Yesterday, Oprah aired her bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Oprah didn’t hold back when it came to her questions, and that led to some serious Royal revelations from the couple.
From secret wedding ceremonies to racism among the Royals, here are the biggest revelations from Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah.
Harry and Meghan got married in secret before the Royal Wedding
One of the biggest surprises from the interview was the real date of Harry and Meghan’s marriage. While the whole world saw their Royal Wedding on May 19, 2018, it turns out they were already married!
Three days before the televised wedding, they were married in their backyard by Archbishop of Canterbury. This let the couple have a private moment before the major public spectacle.
Of the televised wedding, Meghan said, “I think we were both really aware, even in advance of that just, this wasn’t our day. This was the day that was planned for the world.”
Kate made Meghan cry (not the other way around)
There were many headlines about a seeming feud between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. And at the center of this feud was a persistent rumor that Meghan had made Kate breakdown in tears during a fight in 2018.
According to Meghan, “The reverse happened,” and it was Kate who made Meghan cry. But Meghan made it clear that Kate is a “good person,” and she doesn’t like headlines that pit them against each other.
“It was a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about something. But she owned it, and she apologized and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing.”
Someone in the Royal Family had concerns about Archie’s skin color
The most eyebrow-raising moment of the entire interview centered around race. According to Meghan, someone in the Royal Family had “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born.”
Meghan and Harry refused to name who that person was in the interview, although afterward Harry clarified to Oprah that it was not Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip.
“He did not share the identity with me but he wanted to make sure that I knew, and if I had an opportunity to share it, that it was not his grandmother nor his grandfather that were part of those conversations,” Oprah said on CBS This Morning on Monday.
Meghan claims the Royal Family would lie and silence her
It always seemed like Meghan wouldn’t fit in with the Royal Family. After all, they have a reputation for being very stiff and formal. Meanwhile, Meghan is an outspoken women’s rights activist.
Oprah eventually asked Meghan point-blank: “Were you silent, or were you silenced?” Without missing a beat, Meghan said “the latter.”
When her relationship with Harry went public, the Royal Family told her to say “no comment” whenever she got a question. Meghan said, “I did anything they told me to do,” thinking the Royal Family would protect her.
“It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family,” Meghan said. “They weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.”
Meghan revealed she had suicidal thoughts
It’s an open secret that Meghan Markle was in a dark place thanks to family pressure and constant negative headlines. But she revealed to Oprah that she considered committing suicide.
She said that, “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.” And like many with suicidal thoughts, she imagined “it would have solved everything for everyone.”
Eventually, she admitted what she was going through to Harry, who helped her through it. But she claims the Royal Family preventing her from seeking treatment at an in-patient facility, claiming it “wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
Now, she shares her story with the world to remove the stigmas around depression, suicide, and mental illness.
No money from the Royal Family
Harry and Meghan have been making some big money moves in America. This includes deals with Netflix and Spotify.
As it turns out, they might very well need the money. Harry revealed during the interview that his family cut him off financially starting in the first quarter of 2020.
Before inking deals with Netflix and others, the two were living solely off of the inheritance he received from his mother Princess Diana. While Harry didn’t discuss specific figures, he did imply that inheritance was the only way they could afford to move to America.
“Without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” he said, “All I wanted was enough money to get security and keep my family safe.”
The Royal Family decided not to make Archie a prince
Under royal protocol, the great-grandchildren of the current sovereign do not automatically receive prince or princess titles. However, the Queen issued Letters Patent for William’s children in 2012 allowing them to use the titles.
But Meghan revealed that the Royal Family decided that would not be the case for her and Harry’s son Archie, and that he wouldn’t receive royal security since he was not a prince. “They didn’t want him to be a prince… which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn’t going to receive security.”
She also suggested she believed that the decision might have had to do with Archie’s race. “While I was pregnant, they wanted to change the convention, for Archie. Why?” she said. “There’s no explanation.”
She balked at the “idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.”
Oprah asked if it was important to Meghan that Archie receive a prince title. “If it meant he was going to be safe then of course,” Meghan said.
Harry and Meghan are having a baby girl
Not every surprise from the interview was a negative one. In fact, Meghan confirmed with Oprah that she and Harry are having a baby girl, who is due in the summer.
“To have a boy then a girl — what more can you ask for?” Harry told Oprah.
And with their new start in the U.S., their growing family will effectively have a second chance to feel happy and whole.