Meghan Markle says she was ‘suicidal’ in bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry

2.5k

View
comments

Meghan Markle was tearful as she told Oprah Winfrey she was suicidal when she was pregnant and had warned Harry ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore’ in today’s bombshell CBS interview the couple also used to reveal they are having a daughter due this summer, Prince Charles cut them off and accused the Royal Family of racism.

Harry also revealed that his father stopped taking his calls after they decided to quit while his wife said an unnamed member of her husband’s family was ‘worried’ about how ‘dark’ their son Archie’s skin would be when he was born. 

The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah said she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and that her husband had ‘cradled’ her as she told him she her suicidal thoughts at their cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle in January 2019, when she was around five months pregnant – but said the palace refused to help.

In the extraordinary two-hour tell-all watched by tens of millions of people around the world, the Sussexes also revealed they were already planning ‘Megxit’ just six months after they married in May 2018 and Meghan compared life in Kensington Palace to lockdown in the Covid world today. Harry said his father and brother were ‘trapped’ and so was he until Meghan ‘saved me’, he said.

Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said: ‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember– I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere”. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’. 

She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall, claiming photos from the event ‘haunt me’, and said she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, because she felt unsupported.

The Duke of Sussex also said his family had ‘cut him off’ financially in early 2020, claiming that they had to sign multi-million dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify because he was relying on spending his inheritance from Princess Diana. 

In the biggest royal interview for decades, they revealed they are expecting a baby girl, but Meghan claimed Harry’s family were worried about how ‘dark’ their son Archie’s skin would be. Harry also accused the family of failing to ‘show support’ for his wife when she suffered racism, and said he was ‘trapped’ in the Royal Family until he met Meghan, who he said had ‘saved me’. He said: ‘My father and brother. They’re both trapped. They don’t get to leave’. He added that his mother Diana would be ‘angry and sad’ that he felt he had to leave the royal family, but ‘she saw it coming’. Harry said: ‘All she’d ever want for us is to be happy’.

Asked about his relationship with Prince Charles, Harry said they were now speaking, adding: ‘There’s a lot to work through there, you know? I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson. I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship’.

Harry also said the couple left because of the media in Britain and because of a ‘lack of support and lack of understanding’ from his family, and revealed that his father refused to speak to him after they left for Vancouver. And in a sign that his relationship with his brother William is strained, claiming he ‘didn’t have anyone to turn to’ and was ‘ashamed’ to admit his wife struggling.

He said: ‘I love William to bits. He’s my brother. We’ve been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But we’re on different paths’. Harry added: ‘My family literally cut me off financially. Members of my family were suggesting that she [Meghan] carries on acting, because there was not enough money to pay for her. There was some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard’.

Meghan also revealed that Kate Middleton made her cry before she married Harry in a row over flowergirls’ dresses, and claims she called the Queen when she heard Prince Philip was admitted to hospital almost three weeks ago.

In the sensational interview she also accused 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 him the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect their son Archie 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. 

When Oprah asked if she was denied the title because of he is mixed-race, Oprah asked 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. To which 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’. 

Much of the two-hour show was about the Royal Family, but there was no mention of Meghan’s rift with her father and a brief mention of her mother Doria.

As Oprah wrapped up the interview the couple insisted that they had had a ‘happy ending’ by moving to LA, with Harry saying he had ‘no regrets’. But his wife added: ‘My regret is believing them [the Royal Family] when they said I’d be protected.’

Meghan then called their journey ‘greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read’ and said Harry had saved her life. Harry replied: ‘Without question, she [Meghan] saved me.’

In the most anticipated royal interview in decades, speaking to Oprah, Meghan and Harry: 

• Choose to reveal the gender of their baby to Oprah – a girl due this summer – and said they married secretly three says early;
• Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, made Meghan cry ahead of the royal wedding – but ‘owned it’ and apologised, according to her sister-in-law;
• Meghan described meeting the Queen for the first time and having to learn to curtsy. Harry and Meghan say they speak to her regularly on Zoom;
• Duchess 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 said officials had ‘lied’ to protect other royals instead of them;
• Meghan claims a member of Harry’s family was ‘worried’ about Archie’s skin colour. Harry was asked about it and refused to say who it was; 
• 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’; 
• Harry says his family failed to ‘support’ and ‘understand’ them and reveals Charles stopped speaking to him;
• Couple show of the hens they rescued from a factory farm for Archie’s Chick Inn as Meghan says they want to ‘live authentically’ in their LA mansion;
• Harry says he is ‘hurt’ but ‘completely respects’ Queen’s decision to strip couple of all their patronages, but says he has ‘no regrets’ about their decision saying: ‘I’m really proud of us’. 
• But Meghan said: ‘My regret is believing them when they said I’d be protected.’ 

