In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan fled the Royal Family and the United Kingdom to start their new life in the United States, apparently to be away from the intrusion of the press and media attention.
But it wasn’t long before they appeared before the public again, in one of the most incendiary ways imaginable.
Some 50 million people around the world watched as, on March 7, 2021, the duo participated in a revealing 85-minute interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The explosive revelations continue to resonate three years later.
Chatting in the sun-drenched garden of a Californian mansion, which turned out to be owned by a friend of Oprah, the heavily pregnant Meghan described her time in the Royal Family as a nightmare she had barely survived.
Heavily pregnant Meghan sits in sunny garden to talk to Oprah Winfrey
Meghan, through tears, tells ‘her truth’ in an interview seen by 50 million people
Interviewer Oprah Winfrey was invited to Meghan and Prince Harry’s wedding in 2018
She recounted how she had to hand over her passport, driving licence, keys and other personal belongings when she moved into the cramped confines of Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
“I left the house twice in four months,” she told Oprah, adding, “I couldn’t feel more alone.”
He remembered watching the cartoon The Little Mermaid and relating to Ariel, the mermaid who changes her voice for legs to marry her prince.
“She falls in love with a prince and that’s why she loses her voice.”
Oprah asked the now famous question: “Were you silent or silenced?”
“The latter,” Meghan responded.
He claimed that the situation had deteriorated to the point that he had even considered suicide.
“I didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she told Oprah. “It was a constant, clear, real and terrifying thought.”
However, Meghan alleged that Palace staff did not offer her help when she came to them for support even though she was six months pregnant with Archie at the time.
“They told me I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution,” he said.
Prince Harry joined his wife for the final part of the interview.
Oprah was placed at a distance from her interviewees as Covid restrictions were in place.
He described an exchange with an anonymous but high-ranking member of the Palace staff.
‘I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said, “My heart goes out to you because I see how bad you are, but there is nothing we can do to protect you because you are not a paid employee of the institution.” ” Meghan recalled.
The other bombshell was the Sussexes’ suggestion that the Royal Family was collectively racist, pointing the finger at an unnamed member who, they alleged, had racistly speculated about the color of their son Archie’s skin when Meghan was pregnant.
“When she was pregnant,” Markle recalled, her family members had “concerns and conversations about how dark her skin would be when she was born.” People were worried about how dark Archie’s skin would be.
A tense-looking Harry confirmed this, saying that he was the one who heard these comments and told his wife.
Harry and Meghan said they would not reveal who made the statement, with Meghan saying: “I think it would be very damaging for them (to reveal it).”
However, later – particularly when Harry published his memoirs, Spare – this particular controversy seemed to have been forgotten.
The Duke and Duchess also raised eyebrows by claiming that the Archbishop of Canterbury had officially married them three days before their actual wedding day in May 2018.
What happened before the official ceremony at St George’s Chapel, the Archbishop of Canterbury denied was a wedding. telling an Italian newspaper:
‘The legal wedding was on Saturday. I signed the wedding certificate, which is a legal document, and I would have committed a felony if I signed it knowing it was fake.
‘So you can do what you want about it. But the legal wedding was on Saturday. But I won’t say what happened in other meetings.
Meghan used the interview to quash reports that she had made her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, cry in the run-up to their wedding over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid outfit.
In fact, said the Duchess of Sussex, the opposite happened, the Duchess of Cambridge was the one who did his cry.
“It was a very hard wedding week and she was upset about something,” Meghan explained to Oprah.
But she was the owner and she apologized, and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing. She did what I would do if she knew I hurt someone: just take responsibility for it.’
Harry didn’t mince his words when it came to the Royal Family either.
He accused members of The Firm of being jealous of Meghan because of the “effortless” way Meghan had wowed audiences during her Commonwealth tour and “how good she was at the job.”
And for the first time he made it clear that he and Prince William were at odds, saying that he “loved him very much” but that “we are on different paths.”
He also described then-Prince Charles and William as “trapped.” “They can’t leave and I have compassion for that,” she said.
It is unknown how members of the Royal Family feel about the interview, as most of them have remained silent in response, but Prince William’s own response to a journalist was simply a passing comment: “We are not at all a racist family.”
Buckingham Palace issued a brief statement on behalf of the Queen saying it was “saddened” to hear of the couple’s struggles and were particularly concerned about allegations of racism.
The front pages of British newspapers after the interview with Oprah…
And the Queen only issued a statement hinting that the Sussexes’ account might not be the same as hers.
“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
‘The issues raised, particularly racial issues, are worrying. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of the family.”