Meghan Markle claims Archie wasn’t made a Prince because Royals concerned over how ‘dark’ he’d be

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Meghan Markle today used her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview to accuse the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.

The Duchess of Sussex also described her ‘pain’ that officials had denied Archie the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect him by denying him 24/7 security.

Meghan refused to say which royal had the conversation with Harry about Archie’s skin colour, claiming it would be ‘damaging’ to the person in her husband’s family who raised it.

She told Miss Winfrey that it was ‘a pretty safe’ assumption to suggest that the royal family member was ‘concerned’ that Archie being ‘too brown’ was ‘a problem’. 

When asked if it was ‘important’ for Meghan that Archie be called a prince, she said she doesn’t have any attachment to the ‘grandeur’ official titles.

But she said it was about ‘the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.’ 

Prince Harry – who later joined his wife and Miss Winfrey for the last part of the interview – described the conversation as ‘awkward’, saying it left him ‘shocked’. 

But he said declined to reveal anything more about what was said, saying: ‘That conversation I’m never going to share.’ 

In the most anticipated royal interview in decades, Meghan and Harry also revealed: 

• Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, made Meghan cry ahead of the royal wedding – but ‘owned it’ and apologised;
• She described meeting the Queen for the first time and having to learn to curtsy  
• Meghan claims she was ‘naive’ when she joined the Royal Family – and never researched what it would be like, or Harry. She said that she was initially welcomed by the royals, but was later ‘silenced’ and felt trapped; 
• She described being cradled by Harry after feeling that she no longer wanted to live; Meghan claimed she begged for help from Palace but denied it because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’;
• The Sussexes choose to reveal the gender of their baby to Oprah; 

Oprah asked Meghan if Archie was denied the title of Prince because of he is mixed-race, asking if the palace had concerns Archie would be ‘too brown’.

Meghan said: ‘In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem, the conversation of “He won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title,” and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born’.

Oprah then interrupted and said: ‘Hold on. Hold up. Stop right now. There’s a conversation… about how dark your baby is going to be?’ 

Meghan replied: ‘Potentially, and what that would mean or look like’.

‘And you’re not going to tell me who had the conversation?’, Oprah asked. 

 Meghan replied: ‘I think that would be very damaging to them. That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him’.

Oprah asked if ? Are you saying that?

Meghan replied: ‘I wasn’t able to follow up with why, but if that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?’ 

Oprah then asked Prince Harry about the conversation, saying: ‘Well, what is particularly striking is what Meghan shared with us earlier, is that no one wants to admit that there’s anything about race or that race has played a role in the trolling and the vitriol, and yet Meghan shared with us that there was a conversation with you about Archie’s skin tone. 

‘What was that conversation? 

Prince Harry replied: ‘That conversation I’m never going to share, but at the time, it was awkward. 

‘I was a bit shocked.’

Oprah asked him if he can reveal what that question was.

Harry refused, saying: ‘I’m not comfortable with sharing that.’  

He added: ‘But 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 was not enough money to pay for her, and all this sort of stuff.

‘Like, there was some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard.’ 

Harry also used the interview to claim that ‘one of the most telling’ and ‘saddest’ parts of the Megxit saga was the fact that no royal family members called out ‘the colonial undertones’ of Meghan’s coverage in the media.

He added: ‘And that, that hurts.’

Oprah also asked Meghan about Archie not being given the title of prince.

Meghan said it was neither her nor Harry’s ‘decision to make’ and said it was palace officials who revealed Archie ‘wasn’t going to receive security’. 

When asked if it was ‘important’ for Meghan that Archie be called a prince, she said she doesn’t have any attachment to the ‘grandeur’ official titles.

But she said it was about ‘the idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be.’  

In the most extraordinary royal interview in decades, Meghan also revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry before she married Harry – but insists she has forgiven Kate who bought her flowers to apologise.