In the most extraordinary royal interview in decades, Meghan also revealed in her Oprah interview 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 has 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’.   

‘It’s a GIRL!’ Harry and Meghan reveal the sex of their second child as they confirm their family is now ‘done’ and tell Oprah: ‘Two is it’

Meghan and Harry revealed their second child is a girl and is due to be born this summer, during their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview.

The pair said they are preparing to welcome a sister for their 22-month-old son Archie later this year.

Harry joined his wife for the second half of the bombshell interview on CBS with Oprah, and excitedly told the chat show host: ‘It’s a girl.’

He said his first thought was ‘amazing’ when he learned they were having a girl, adding: ‘Just grateful. To have any child, any one or any two, would have been amazing.

‘But to have a boy and then a girl, I mean what more can you ask for? Now we’ve got our family, we got the four of us and our two dogs.’

Asked if they were ‘done’ with two children, Harry said ‘done’ and Meghan said: ‘Two is it.’ She also confirmed the baby is due in the ‘summertime’. 

Kate made ME cry: Meghan denies making Duchess of Cambridge cry and says bust-up with her sister-in-law over flowergirls made HER cry in the run-up to her wedding but she has forgiven her

Meghan claimed that the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry before she married Prince Harry.

But the Duchess of Sussex also insisted that she has now forgiven Kate Middleton and said she bought her flowers to apologise about the incident.

Meghan was asked about a row with Prince William’s wife that made headlines around the world after a falling out over dresses for the flowergirls.

Meghan then denied making Kate, also 39, cry before her wedding, which took place at Windsor Castle in May 2018, and said the opposite had happened.

Oprah asked Meghan: ‘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 everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.’  

Meghan Markle reveals Sarah Ferguson taught her how to curtsy outside Royal Lodge before she met the Queen for the first time – and admits it was ‘very deep’ 

Meghan Markle had no idea she had to curtsy to the Queen and was taught by Sarah Ferguson outside Royal Lodge moments before meeting Her Majesty for the first time.

The Duchess claimed she ‘never looked up her husband online’ when they first started dating and knew little about the British Royal Family growing up.

She told how she first met Prince Harry’s grandmother in a very informal manner at Royal Lodge, the Yorks’ home in Windsor, but was stunned when her husband revealed during the car journey there that she was expected to curtsy.

Meghan said that was the moment ‘the penny dropped’ that her perception about the Firm was ‘very different’ to the reality, and she had to learn how to perform the royal custom ‘very quickly’.

‘Right in front of the house we practised and ran in. Fergie ran out and said, ‘Do you know how to curtsy?’ she recalled.

‘Apparently I did a very deep curtsy, I don’t remember it, and then we sat there and we chatted. I grew up in LA, I see celebrities all the time. it’s not the same. This is a completely different ball game.’

She added: ‘Thank God I didn’t know about the family, thank god I didn’t research, I would have been so in my head about it.’

Fergie – as Meghan referred to the Duchess of York – is renowned for her trademark deep curtsies to Her Majesty. 

Meghan makes sensational claim that Royals banned Archie from being a Prince because of concerns over how ‘dark’ he would be and told her he would get no police protection, in incredible Oprah interview 

Meghan Markle accused 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 also described her ‘pain’ that officials had denied him the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect their son Archie 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 said it was ‘a pretty safe’ assumption to suggest that the royal family member was ‘concerned’ that Archie being ‘too brown’ was ‘a problem’.

When Oprah asked if she was denied the title because of he is mixed-race, Oprah asked 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?’  

Harry and Meghan reveal they secretly got married three days BEFORE their royal wedding – admitting they exchanged personal vows in a private backyard ceremony with Archbishop of Canterbury and NO guests

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were secretly married three days before they tied the knot in front of the world, with the couple revealing that they held a private ‘union’ in their backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury and no guests.

Meghan described the royal wedding on May 19 as a ‘spectacle for the world’, revealing that she and Harry, 36, exchanged personal vows that they now have framed in their home.

‘You know, three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that,’ she admitted.

