The key talking points from Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah
The Duchess admitted how hard she'd found it being part of the royal family
Last updated 24th May 2022
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have given their first full TV interview since stepping back from the Royal family.
Prince Harry and Meghan talked to Oprah about how tough the Duchess had found it in the royal family and also revealed the sex of their baby and how they actually got married before the big wedding we all watched on TV.
Duchess struggled with mental health
The Duchess of Sussex has confessed she had suicidal thoughts at the height of her crisis in the monarchy.
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey she contemplated taking her own life saying: “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
Asked explicitly by Winfrey if she was thinking of self-harm and having suicidal thoughts at some stage, Meghan replied: “Yes. This was very, very clear.
“Very clear and very scary. I didn’t know who to turn to in that.”
She said she later reached out to one of the best friends of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Meghan said she also asked the palace to seek professional help.
Anyone who needs support should call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website.
Archie's skin colour
The duchess’ admission was one of a series of astonishing claims that included Harry had conversations about how dark the skin colour of their son might be.
Meghan said there were “several conversations” about her son Archie’s skin tone, adding revealing who was involved in the talks “would be very damaging to them”.
The American duchess is the first mixed race person to marry a British senior royal in modern history.
A stunned Winfrey asked: “What? Who is having that conversation?”
Meghan paused and said there were “several conversations” with Harry about Archie’s skin tone, and “what that would mean or look like”.
Meghan and Kate
During their televised chat, Meghan described how the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry ahead of her wedding.
Reports circulated ahead of the Sussexes’ nuptials that Meghan left Kate in tears at Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress fitting.
But Meghan told Winfrey the “reverse happened”.
Meghan said she was not sharing the information to be “disparaging” – and described Kate as a “good person” – but added it was “really important for people to understand the truth”.
Meghan said Kate apologised and bought her flowers, adding that she has forgiven her.
She told the chat show host: “The narrative with Kate, which didn’t happen, was really, really difficult and something that… I think that’s when everything changed really.”
Winfrey pressed Meghan: “So specifically, did you make Kate cry?”
Meghan said “no” and when asked where that story came from and whether there was a situation where Kate “might have cried”, Meghan said: “No, no, the reverse happened. And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about something, but she owned it and she apologised and she brought me flowers and a note apologising, and she did what I would do if I knew that I’d hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.
“What was shocking was, what was that, six, seven months after our wedding, that the reverse of that would be out in the world.”
A baby girl
Harry and Meghan shared the news that their son Archie will have a little sister during their interview with Oprah Winfrey.
They revealed Meghan was pregnant last month.
The couple said their daughter will complete their family, with Meghan declaring, “Two is it.”
At the start of the interview, 39-year-old Meghan said she knows the gender of the baby, telling Winfrey: “We do this time. I will wait for my husband to join us and we can share that with you.”
Harry joined his wife in the second half of the interview, and told the chat show host: “It’s a girl.”
He said his first thought was “amazing” when he discovered the gender, adding: “Just grateful. To have any child, any one or any two, would have been amazing.
“But to have a boy and then a girl, I mean what more can you ask for? Now we’ve got our family, we got the four of us and our two dogs.”
She also confirmed the baby is due in the “summertime”.
The Royal Wedding happened three days before the one on TV
Meghan also revealed in the interview that she and Harry were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before the formal ceremony.
"We called the archbishop and we just said, 'look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us, just the two of us in our backyard'.
Prince Charles stopped taking Harry's phone calls
When the Duke of Sussex joined the interview he said his father, the Prince of Wales, had stopped taking his calls.
But discussing relations with the royal family he insisted that he had not “blindsided” the Queen when announcing he and Meghan were stepping back as senior working royals.
When can I watch the Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan?
The interview aired in the USA last night, and will be on ITV at 9pm tonight (8 March) and on ITV Hub, Courtesy of Harpo Productions/CBS.
If any of the details about suicidal thoughts have affected you, or you think it is affecting somebody else, please remember that anyone who needs support should call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website.