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20 things we learnt from Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah

Author
Newstalk ZB / NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Mar 2021, 8:54PM
Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah aired yesterday. (Photo / AP)
Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah aired yesterday. (Photo / AP)

20 things we learnt from Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah

Author
Newstalk ZB / NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Mar 2021, 8:54PM

They promised to "tell all" and, frankly, it's hard to think of anything they missed.

Harry and Meghan opened up their lives to Oprah Winfrey during a truly historical interview which aired on CBS in the US on Monday afternoon (NZ time).

The gripping interview, which lasted a good two hours, covered numerous topics and uncovered a number of surprising details about the royal family.

Meghan and Harry did not hold back while telling their version of what happened during their time as royals - and the fallout from "Megxit".

Here's a recap of the most important stuff we learnt during the interview, including some details you may have missed.

  1. They're having a girl!

Archie is going to have a baby sister. Harry made the announcement when he joined wife Meghan for the chat with Oprah.

The prince could barely contain his excitement as he delivered the news, saying he's thrilled to add a girl to the family.

  1. They are not planning on having more children

Once their girl is born this year, the couple are not planning on having any more offspring.

"Two is it," Meghan told Oprah, after announcing the sex of their second child.

  1. Kate made Meghan cry

Years since the headlines about how Meghan had made Kate cry, she today came out to say "the reverse happened".

"A few days before the wedding she [Kate] was upset about something, pertaining to – yes the issue was correct – about the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. And it really hurt my feelings," she said.

Meghan told Oprah Kate got her upset on her wedding week and made her cry, but she also added that Kate apologised and sent her flowers and that Meghan had "forgiven her".

It all sounds like water under the bridge - although perhaps not so much because the sisters-in-law patched everything about, but more because they've since found new things to be upset about. Ah, families...

  1. Prince Charles stopped answering Harry's calls

Perhaps more shocking than two sisters-in-law not getting along is a father who stops answering calls from his son but, according to Harry, that's exactly what happened after he moved to Canada with his wife and son.

"I had three conversations with my grandmother, and two conversations with my father before he stopped taking my calls," he told Oprah.

He says his dad stopped talking to him because he "took matters into his own hands".

"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," he explained.

Harry says they talk now but the relationship is still damaged. He is hopeful time will heal it.

  1. They got married three days before the wedding we all saw on TV

Meghan and Harry told Oprah they actually got married in their backyard, three days before the ceremony that about 29 million people watched on television, on May 19, 2018.

According to Meghan, they exchanged vows "just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury" three days earlier and the big ceremony was a "spectacle for the world.

"No one knows that," she added.

  1. They have two dogs and a whole load of chickens

Part of the interview took place in Meghan and Harry's chicken coop, which is filled with hens Meghan rescued from a factory farm.

The chicken coop includes a little building with a plaque that says "Archie's Chick Inn".

  1. Meghan was suicidal and was denied mental health support

Perhaps one of the most explosive allegations put forward by Meghan in the interview relates to the time when she confessed being suicidal, while still living in the UK.

"I just didn't want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he [Harry] just cradled me," she recalled.

Meghan said she reached out to the institution for help but was told there was nothing that could be down as she wasn't a paid employee.

"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," she says the palace HR told her.

  1. They've been financially cut off from the family

Harry revealed he has been financially cut off from the family and has been living off what his mum, the late Princess Diana, left him.

"I've got what my mum left me. My mum saw this coming," he added.

Harry says he's felt his mum's presence through this whole process.

  1. Meghan said the Queen is 'lovely'

Meghan spoke about the moment she met the Queen and said it was "lovely and easy".

"We just sat there and chatted," she recalled.

"The Queen has been wonderful to me," she added. "I loved being in her company."

Meghan recalled the moment the Queen gifted her pearl earrings and a necklace and the moment they shared a blanket in the back of a car.

She said sometimes the Queen reminded her of her own grandmother.

  1. It was the firm that stopped Archie from having a title

Contrary to some of the headlines from that time, Meghan and Harry say it was the firm that decided their child was not allowed to become a prince or princess, before Archie was even born.