Meghan went on to reveal that she and Harry phoned the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby – who performed the ceremony at their official wedding – and asked him to marry them in private days before the event that was watched by millions around the world.

‘We called the Archbishop and we just said, ‘Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world but we want our union between us,’ she said.

The couple revealed that they exchanged personal vows during their private backyard ceremony, which they now have framed in the bedroom of their $14.5 million Montecito mansion.

‘So, like, the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury,’ she continued.

Harry then jokingly interjected by singing: ‘Just the three of us, just the three of us.’

The couple had no guests or spectators at their private wedding – and it is unclear whether anyone in the royal family knew that the secret ceremony had taken place.

At the time, Harry and Meghan were living in a private home in the grounds of Kensington Palace, Nottingham Cottage, which is where they got engaged.

Prince Harry says he ‘HAD’ to make a lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify after being CUT OFF by royals, insisting he needed money to ‘pay for security’ – as he and Meghan admit they’ve ‘watched some of’ The Crown 

Harry and Meghan claimed that they ‘had no plan’ to ink multi-million-dollar deals with the ‘streamers’ when they first quit the royal family, but said that they were forced to find ways of making money when the royal family cut Prince Harry off, and took away his security.

Insisting that their deals with Netflix and Spotify – which are believed to be worth upwards of $100 million – were ‘never part of the plan’, Harry said: ‘We didn’t have a plan. That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.’

The Duke of Sussex revealed that his family stopped all financial support in the ‘first quarter of 2020’, likely soon after Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping down as working royals, adding that had he not had the money that had been left to him by his mother Princess Diana, the couple would not have been able to afford to move to the US.

‘I’ve got what my mum left me, and without that, we would not have been able to do this,’ he said.

‘During COVID, the suggestion by a friend was, “What about streamers?”‘ Harry continued, while Meghan added: ‘We genuinely hadn’t thought about it before.’

‘We hadn’t thought about it,’ Harry continued. ‘So, there were all sorts of different options. And look, from my perspective, all I needed was enough money to be able to pay for security to keep my family safe.’ 

When asked about controversial series The Crown – which Harry defended during an interview with James Corden last month – the couple revealed that they ‘have watched some of’ the show, but gave little other hints about their feelings over it.

However they hinted that they have seen some of the most recent episodes, which focus primarily on Harry’s parents, including Diana’s battle with bulimia and her very turbulent relationship with Charles, with Oprah asking specifically about the show’s depiction of Prince Charles and Diana’s tour of Australia in 1983.

In the series, Charles is portrayed as growing jealous of Diana’s rising popularity during the trip, something that Harry suggested was echoed when he and Meghan visited the country themselves in 2018, hinting that the Duchess faced envy from other members of his family.

‘You know, my father, my brother, Kate and and all the rest of the family, they were really welcoming,’ he said of his wife’s introduction into the royal family. ‘But it really changed after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour.’

He continued: ‘It was the first time that the family got to see how incredible [Meghan] is at the job.’

Prince Harry admits he is ‘hurt’ by the Queen removing his royal patronages but insists he ‘completely respects’ her decision 

Prince Harry said he was ‘hurt’ by the Queen’s decision to remove his royal patronages and honorary titles, but insisted he ‘completely respects’ her decision.

The Duke of Sussex said he would ‘still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role’.

The interview was filmed before Buckingham Palace announced on February 19 that Harry and his wife Meghan Markle would lose all their remaining royal titles.

Oprah asked Harry about the decision which was ‘coming up at the end of this month’, and he said it would be that ‘they will be removing everything’.

Harry replied: ‘I am hurt. But at the same time, I completely respect my grandmother’s decision.

‘I would still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role.

Oprah also asked the couple: ‘Could you be as satisfied now, doing this through your own organisation, Archewell?’

And Meghan replied: ‘Well, we… this is what we’re doing, right? We’re still doing it. We’re still going to always do the work.

‘But I also think it’s important for you or everyone to know this decision that was made about patronages and all of that was before anyone knew that we were sitting down with you.’

Oprah added: ‘I heard a story that you’re getting punished now. Those were being taken away because you did sit down with me.’

But Meghan said: Those letters, those conversations, that was finalised before anyone even knew that we were going to sit down. So, that’s just not true.’

‘It’s better than any fairy tale’: Meghan hails her ‘happy ending’ with Harry and Archie in California after revealing that life as a senior royal left her suicidal

Meghan hailed her ‘happy ending’ with Prince Harry and Archie now the family are in California – calling their escape from the UK ‘better than any fairy tale’.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they are ‘thriving’ in the US after having ‘been through a lot’ during their time as senior royals.

