This image provided by Harpo Productions shows Prince Harry, left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, speaking about expecting their second child during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. "Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special" airs March 7 as a two-hour exclusive primetime special on the CBS Television Network.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, have finally spoken out about Britain's royal family. In a tell-all interview with American chat show host Oprah Winfrey, Markle made several explosive revelations to the extent that the couple encountered racist attitudes and a lack of support that drove Meghan to thoughts of suicide. Giving a deeply unflattering depiction of life inside the royal household, portraying a cold, uncaring institution that they had to flee to save their lives. The interview gives a clearer picture of what the royal family is like --- and it's not pretty.
READ MORE: Meghan tears into royal family in Oprah interview: How could they expect we would just be silent
Here are 7 explosive revelations made by Markle and Harry
- In the soul-baring interview, 39-year-old Meghan admitted that she was naive at the start of her relationship with Harry and unprepared for the strictures of royal life.
- Meghan, who identifies as biracial, described that when she was pregnant with son Archie, there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born." Confirming the conversation, Harry said- "I was a bit shocked". However, he did not reveal who made the comment.
- During the interview, Harry said he had lived in fear of a repeat of the fate of his mother, Princess Diana, who was covered constantly by the press and died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi. “What I was seeing was history repeating itself, but definitely far more dangerous — because then you add race in, and you add social media in,” Harry said.
- Harry revealed he currently has a poor relationship with his brother William, and said things got so bad with his father that at one point Prince Charles stopped taking his calls.
- Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that at one point “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore” and had uncontrollable suicidal thoughts. She said she sought help through the palace’s human resources department, but was told there was nothing they could do
- The younger royals — including Harry, Meghan, Prince William and William’s wife Catherine — have made campaigning for support and awareness around mental health one of their priorities. But Harry described a royal family completely unable to offer that support to its own members. “For the family, they very much have this mentality of ‘This is just how it is, this is how it’s meant to be, you can’t change it, we’ve all been through it,’” Harry said.
- Harry, born a royal prince, described how his wife’s experience had helped him realize how he and the rest of the family were stuck in an oppressive institution. “I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped,” Harry said. “My father and my brother, they are trapped.” Meghan, he said, “saved me.”
READ MORE: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry reveal second baby's gender in Oprah Winfrey interview
