Meghan and Prince Harry lift lid on royal rift in Oprah Winfrey interview

In a wide-ranging interview aired on Sunday, Harry and Meghan described painful discussions about the colour of their son’s skin, losing royal protection and the intense pressures that led the Duchess of Sussex to contemplate suicide.

The interview with Oprah Winfrey was the couple’s first since they stepped down from royal duties and the two-hour special included numerous revelations.

Harry told Winfrey that he felt trapped by royal life and was surprised that he was cut off financially and lost his security last year. He also said he felt his family did not support Meghan, who acknowledged her naiveties about royal life before marrying Harry, as she endured media attacks and false stories.

Meghan, who is biracial, described that when she was first pregnant with son Archie, there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”. The statement led Winfrey to ask “What?” incredulously and sit in silence for a moment.

Winfrey on Monday sought to clarify that neither the queen nor her husband Philip were part of that conversation about Archie’s skin.

Harry would not reveal who had raised the concerns, Winfrey told CBS on Monday, 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 a part of those conversations”.