Meghan hit nerves across the world in 2019 when she said ‘it is not enough to just survive something’ and instead ‘you’ve got to thrive and feel happy’ when speaking about her struggles with life in the Firm.

And now, the duchess said she, Harry and Archie are ‘on the other side’ and circled back to her earlier comments, triumphantly declaring ‘we’ve actually not just survived but are thriving’.

But it their joy followed hardship, with Meghan revealing she was suicidal when she was pregnant and had warned Harry ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore’.

Harry also revealed that his father Prince Charles stopped taking his calls after they decided to quit while his wife said an unnamed member of Harry’s family was ‘worried’ about how ‘dark’ their son Archie’s skin would be when he was born.

But Meghan said: ‘Now, because we’re actually on the other side, we’ve actually not just survived but are thriving.

‘I mean, this is miracles. I think that all of those things that I was hoping for have happened, and this is in some ways just the beginning for us. You know, we’ve been through a lot. It’s felt like a lifetime. A lifetime.’

Oprah asked: ‘So, your story with the prince does have a happy ending?

Meghan replied: ‘It does.’   

‘The Palace lied about me to protect other royals’: Meghan tells Oprah she was ‘silenced’ and says officials failed to protect her and ‘were willing to lie to protect other members of the family’ 

Meghan said Palace officials failed to protect her and ‘were willing to lie to protect other members of the Royal family.’ 

She opened up about life in ‘The Firm’ and the struggles she faced adjusting to life in the Royal family.

She revealed she was ‘silenced’ by Buckingham Palace officials, who told her to always answer ‘no comment’, adding, ‘because it was also through the lens of ‘And we’ll protect you.’

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

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

She said: ‘I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.’

Oprah asked, ‘Were you silent? Or were you silenced?’

Meghan replied: ‘The latter.’

Oprah said: ‘So, how does that work? Were you told by the comms people or the– I don’t know– the institution, the– were– were you told to keep silent? Were you– were you told to say nothing?’

Meghan told her: ‘Everyone from– 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. And we did. 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.

‘I believed that. And– and I think that was– that was really hard to reconcile because it was only– 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, but they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.’

The Queen was ‘wonderful’ to me: Meghan Markle reveals monarch gave her ‘beautiful’ pearl earrings and asked her on a royal trip to share a blanket which sits across her knees for warmth

Meghan praised the Queen saying she had been ‘wonderful’ to her and had once asked her to share a blanket which sits across her knees for warmth.

The Duchess also said the monarch had given her some ‘beautiful’ pearl earrings and a matching necklace.

Meghan went on her first trip with the Queen on the royal train to Cheshire in June 2018, a month after her wedding, which saw them open a bridge and visit a theatre.

She told Oprah: ‘The Queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me. I mean, we had one of our first joint engagements together. She asked me to join her.

‘We had breakfast together that morning, and she’d given me a beautiful gift, and I just really loved being in her company. And I remember we were in the car.’

Oprah asked her what the gift was, and Meghan replied: ‘She gave me some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace.

‘We were in the car going between engagements, and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth.

‘And it was chilly, and she was like, ‘Meghan, come on,’ and put it over my knees, as well.’ Oprah replied ‘nice’.

And Meghan continued: ‘Right? Just moments of… and it made me think of my grandmother where she’s always been warm and inviting and really welcoming.’

Queen stresses importance of ‘friendship and unity’ as she is joined by Kate, William and other senior royals for Commonwealth Day message hours before Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview airs

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’.

In a show of solidarity she was backed by her son Prince Charles and Prince William and Kate, who praised the bravery and selflessness of health workers during the pandemic.

Harry is said to want to concentrate on his relationship with Prince William, which has been under strain since the Sussexes quit the UK for Los Angeles.

The brothers will have to display a united front when they unveil a statue in honour of their mother Princess Diana in London later this year.

The Duke of Sussex and Duke of Cambridge will reunite once more as they unveil the commissioned statue of their mother at Kensington Palace on July 1 on what would have been her 60th birthday. Meghan is not expected to attend. 

Meghan and Harry’s interview has sparked the biggest crisis faced by the Royal Family since Princess Diana gave her infamous interview to Martin Bashir in 1995.  During the Panorama exclusive, the princess famously said: ‘There were three of us in this marriage’ when asked about Camilla Parker-Bowles.  