According to the couple, the institution changed the protocols before Archie was born, to ensure he would not get a title. They were also told he would not have "any security", news which frightened Meghan.

To this day, she does not know why that decision was made but goes on to hint at racism within the royal family.

  1. Concerns over 'how dark' Archie would be

It was at that time that things really began to escalate, Meghan said.

"I was very scared of having to offer up my baby, knowing they weren't going to be kept safe," she said.

She revealed there were palace "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born".

Oprah was momentarily speechless: "What? What? Who is having that conversation with you?"

Meghan and Harry both refused to reveal who had that conversation. "I think that would be very damaging to them."

Meghan said it's safe to assume the concern was her mixed race child could be "too dark".

  1. The couple felt trapped

Meghan and Harry both said they felt "trapped" and she explained she even had her passport taken from her.

At one point, Oprah pointed out she felt trapped while on the verge of suicide. "That's the truth," Meghan replied.

  1. William and Charles are 'trapped', Harry says

Harry went even further, saying he believes his father and brother are still "trapped within the system" and he feels "compassion" for that.

"My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that," he told Oprah.

  1. 'We never quit'

The couple said things got spun out as if they had quit the royal family but reiterated that was never what they suggested.

Harry said they proposed working as "part-time royals" as they were "desperate" after asking for help and not getting any.

"We never left the family. We only wanted to have the same type of role that exists. There are senior members of the family, and non-senior members," Meghan explained.

"We weren't reinventing the wheel here."

Harry said the couple eventually left because a lack of support.

  1. They considered moving to New Zealand

The couple considered moving to New Zealand before settling in Canada, and eventually California, where they live now.

They wanted to stay within the Commonwealth, which is why they initially went to Canada, but then, after their security was unexpectedly taken from them, and with an impending lockdown, they decided to move to California for safety reasons.

  1. 'The royal family is scared of the tabloids' - Harry

Harry told Oprah the royal family is scared of the UK tabloids as they feel like they're only in power for as long as the tabloids allow them to be.

"We're talking about the UK press here. The UK is my home. It's where I was brought up. I've got my own relationship that goes back a long way with the media. I asked for calm from the British tabloids once as a boyfriend, once as a husband, once as a father," he said.

He added that he is acutely aware of how scared his family is of the tabloids and talked about the "colonial undertones" of the articles that came out about Meghan. He says no one in the family said anything "and that hurts".

  1. Meghan had to Google the national anthem late at night

Meghan recalled the time when she joined the family and had to learn to do everything on her own - as no one taught her anything about the etiquette and the protocols that come with being a royal - but everyone expected her to know it.

She mentioned one particular moment when, late one night, before an event, she had to Google England's national anthem.

She says no one prepared her for the transition. She had to train behind the scenes.

  1. Diana 'would be angry'

Harry says he thinks his mother Diana would be very angry with this situation. He says she just wanted them all to be happy.

"I think she would feel very angry and sad at how this all panned out. But I think all she would ever want would be for us to be happy," Harry said.

  1. Meghan was 'silenced'

Meghan described how, from the moment she joined the royal family, she was given the directive that the only answer to give was always "no comment".

The same applied to everyone "in her world".

She believed she was being protected by the institution, but then realised she was actually being "silenced".

"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 … they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband," she said.

  1. Meghan rarely left the house

Meghan described how she was rarely allowed to leave the house, when the couple lived in the UK, and that people in the Firm were worried about "how things might look".

She said, at the time, she could not have felt lonelier.

"I'm so proud of my wife. She safely delivered Archie during a period of time that was so cruel, so mean. Every single day I was coming back from work to her crying while breastfeeding Archie," Harry recalled.

The couple ended the interview on a high note, saying they're very happy now and, more than just surviving, they feel like they are thriving.

Meghan says she feels like she did get her fairytale with her prince.

"This is, in some ways, just the beginning for us."

  • CBS presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry will broadcast on Three on Tuesday, March 9, at 7.30pm.

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