Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's primetime interview with Oprah Winfrey on CBS was heavily-anticipated,
and it delivered on the hype. This two-hour encounter was full of bombshells and shocking
accusations. Here are the biggest revelations from Harry And Meghan's Oprah interview.
On May 19, 2018, the storybook romance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reached a new
peak with an elaborate, grand wedding straight out of a fairy tale. The groom wore his military
dress uniform, while the bride wore a stunning white Givenchy gown. And in front of an exclusive
guest list of around 600 people, the couple said their vows at the charming St. George's
Chapel.
All of that, however, was expensive pomp and circumstance. It wasn't a real wedding, merely
one performed for the public.
"This wasn't our day. This was the day that was planned for the world."
In their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, who also happened to be one of the most famous
guests at the high-profile ceremony, the fact emerged that Harry and Meghan had actually
gotten hitched three days earlier, in a private, intimate, and romantic ceremony at home. While
their royal wedding ceremony may have been broadcast all around the world, Meghan said
that the vows they have framed for their own family photo album are just the two of them
in their backyard.
Five months after their wedding for the ages, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that
they'd soon be first-time parents.
Markle gave birth in May 2019 at Portland Hospital in London. While that's usually a
very happy event — and when royals are concerned, a newsworthy one — Meghan's pregnancy and
subsequent early motherhood came with a whole world of extra stress and pain surrounding
Archie's fate as a member of the royal family.
According to Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex said that before
her son was born, she was told by officials that he would not receive an official royal
title.
"That was when they were saying that they didn't want him to be a prince — or princess,
not knowing what the gender would be — which would be different from protocol."
More alarming, Meghan says she learned that that lack of a royal title meant that her
child wasn't going to receive any kind of security detail, a tense and frightening notion
for such a highly scrutinized and intensely followed public figure.
"Your son and Harry — Prince Harry's son — was not going to receive security?"
"That's right."
Meghan, whose father is Caucasian and mother is African-American, identifies as a biracial
woman. This fact allegedly resulted in some racially-charged conversations about baby
Archie in the months before his birth.
Someone in the royal family organization expressed to Harry their concerns about the potential
skin color of Harry and Meghan's first child.
"That conversation, I'm never going to share. But at the time… At the time it was awkward.
I was a bit shocked."
And he wasn't the only one. Winfrey herself was clearly stunned when Meghan dropped the
bombshell claim.
Neither member of the couple was willing to name the person or persons who raised the
issue of Archie's skin color.
"And you're not going to tell me who had the conversation."
"I think that would be very damaging to them."
Early on in Meghan and Harry's relationship, tabloids in the U.K. and the U.S. both widely
reported a suggestive story surrounding Harry and Meghan's wedding in spring 2018. While
the specifics were largely shrouded in mystery, the story went that Meghan had a major disagreement
with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge — otherwise known as the former Kate Middleton, and wife
of Harry's brother, Prince William.
Media outlets reported that the encounter had reduced Catherine to tears, painting Meghan
as a villainous, "bridezilla" type.
Meghan attempted to clear the air — and explain what really went down — during her
exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Meghan confirmed that one of the two parties involved cried just before her royal wedding,
but that it wasn't Catherine — it was actually she herself who had cried.
"A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining to flower girl
dresses. And it made me cry."
Meghan said. Winfrey wanted to hear more about the small fight, but Meghan demurred.
"I don't think it's fair to her to get into the details of that, because she apologized.
And I've forgiven her."
Meghan called the whole ordeal "a turning point" and spread the blame equally for the
allegedly false story between "the media" and royal officials who ordered silence over
the matter.
"Everyone in the institution knew that it wasn't true."
"So why didn't anyone just say that?"
"That's a good question."
Prince Harry admitted in his interview with Oprah Winfrey that he had no choice but to
give up royal service and move to Meghan Markle's home of North America.
More alarmingly, Meghan revealed that the lack of freedom, general hostility, and racism
from the British tabloid media, as well as an alleged lack of concern from the royal
family for her well-being, left Meghan feeling hopelessly "trapped" in a life she didn't
want to live. She even considered suicide.
She said in her interview with Oprah,
"I was really ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry especially,
because I know how much loss he has suffered."
Meghan was presumably referring to how her husband lost his mother, Princess Diana, at
a young age.
She went on to share what finally made her decide to speak out about the state of her
mental health.
"I knew that if I didn't say it, that I would do it — and I just didn't want to be alive
anymore."
Harry admitted that Meghan's dark thoughts "terrified" him and sent him to "a very dark
place" as well.
Meghan claims she sought help from the organizational mechanism of the royal family, including Buckingham
Palace's human resources department.
"I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help and 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."
In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced on Instagram that they would "step
back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family." They also revealed plans to live part-time
in Britain, and part time in North America, all in pursuit of a private life.
Happenings in and around Buckingham Palace had become so unbearable for Meghan that Harry
did what he felt he had to do.
"I took matters into my own hands. It was like, I need to do this for my family.
Harry said that he needed to distance himself from the royal family institution for the
sake of his mental health, as well as Meghan's. This, of course, was another bombshell reversal
of the entire "Megxit" narrative, which painted Meghan as the architect of the couple's departure
from royal life.
Regardless of who was behind the stepback, the move was a rare and surprising act for
members of the British royal family.
The couple's departure is said to have thoroughly upset the three top-ranking members of the
British royal family, Harry's grandmother, father, and older brother: the Queen, Prince
Charles, and Prince William, respectively.
Harry revealed in the interview that after his announcement, he's had three conversations
with Queen Elizabeth and two with Prince Charles, before the latter stopped talking to him for
months. As for his brother, Harry says he and William are "on different paths," and
that "the relationship is space at the moment."
Not every revelation from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's blockbuster March 2021 interview
with Oprah Winfrey was scandalous, shocking, or saddening.
In an announcement issued less than a month earlier, on Valentine's Day, the royal couple
announced that their young family would soon welcome a fourth member. According to the
press release, Meghan and Harry were "overjoyed to be expecting their second child."
At the time, neither the prince nor the duchess said much else about the baby, only continuing
to confirm that they had a child on the way. Apparently, they were saving the big details
of their baby-to-be for the interview with Oprah.
Shortly after Prince Harry joined his wife for the second half of the televised interview,
the duo announced, together, that their son, Archie, would soon be the older brother to
a baby girl.
Meghan is due to give birth to their daughter some time in the summer of 2021. The baby
girl will not only be the couple's next child, but they say, their final one. According to
the interview, "two is it" for these parents.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.