The build up to two-hour interview, which aired overnight, sparked a toxic transatlantic war of words between supporters of the Sussexes and defenders of the British monarchy. 

With the gloves now off, pitting Windsor v Windsor, palace sources last night said they were refusing to be goaded into a ‘tit for tat’ with the Sussexes.

‘We are just not going to get drawn into the circus that is being created around this media interview,’ said one. ‘It helps no-one.’

Senior royals sources have made clear to the Mail that it is the Sussexes who have declared war on the palace, not the other way round.

A palace insider said the feeling was that courtiers ‘couldn’t have done any more for the couple than they did.’ ‘Not everything was handled brilliantly,’ said one. ‘But they were supported and given everything they demanded. And certainly nothing was done that warrants this. 

In extracts of the Oprah Winfrey interview released over the last few days, Meghan has criticised the constraints she faced as a working royal, and said it was ‘liberating’ to be able to ‘say yes’ to a request for an interview with the US chat show host. 

Prior to the interview’s broadcast, the Duchess of Sussex claimed royal aides blocked her from having a personal conversation with Oprah Winfrey in the months leading up to her wedding to Prince Harry.

Oprah revealed she called Meghan in February or March 2018 – two or three months before the royal wedding at Windsor Castle in May that year – to ask for an interview, but she declined because it was not ‘the right time’.

The Duchess said she remembered this talk with the US chat show queen ‘very well’ and ‘wasn’t even allowed to have this conversation with you personally’ because there had to be other people in the same room. 

Last week the Sussexes were urged to postpone their tell-all interview with Oprah after Prince Philip had major surgery after more than a fortnight in hospital.

Harry’s grandfather had the operation at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London – Britain’s top heart hospital – after being transferred there from the private King Edward VII Hospital in Marylebone where he was being treated for an infection.  

It came as a new clip released ahead of Harry and Meghan’s interview showed the Duchess of Sussex accusing The Firm of ‘perpetuating falsehoods about us.’ 

She said: ‘I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.’

The Duchess added: ‘And, if that comes with risk of losing things, there is a lot that has been lost already.’  

Meghan’s views on ‘The Firm’ came as Buckingham Palace announced they will launch an investigation into allegations that Markle bullied royal aides. The Sussexes deny bullying and claimed they were smeared.

The Queen launched the unprecedented inquiry into allegations that Meghan and Harry bullied their staff – leaving royal employees ‘shaken’ by ‘unhappy memories’ being brought up about a ‘toxic period’.

Devastating claims that the Duchess of Sussex inflicted ’emotional cruelty’ on underlings and ‘drove them out’ were ‘very’ concerning, Buckingham Palace said.

But as the bitter fallout surrounding the tell-all interview continues, the Duke of Sussex reportedly considers the unveiling of his mother’s statue ‘a priority’, a source told The Telegraph.  

A friend told the paper: ‘It was something they felt they wanted and needed to do but now they have done it, they feel a line has been drawn under that chapter of their lives and they want to move on.’ 

However there is still uncertainty about whether the Duke will also attend other upcoming events such as the Trooping the Colour on June 12 or the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday on June 10 due to arrival of his second child this summer.

The statue which is due to be unveiled was commissioned to mark the twentieth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world.

It will be installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace on July 1 to mark The Princess’s 60th birthday. 

Prince William has barely spoken to his brother in recent months and their relationship is said to be ‘hanging by a thread’ – although Prince Charles is understood to have tried not to get involved.  

Meghan and Harry’s interview has sparked the biggest crisis faced by the Royal Family since Princess Diana gave her infamous interview to Martin Bashir in 1995. 

During the Panorama exclusive, the princess famously said: ‘There were three of us in this marriage’ when asked about Camilla Parker-Bowles. 

While mounting pressure has been put on Meghan and Harry to push back the much-anticipated interview, a friend of the Sussexes told DailyMail.com that calls were an ‘excuse by the palace to keep her muzzled’. 

The source said: ‘Even if Meghan had the choice to postpone the Oprah special she said she wouldn’t because it has absolutely nothing to do with Prince Philip and that this is just an excuse by the palace to keep her muzzled.’ 

Reports have claimed Meghan could expose insider details of her supposed rift with the Duchess of Cambridge, but an Oprah interview source has insisted Meghan has nothing but ‘kind words’ to say about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  

Last week the Queen launched an unprecedented inquiry into allegations that Meghan and Harry bullied their staff – leaving royal employees ‘shaken’ by ‘unhappy memories’ being brought up about a ‘toxic period’ before the couple emigrated. 

