.
- It's really symbolic of the way
Harry and Meghan want to raise him.
He is not HRH, he is not a prince.
- You're telling me that it not true?
- No, the idea of the first member of color
in this family, not being titled in the same way
that other grandchildren would be.
We have, in tandem, the conversation
of he won't be given security,
he's not gonna be given a title
and also, concerns and conversations
about how dark his skin might be when he's born.
- What?
- With not only attacks on her,
but now her baby, Meghan began to spiral.
- Can you put up with this?
Can you deal with it?
Would it be fair to say not really okay,
as in it's really been a struggle?
- Yes.
I really tried to adopt this British sensibility
of a stiff upper lip.
What that does internally is
probably really damaging.
- Sounds like there was a breaking point.
- Yeah, there was.
I just didn't see a solution
and ashamed to have to admit
it to Harry, especially,
because I know how much loss he's suffered,
but I knew that if I didn't say it that I would do it.
I just didn't wanna be alive anymore
and that was a very clear and real
and frightening, constant thought.
- Meghan knew she needed to get help
in order to be there for Harry and Archie.
- Did you ever think about going to a hospital?
- That's what I was asking to do.
I needed to go somewhere to get help.
I said that I've never felt this way before
and I was told that I couldn't.
When I joined that family, that was the last time
that I saw my passport, my driver's license,
my keys, all that gets turned over.
- But she wasn't the first mom,
the royals tried to silence.
- What I was seeing was history repeating itself,
definitely far more dangerous and when
I'm talking about history repeating
itself, I'm talking about my mother
'cause I can't begin to imagine
what it must've been like for her,
going through this process by herself.
- Diana was seen
as a great danger to the Royal Family.
Charles and the Queen cut her adrift.
- They see me as a threat
of some kind and I'm here to do good.
I'm not a destructive person.
- Everything that she went through
and what happened
to her is incredible raw every single day.
- His great now, that his wife is subject
to the same pressures as his mother was.
- Even Harry's father refused to help them.
- I feel really let down because
he's been through something similar.
He knows what pain feels like and
Archie's his grandson.
I didn't have anyone to turn to.
- Worried for her family's safety,
Meghan was desperate to find her voice again.
- "The Little Mermaid" came on and
I went, "Oh my God."
She falls in love with the prince
and because of that, she has to lose her voice.
I'm supposed to be stronger than that.
I don't wanna put more on my husband's shoulders.
He's carrying the weight of the world.
I don't wanna bring that to him.
I bring solutions.
And I even wrote letters to his family saying,
"Please, it's very clear, the protection
"of me or Archie is not a priority.
"I accept that.
"That is fine.
"Please keep my husband safe.
"Please don't pull his security."
And they said, "It's just not possible."
- Meghan refused to be silenced anymore.
She needed to put her family first.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
just announced that they are quote,
"Stepping back from their senior roles
in the Royal Family."
- Do you think you would have left
or ever stepped back were it not for Meghan?
- No, I wouldn't have been able to.
I, myself, was trapped.
I was trapped, but I didn't know I was trapped.
- It's not enough to just survive something.
That's not the point of life.
You've gotta thrive.
You've gotta feel happy.
I'm not going live my life in fear.
- It's really sad that it's got to this point,
but I've got to do something for
my own mental health,
for my wife's and for Archie's, as well.
So, I will always protect my family.
Now, I have a family to protect.
- Meghan broke free with Harry and Archie
and together, they focused on building a new life,
helping others find their voice, too.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle set up
a production company named Archewell.
after their son, Archie.
- Life is about storytelling,
for us to be able to have storytelling
through a truthful lens,
being able to give a voice to a lot of people
that are underrepresented and aren't really heard.
- What delights you now
in your life here with Archie.
- We can go for walks as a family.
We'll go down to the beach or something,
which I never was able to do when I was young.
And now, we've got another little one on the way.
- Is it a boy or is it a girl?
- It's a girl.
Yeah!
- So your story with the prince does
have a happy ending.
- I'm so proud of my wife.
- Do you think in some way she saved you?
- Without question, she saved me.
- I would actually not just survive,
but we are thriving.
And this is, in some ways, just the beginning for us.
Always remember to put others' needs
above your own fears.