Meghan to Oprah: They said what?
Duchess describes hurtful discussions
LOS ANGELES — Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, told Oprah Winfrey that she experienced suicidal thoughts over how she was being treated after marrying Harry, and the anguish she had over discussions about her son that ranged from questions about his skin color to the decision that he would not get a prince title.
She told Winfrey that when she was first pregnant with son Archie, there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.” The statement led Winfrey to ask “What,” incredulously and sit in silence for a moment.
Meghan, who is biracial, declined to say who had this conversation with Harry that he relayed to her, saying revealing their name would be “very damaging.”
Sunday’s interview — Meghan and Harry’s first since stepping away from royal life — is being broadcast first in the United States; British audiences will not be able to see it until Monday evening.
Meghan said she grew concerned about her son not having a royal title because it meant he wouldn’t be provided security.
Meghan said processing everything while pregnant was “very hard.” More than the “prince” title, she was the most concerned about her son’s safety and protection.
“He needs to be safe,” a teary-eyed Meghan recalled. “We’re not saying don’t make him a prince or princess, whatever it’s going to be. But if you’re saying the title is going to affect their protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of click bait and tabloid fodder. You’ve allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.”
Meghan said it was hard for her to understand why there were concerns within the royal family about her son’s skin color. She said it was hard for her to “compartmentalize” those conversations.
Harry joined his wife later in the interview and they revealed that their second child will be a girl.
Earlier in the interview, Meghan told Winfrey it became clear at a certain point that some were willing to lie to “protect other members of the family.”
The duchess differentiated between parts of the actual members of the royal family and those who worked for them. “The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.
She also noted that she did not know how to curtsy before meeting Queen Elizabeth II for the first time, and didn’t realize it would be necessary.
“I will say I went into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family,” Meghan said. “It wasn’t something that was part of conversation at home. It wasn’t something that we followed.”