The Duchess of Sussex is accused of ‘driving out’ two PAs and shattering the confidence of another member of Kensington Palace staff – with one former aide branding Prince Harry and his wife ‘outrageous bullies’ in The Times on Wednesday.

It also claimed the monarchy’s ‘men in gray suits’ were aware of the purported actions of the duchess – but did ‘absolutely nothing to protect people’. 

Meghan has denied the allegations and accused the newspaper of being ‘used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative’ about her. 

Royal officials initially refused to comment, with sources telling MailOnline that aides and senior family members are focused on Prince Philip’s health problems in hospital.

But on Wednesday night, the Palace confirmed that its HR team will ‘look into’ the allegations, saying it ‘does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace’.

A  spokesperson said: ‘We are clearly very concerned about allegations in The Times following claims made by former staff of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.  

‘Accordingly our HR team will look into the circumstances outlined in the article.

‘Members of staff involved at the time, including those who have left the Household, will be invited to participate to see if lessons can be learned.  

‘The Royal Household has had a Dignity at Work policy in place for a number of years and does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace.’ 

A royal source told the Daily Mail last night that the emergence of the bullying claims yesterday had ‘shaken’ many staff, both past and present, and brought up ‘many unhappy memories’ about a particularly ‘toxic period’. 

There is no timetable to the investigation but it is understood that any changes in policies and procedures will be shared publicly in an annual review expected later in the year. 

Meghan said The Times is being ‘used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative based on misleading and harmful misinformation’ about her treatment of staff after former aides accused her of ’emotional cruelty and manipulation’, reducing them to tears and leaving them ‘shaking’ with fear.

Her lawyers said the former actress was ‘saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma’. 

Jason Knauf – the Sussexes’ then communications secretary who now heads the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s charitable foundation – made a bullying complaint in October 2018 in an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to protect staff.

A source told the newspaper Harry begged his senior aide not to take the matter further, but it also reported lawyers for the duke and duchess deny the meeting took place and that Harry would not have interfered with staff matters.

Knauf reportedly sent an email outlining the duchess’s alleged actions to Simon Case – the Duke of Cambridge’s then private secretary and now the cabinet secretary – after conversations with Samantha Carruthers, the head of human resources. 

Case then forwarded it to Carruthers, who was based at Clarence House. 

The Times reported Knauf wrote in his email: ‘I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable.

‘The duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. 

‘She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. 

‘We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y.’ 

Knauf also made clear he was concerned nothing had been done, or would be done in future, to protect palace staff. 

He said Carruthers ‘agreed with me on all counts that the situation was very serious’, but added: ‘I remain concerned that nothing will be done’. 

Melissa Touabti, the second of Meghan’s personal assistants to leave, departed six months after the royal wedding after she ended up in tears, according to reports.

Lawyers for the duke and duchess said the Sussexes believed staff to be comfortable and happy.  

The article came as ITV1 confirmed the ViacomCBS show, called Oprah With Meghan and Harry, will be broadcast in the UK between 9pm and 11pm on Monday night, almost 24 hours after it is shown in the United States. 

Staff told The Times they have spoken out to give their story before the couple’s tell-all interview, claiming that when Meghan was urged to support palace staff she replied: ‘It’s not my job to coddle people.’ 

It is also claimed that the couple’s treatment of aides worried Harry’s brother William so much, because some staff were shared, that he and his most senior advisor, Case, hastened the split between the Sussex and the Cambridge households and the destruction of their joint foundation. 

Other extraordinary revelations in The Times include claims Meghan wore a pair of £500,000 diamond earrings to a dinner in Fiji in 2018 that were a wedding gift from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, three weeks after the US claims he approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

And in a further twist Markle, a campaigner for women’s rights, told aides they were borrowed from a jeweler, rather than a present from a regime known for human rights abuses and the oppression of women. 

Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex have told The Times that she may have stated they were borrowed, but did not say they were borrowed from a jeweler – and denied that she had misled anyone about their provenance. 

The newspaper claims that on the same official tour the duchess was seen being ushered out of an official engagement to a local market due to apparent security concerns. 

In fact, it says, Meghan had cut short the visit because she had ‘reservations’ about the organization UN Women, which had an involvement in the event. 

