Stunning Things We Learned From Harry & Meghan's Oprah Interview
It will undoubtedly go down as one of the most significant television interviews since Princess Diana spoke to journalist Martin Bashir on the BBC TV show panorama, which aired in 1995. Twenty-six years later, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have deployed what The Washington Post is calling "the nuclear option" by speaking to Oprah Winfrey in what was promoted as a "no holds barred" interview.
Whatever it is we thought was going down in the House of Windsor, few of us were prepared for the bombshells that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed during the interview, and they are expected to rock the Royal Family. Author Beatrix Campbell, who wrote a book Diana said of that interview that the event was "extraordinarily historic. How many times has a future heir been called to account for his behavior in front of millions of people? Like, never. And here we are again."
There were good moments, such as the revelation that Harry and Meghan are expecting a girl, but otherwise, The Sydney Morning Herald says Harry's grandmother, the Queen, is ready to deal with the fallout from the interview, even as she is focused on her sick husband, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is still in the hospital recovering from surgery.
Here are just a few of the revelations that we expect are turning Royal heads.
Meghan says she never Googled Harry
During their engagement, Meghan Markle told the world that she was excited about moving away from her career and into the role of Duchess of Sussex. She had said she was ready, "being boots on the ground in the U.K., I'm excited to just really get to know more about the different communities here, [and learn about the] smaller organizations who are working on the same causes that I've always been passionate about under this umbrella" (via ABC). For the first time in public, she says she never looked her husband up: "I didn't feel a need because everything I needed to know he was telling me."
She also says she and Harry shared common interests, and it appeared to be enough for her: "I didn't romanticize any element of it, but I think as Americans especially, what you think you know about the royals is what you see in fairytales. She also admitted that she was judged on perception, but reality proved to be quite different. She then admitted to tying the knot three days before the televised ceremony (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
The reality for Meghan hit when she was asked to curtsey before the Queen. "Thank God I didn't know a lot about the family. Thank God I hadn't researched, because I would have been so in my head about it," she said (via The Guardian).
Meghan Markle debunks rumors that she "made Kate Middleton cry"
Meghan Markle called rumors that she had made Kate Middleton cry "a turning point" because it was the reverse that had happened. Meghan tells Oprah that Kate had been upset about the flower girl dresses – and that Kate had later apologized and bought her flowers to make up for the incident. Meghan also said she did not talk about the incident because she didn't want "to be disparaging of Kate" (via The Guardian).
In spite of the incident, Meghan said she thought everyone had welcomed her, including the Queen, who the Duchess of Sussex said gave her a pair of pearl earrings and had made her feel welcome.
But things were different on the outside because Meghan had said she felt everything was being managed for the sake of optics. She said she was not allowed to leave the house because there was the worry of how it might be viewed. She said she had felt lonely, "There was very little that I was allowed to do so of course that breeds loneliness. The easiest way to understand it is what we've all gone through with [coronavirus] lockdowns" (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
Meghan Markle admitted she considered suicide
While Meghan said she had felt exposed, she did not get much support from the Palace, and while she had asked the institution for help, none had been forthcoming. "They would go on the record and negate the most ridiculous story for anyone," she tells Oprah by way of example. She then adds "It was only when things really started to worsen that I realized I wasn't being protected but they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family but not me and my husband" (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
The incidents, and the feelings of isolation, eventually had an impact on Meghan's mental health. She told Oprah that she "didn't see a solution" and that "I was ashamed to say it at the time ... I just didn't want to be alive anymore. And that was a very real and clear and frightening and constant thought" (via The Guardian).
Harry also later said the couple didn't receive any help from the institution. "It's a very trapping environment that a lot of them are stuck in," he said. "I didn't have anyone to turn to. We've got some very close friends who have been with us through this whole ... but the family very much has the mentality of 'this is how it has to be' ... 'we've all been through it'" (via the Sydney Morning Herald).
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Harry reveals speculation over Archie's skin color
If there were any questions at all about whether race had played a role in the struggles Meghan and Harry faced within the palace, they might have been laid to rest when Meghan and Harry said there were concerns over what the color of baby Archie's skin would be after he was born. Harry would not reveal who made the comment because he said he was not comfortable in sharing that piece of information, but he said the comment was made when he was told he could not expect the Royal Family to pay for security if they had left. He also said that "members of my family were suggesting that she [Meghan] carries on acting for the money to pay for her" (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
Harry says the couple today lives off his inheritance from his mother Diana's estate, and that making business deals with Spotify and Netflix was the only way to make ends meet. He also admits his mother, Princess Diana "would feel very angry about how it's turned out, but at the same time, she would want us to be happy" (via The Sydney Morning Herald).