What the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey about race, royal titles and considering suicide
‘I didn’t want to be alive any more’: Harry and Meghan describe racism and royal animosity in Oprah interview
Meghan: there were ‘concerns and conversations about how dark Archie’s skin might be’
Meghan on their son Archie, not being a prince or receiving a title:
They didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol, and [said] that he wasn’t going to receive security.
Meghan on how Archie’s skin colour had been discussed:
In those months when I was pregnant … we have in tandem the conversation of ‘you won’t be given security,’ ‘not going to be given a title’, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.
Harry on the same issue:
That conversation, I’m never going to share. But at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked.
That was right at the beginning when she wasn’t going to get security, when members of my family were suggesting that she carries on acting because there’s not enough money to pay for her, and all this sort of stuff.
Harry on royals being ‘trapped’ and also the issue of race:
I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped. Like the rest of my family are, my father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave and I have huge compassion for that.
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.’
What was different for me was the race element, because now it wasn’t just about her. It was about what she represented.
Meghan on considering suicide:
I just didn’t want to be alive any more. And that was a very clear and real and frightening, constant thought. And I remember how he [Harry] just cradled me.
Meghan on asking for help:
I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help … And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.
I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said: my heart goes out to you because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution.
Meghan on the royal family, senior staff and the Queen:
There’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution. Those are two separate things and it’s important to be able to compartmentalise that, because the Queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me.
Harry on the Queen, and whether he had “blindsided” her with the couple’s decision to step away from royal roles, and where the story came from:
I’ve never blindsided my grandmother. I have too much respect for her.
I’d hazard a guess that it probably could have come from within the institution.
Harry on Prince Charles not taking his calls any longer after initial discussions about stepping away:
I had three conversations with my grandmother, and two conversations with my father before he stopped taking my calls. And then he said: “Can you put this all in writing?”
By that point I took matters into my own hands. It was like, I needed to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody. It’s really sad that it’s got to this point, but I’ve got to do something for my own mental health, my wife’s and for Archie’s as well.
Meghan, on reports she made the Duchess of Cambridge cry over flower girls’ dresses before Meghan and Harry’s wedding:
The narrative with Kate, which didn’t happen, was really, really difficult and something that I think – that’s when everything changed, really.
The reverse happened. A few days before the wedding she was upset about something, pertaining to … the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. And it really hurt my feelings.
There wasn’t a confrontation and … I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that because she apologised, and I’ve forgiven her. What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do, but that happened to me.
Meghan, on being asked if she was silent or had been silenced:
The latter. Everyone in my world was given a very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating to always say: “No comment.”
SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/uk