It wasn’t the Queen or Prince Philip who ‘raised baby’s colour’

title, which was not her or Prince Harry’s choice.

The claim that a member of the Royal family had raised concerns with Prince Harry about the colour of the baby’s skin led to debate about who would have made such a comment. Winfrey stoked speculation when she revealed that the Duke had told her it was not the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh.

Hours after the interview aired in the US, the chat show host said: “He did not share the identity with me but he wanted to make sure I knew, and if I had an opportunity to share it, that it was not his grandmother or grandfather that were part of those conversations.”

The revelations threatened to plunge the monarchy into its biggest crisis for decades. Staff from the royal household went into lockdown when the interview was broadcast. They remained in crisis talks throughout the day. Prince William, Prince Charles and the Queen all spoke throughout the course of yesterday and remained in close contact with their staff.

They had previously indicated that all senior members of the Royal family would be out in force this week, to give the public a clear message about where the “focus” lies.

The Queen, who is understood to have received a full briefing, held a telephone meeting with Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Commonwealth secretary-general. The Prince of Wales held a succession of telephone meetings while the Duchess of Cornwall joined a virtual reception to mark International Women’s Day.

The Duke of Sussex, who joined his wife and Winfrey for the second half of the interview, said his father, the Prince of Wales, had stopped taking his calls after he “took matters into his own hands” and admitted he felt “let down” by his father’s lack of empathy. He suggested other members of the Royal family had been jealous of Meghan’s ease at fitting into royal life, and the phenomenal public reaction she had received.

He suggested that despite repeated pleas, they had received “no help at all” from the Royal family and were told continuously: “This is just how it is, we’ve all been through it …”

The Duchess claimed her sister-inlaw, the Duchess of Cambridge, had made her cry at a bridesmaid dress fitting in the run-up to her wedding, and said she wanted to correct the false narrative that Meghan had made Kate cry.

She said the Palace’s failure to correct the version of events portrayed in the media had proved “a turning point” and described the incident as “the beginning of a real character assassination”.

The couple revealed they read vows to each other in their garden three days before the royal wedding in a private ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. They also revealed that they were expecting a girl.