Daily Mail Royal Editor witnessed the aftermath and wrote today: ‘I was there at the time and witnessed Meghan turn and ‘hiss’ at a member of her entourage, clearly incandescent with rage about something, and demand to leave.

‘I later saw that same – female – highly distressed member of staff sitting in an official car, with tears running down her face. Our eyes met and she lowered hers, humiliation etched on her features’. 

Describing life working for Meghan and Harry, aides have claimed they ‘bent over backwards’ to help her when she arrived after the couple became engaged in 2017.

A source told The Times: ‘Everyone knew that the institution would be judged by her happiness’.

According to the Times their sources say two ‘senior’ members of royal staff were bullied by the duchess. An ex-employee alleged they had been ‘humiliated’.

Another aide described the experience of working for the Sussexes as ‘more like emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying’.

Staff claimed they had occasion been reduced to tears after dealings with Meghan and one aide told a colleague ‘I can’t stop shaking’ as they anticipated a row with the duchess. 

Meghan’s lawyers vehemently deny she is a bully and said that one person had left the job because of misconduct. The Times said it could not corroborate that claim before publication last night.

The Mail also approached a spokesman for the Sussexes for comment. 

The Times said it was contacted by sources who felt a ‘partial version’ had emerged of Meghan’s two years as a working royal.

It makes clear they wished to tell their side in advance of Sunday’s ‘tell all’ television interview, which is likely to make uncomfortable viewing for Buckingham Palace. 

A spokesman for the Sussexes said in a statement to The Times: ‘Let’s just call this what it is – a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation’.

Insiders told The Times that despite Knauf’s intervention nothing was done to investigate the situation or to protect staff from bullying from senior royals in the future.

One source told The Times: ‘I think the problem is, not much happened with it. It was, ‘How can we make this go away?’, rather than addressing it’.

It comes as the Charity Commission said it was reviewing Harry and Meghan’s charity amid concerns about how it was run and whether it complied with charity law before it was shut down last year following their move to the US. 

Sources told the Telegraph the charity watchdog had opened a ‘regulatory and compliance case’ into Sussex Royal, though the watchdog has not yet determined whether or not there was any wrongdoing. 

Earlier today the Queen stressed the importance of staying in touch with family and friends during ‘testing times’ in a joint message for Commonwealth Day with other senior royals – broadcast on television just hours ahead of the Sussexes’ Oprah interview. 

The Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined forces to appear in the special BBC One programme on Sunday to mark Commonwealth Day, as the bitter fallout from Megxit continued.

Presented by Anita Rani, A Celebration of Commonwealth Day featured music and entertainment from groups across the Commonwealth as well as messages from members of the royal family. 

The bulk of the programme was filmed inside the Abbey and featured prayers by the Dean of Westminster. 

The Queen donned the same brooch she wore on her honeymoon in a touching tribute to Prince Philip as she addressed the nation for Commonwealth Day. 

The programme opened with footage taken last week of the Queen walking down an avenue of Commonwealth flags in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle, where Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception was held. 

Her audio message celebrated collaboration, but stood in contrast to the troubles facing the royal family.

Focusing on the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the monarch spoke of using technology that ‘transcends boundaries or division’ and how there has been a ‘deeper appreciation’ of the need to connect to others during the Covid-19 crisis.

She also praised the ‘selfless dedication to duty’ seen across the Commonwealth, particularly on the front line.  

The message, pre-recorded at Windsor, was accompanied by new footage of the Queen filmed last week at the castle, where she has been staying in lockdown. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were also seen hailing the ‘amazing work’ of key workers and frontline NHS staff throughout the coronavirus crises during a video conversation with three charity workers.

William and Kate were filmed making video calls to medical, charity and voluntary staff in South Africa, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

The Duchess of Cambridge also said it was ‘sad, almost’ how it has taken a pandemic for the public to ‘really back and support all those working on the front line’.

Kate and William chatted in a video call with Dr Zolelwa Sifumba, from South Africa, an advocate for the rights of healthcare workers on the front line.

The duchess told the medic: ‘Here in the UK there’s been masses of public recognition of the amazing work the front line are doing and it’s sad, almost, that it’s taken the pandemic for the public to really back and support all those working on the front line.’

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – were pictured last year joining in the weekly applause for frontline workers during the early part of the pandemic. 

William added: ‘We, Catherine and I, have spoken to a lot of healthcare workers in UK and around the world over the last year – we hear your worries and your concerns and thank you for your time chatting to us about it.’