LOS ANGELES, CA — Speaking out for the first time since stepping down as senior members of the royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle told their side of the story in a sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In the two-hour interview which aired on CBS on March 7, Markle spoke with Winfrey about her time with the royal family, including the first time she met the Queen.
Markle recalled the encounter which occurred when she was having lunch with then-boyfriend Prince Harry and spoke about how he asked her if she knew how to curtsy.
“That was the first moment the penny dropped,” Markle said.
Markle also told Winfrey that while she knew of the royal family, she didn’t exactly know what she was in for.
“I didn’t fully understand what the job was,” Markle said. “What does it mean to be a working royal? What do you do?”
Markle also addressed the rumors that she made Kate Middleton cry and revealed that “the reverse happened.”
While she did not disclose exactly what was said, she did state that it had something to do with the flower girls’ dresses for her and Harry’s 2018 wedding.
“…She was upset about something and she owned it and she apologized and sent flowers and a note, apologizing,” Markle said. “And she did what I would do if I knew I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.”
One of the biggest bombshell moments came when Markle said that while she was pregnant with her son Archie, there were “several” conversations about “how dark” her son’s skin would be.
She also shared that it was not her and Harry’s decision on whether or not their son would be given a royal title.
“In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time–so we have in tandem the conversation of ‘He won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Markle said.
While Prince Harry did not disclose which family member he had these conversations with, he did tell Oprah that it was not his grandmother or grandfather.
Another heartbreaking revelation came when Markle told Oprah that she began having suicidal thoughts late at night while she was pregnant with Archie.
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” Markle said. “And that was very clear and real and frightening constant thought.”
After speaking with her husband, Markle said she tried to seek help but was told that there was nothing that could be done.
“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,” Markle said.
Ultimately, Prince Harry said that their decision to step down boiled down to a “lack of support and lack of understanding.”
He also said that he was concerned of “history repeating itself,” his mother Princess Diana endured relentless scrutiny and died in a car crash after being chased by paparazzi in 1997. Harry also revealed that his father, Prince Charles, stopped taking his phone calls for a period of time.
While the interview was full of heavy moments, things ended on a lighter note when the couple announced that were expecting a baby girl sometime in the summer.
On March 9, Queen Elizabeth II released a statement saying that she was “saddened” to learn “the full extent” of Harry and Meghan’s struggles and said that the royal family planned to address the allegations “privately.”
