HOW DARK WILL HE BE?
ROYAL RACE CLAIM SHOCK:
THE Duchess of Sussex has revealed how Prince Harry “cradled her” when she told him she was on the verge of suicide when she was five months’ pregnant with their baby son Archie.
And in further claims that have plunged the royal family into crisis, a candid Meghan Markle and emotional Prince Harry also claimed a senior royal figure asked “how dark” baby Archie’s skin would be.
“In those months I was pregnant … (there were) concerns and conversations about how dark (Archie’s) skin might be when he’s born,’’ Meghan told a gobsmacked Oprah Winfrey during her two-hour interview.
Prince Harry added he was asked by a senior royal: “What will the children look like?’’
As to who said it though, will remain a secret.
“That conversation, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked,” he said.
Prince Harry, 36, also revealed his father Prince Charles, 72, cut him off and had “stopped taking my calls” last year and had “really let me down”.
He described his relationship with is brother Prince William as “space at the moment”, adding “time heals all things, hopefully”.
The bombshells rained down repeatedly during Winfrey’s televised chat with the couple, which was filmed in the exclusive enclave of Montecito, California, where all three of them live.
On her suicidal thoughts in January 2019, Meghan, 39, said: “I was really ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry … I knew that if I didn’t say it that I would do it and I just knew that I didn’t want to be alive any more.
“I remember how he just cradled me and I went to the institution … I went to one of the most senior people to get help.”
Meghan said in the special, which aired on CBS in America and Channel 10 in Australia, that it was a scary time.
“I thought it (suicide) would have solved everything for everyone,” she said.
“This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare’.
“I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. 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.”
HISTORY REPEATING
Prince Harry, who at times appeared on the edge of tears, repeated his concern that he feared “history would repeat itself” and he would lose his wife in a similar way to how his mother, Princess Diana, died in 1997.
The comments, which he first said after the couple’s 2019 southern Africa tour, were given added weight following the revelations of Meghan’s suicidal thoughts. But he said it was “far more dangerous” today than in his mother’s circumstances because Meghan had the added burden of being bi-racial amid the intense pressure of social media.
Prince Harry said he was disappointed his family did not add to the voices of 70 female members of the UK parliament who had “called out the colonial undertones” of
the British media’s coverage of Meghan. “Yet no-one from my family ever said anything over those three years. That hurts,” he said.
The couple were officially set adrift from their royal duties on February 19, with the Queen refusing to reinstate their roles during an expected 12-month review of Megxit.
The couple signed deals with Netflix and Spotify worth up to $150m after stepping down from senior royal duties.
Prince Harry lost his military titles, which meant a great deal to him, while Meghan was stripped of patronages, including her place at the Royal National Theatre.
They both lost jobs at the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. The couple used the Winfrey interview to set the record straight, claiming the royal family had refused to give Archie the title of prince, which would have entitled him to security for life.
It had previously been reported that Prince Harry and Meghan had not wanted to give Archie a royal title.
DEATH THREATS
The cost of security became a major sticking point, with Meghan saying the couple had received death threats and race-hate correspondence.
Prince Harry said they moved to Los Angeles where they were offered American actor Tyler Perry’s mansion and his security team for nothing after the Royal Family had refused to pay for their ongoing security in Canada.
The couple were careful in the wording of their criticisms, repeatedly referring to the institution, however there were veiled attacks on Prince Charles, Prince William and his wife Kate. Prince Harry said he had spoken more to his grandmother the Queen in the past year than he had in the many years previous.
And both he and Meghan were at pains to point out their respect for the Queen — which may help salvage some chance of reconciliation in the future.
Meghan said she regretted that she believed Buckingham Palace would “protect her” from negative stories in the press.
And she claimed a much repeated story that she had made Kate cry in the lead-up to the couple’s wedding was wrong, but conceded the dispute was about flower girl dresses.
“The narrative of making Kate cry was a real character assassination and they knew it wasn’t true,” she said.
When Winfrey asked Meghan directly if she made Kate cry, she replied: “No, the reverse happened, I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone. She was upset about something, but she owned it, she apologised, she sent a note.
“I don’t think it’s fair to get into the details because she apologised and I forgave her.”
The pressure of the wedding had been so intense that she and Harry decided to have a private ceremony three days before the televised event, which she described as an “out of body experience”.
“We were both really aware … that this wasn’t our day, this was the day that was planned for the world,” Meghan said.
The couple showed off their garden in Montecito, where they paid $20m for a 16-bathroom mansion, doing part of the interview from Archie’s chicken coop, which housed rescued hens.
And while Prince Harry acknowledged he had a beautiful home, he said he was most grateful for being able to take Archie on a bike ride through the safe streets and down to the beach without worrying about their security.
Prince Harry was beaming when he told Winfrey that the couple’s second — and last — child was expected to be a girl.
The couple’s interview was tipped to rock the foundations of the monarchy, with the couple’s claims likely to significantly damage the royal family’s reputation.
Prince Harry was due to go to Britain for his grandfather, Prince Philip’s, 100th birthday in June. However, sources said he was determined to stand by William’s side for the unveiling in July of a statue honouring their mother.