Ms Markle, who said she was ‘silenced’ by Buckingham Palace officials and felt lonely in London, she was asked about a row with Kate that made headlines around the world after a falling out over dresses for the flowergirls.

Harry and Meghan’s TV interview with Oprah Winfrey started in the US and began with Meghan Markle showing her growing ‘baby bump’ and revealed she and her husband will tell Oprah its gender on the show. The Sussexes also showed Oprah around their new mansion in LA, which has chickens.

Meghan then denied making Kate cry before her wedding in 2018 – and said the opposite had happened. Oprah asked the Duchess: ‘Was there a situation where she (Kate) might have cried? Or she could have cried?’

But the Duchess of Sussex replied: ‘No, no. The reverse happened. And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised.

‘And she brought me flowers and a note, apologising. And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.’ Meghan added that it was ‘shocking’ that the ‘reverse of that would be out in the world’.

She continued: ‘A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining – yes, the issue was correct – about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings.

‘And I thought, in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, that it didn’t make sense to not be just doing whatever– what everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.’

Meghan also said: ‘It wasn’t a confrontation, and I actually think it’s… I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that, because she apologised.

‘What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do but that happened to me. And the people who were part of our wedding were going to our comms team and saying: “I know this didn’t happen. I don’t have to tell them what actually happened”.’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s TV interview with Oprah Winfrey has started in the US and began with Meghan Markle showing her growing ‘baby bump’ and revealed she and her husband will reveal its gender on the show.

The Duchess of Sussex had claimed she entered the Royal Family ‘naively’ and didn’t do any research about her husband or the institution before entering it.

Describing meeting the Queen for the first time at Windsor and that she was shocked when she was told by Harry would need to curtsy to Her Majesty.

Meghan said: ‘That was when the penny dropped. We just practiced and then walked in. We went in and i met her and apparently I did a very deep curtsy, I don’t remember it. then we just sat there and chatted. I grew up in LA, I see celebrities all the time. it’s not the same. This is a completely different ball game’.

Ms Markle said she was welcomed by the royals, but then claimed it became more difficult in the run up to the wedding.

She said: ‘Everyone in my world was given very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating to always say “No comment.” That’s my friends, my mom and dad.

‘I did anything they told me to do. Of course I did, because it was also through the lens of “And we’ll protect you.” So, even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn’t see but my friends would call me and say, “Meg, this is really bad,” because I didn’t see it, I’d go, “Don’t worry. I’m being protected.”

‘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, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’

The couple’s decision to speak to the queen of US interviewers on CBS has caused a transatlantic row with Buckingham Palace after Meghan accused the royals of smearing them.

The Duchess of Sussex, who brokered the interview, has already accused ‘The Firm’ of ‘perpetuating falsehoods’ about her and Harry and said they refused to be ‘silenced’ any more.

The Sussexes have been branded ‘selfish’ and ‘disrespectful’ to go ahead with the shown when Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather Prince Philip is in hospital recovering from heart surgery.

The interview, expected to be viewed by tens of millions of people in the US and millions more around the globe, is considered the most important piece of royal TV since Harry’s mother spoke to the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995 after she separated from Prince Charles.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have today insisted that their Oprah interview would be the ‘last word’ on their rift with the Royal Family. The couple, who will have their second child later this year, said they felt they ‘needed to have their say’ but now want to ‘move on’.

Hours before the broadcast the Queen spoke to the UK in a TV address to mark Commonwealth Day, where Her Majesty stressed the importance of staying in touch with family and friends during the ‘testing times’ caused by coronavirus. In her speech, the Queen said: ‘We can all live a life of service. Service is universal’.

In audio, played over new footage of the 94-year-old sovereign walking past the flags of the ‘family of nations’ at Windsor Castle, the head of state referred to ‘friendship and a spirit of unity’ – all qualities currently absent from her relationship with her grandson.

She said the Commonwealth – which she had keenly hoped Harry and Meghan would play a significant role in before they quit – had shown throughout the pandemic ‘courage, commitment and selfless dedication to duty’.