The Biggest Revelations from Oprah's Interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

From Seventeen

"I just want to make it clear to everybody: There's no subject that’s off limits," Oprah said in the preview for her highly-anticipated, sit-down interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

And, boy, was that case. During the two-hour long conversation, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened up about everything from the sex of their new baby, to the rumored rift between Meghan and her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, to their mental health and Meghan's relationship with the queen.

In case you missed any moment of the incredibly revealing interview, here are the biggest revelations.

Harry and Meghan were not paid for their interview with Oprah.

One of the first things Oprah made clear before diving into any of questions: That Meghan and Harry were not getting paid for the interview. "Correct," Meghan responded.

Harry revealed that the queen doesn't always get to make her own decisions.

In an exclusive clip the the following morning on CBS This Morning, Harry recalled being asked by the Queen to come visit Sandringham after returning to the UK. However, when they did return to the UK, they were told a different message: "I got a message from my private secretary cutting and pasting a message from the queen’s private secretary basically saying please pass onto the duke and duchess of Sussex that they cannot come to Norfolk, the queen is busy all week.”

Harry confirmed that with the Queen who said something had come up that she didn't know she had, which prompted Oprah to ask: "Doesn’t the queen get to do what the queen wants to do?"

"No, when you’re head of the firm, there are people around you that give you advice and what has also made me really sad is that some of that advice has been really bad," Harry responded.

Harry and Meghan had a secret wedding before their actual wedding.

On May 19, 2018, Harry and Meghan tied the knot in front of millions of people worldwide—but it wasn't the first time they said "I do." Three days earlier, she and Harry had secretly been married in a backyard ceremony officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. "We called the Archbishop and we just said, 'Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world," Meghan revealed. "But we want our union between us.'"

Not only were the nuptials incredibly intimate—it was just Harry, Meghan, and the Archbishop—but they also used a set of vows (which were different from the ones that were televised), which are now framed in their home.

They're expecting a baby girl.

Prior to the interview, fans suspected that a pink sapphire cocktail ring Meghan wore during a recent appearance might have been a hint that the couple was expecting a girl. And as it turns out, they were right. "To have any child would've been amazing," Harry said after revealing the news to Oprah. "But to have a boy and a girl, what more could you ask for?"

Additionally, the couple confirmed that this would indeed be their last child, which aligns with previous comments Harry has made about the topic. "Two is it," they said.

Meghan admitted at one point, "I didn't want to be alive anymore."

Looking back on what was perhaps the darkest moments of her time as a royal, Meghan revealed that she was having suicidal thoughts, which she expressed to a senior aide. "I was ashamed to say it at the time, and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially because I know how much loss he's suffered," Meghan said. "But I knew that if I didn't say it, then I would do it. I just didn't want to be alive anymore. That was clear and real and frightening and constant thought." She added: "I thought it would have solved everything for everyone."

Before a January 2019 outing to an event at the Royal Albert Hall, she revealed, "I remember him saying, 'I don't think you can go,' and I said, 'I can't be left alone.'" Looking back on photos from the night, she added: "what I see is how tightly his knuckles are gripped around mine. We are smiling and doing our job, but we are both just trying to hold on."

But when she when she looked for help within “the institution” of the monarchy, she was told she couldn't get any. "I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because 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 alluded to the idea that the reason Archie didn't receive the title of prince might be because of his race.

Despite reports that Harry and Meghan had intentionally opted for Archie to forego a royal title, Meghan said it was actually the opposite: The decision was made for them. "It was not our decision to make," Markle said.

While the couple still doesn't know exactly why Archie didn't receive a title, they alluded to the fact that it might have had to do with Archie's race and the potential color of his skin. "There [were] conversations with Harry about how dark your baby is going to be and what that would mean or look like," Meghan said.

Oprah followed up: "They were concerned that if he were too brown that would be a problem?" Markle responded, "I wasn't able to follow up. If that's the assumption you're making...that would be a safe one."

However, Markle emphasized that the titles, in the end, are not her concern. She was more worried about the safety of her child, adding that he wouldn't be given security detail without the HRH. "All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment I don't have. I've been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess. I'm clear on who I am independent of that stuff. The most important title I will ever have is 'Mom,'" she said.

And Meghan implied she was "silenced" by the royal family.

If you watched the previews for the interview, you already know one of Oprah's most pointed questions: "Were you silent or silenced?" The answer? "The latter," Meghan said, adding that she (and her friends and family members) initially followed directions to always respond "no comment," believing that she would be protected by the royal family. "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," Meghan said. "They weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband."

Harry's father, Prince Charles, stopped taking his calls amid conversations about stepping back as senior royals.

Despite reports that claimed Harry and Meghan's decision to step back from their duties as senior royals blindsided the queen (and other members of the royal family), Harry insisted that wasn't the case: "I would never do that to my grandmother. I have too much respect for her," he said. "My grandmother had been welcoming throughout." In fact, Harry said he had multiple conversations with family members, before his father, Prince Charles, “stopped taking [his] calls.” While Harry later confirmed that the two are once again speaking, the relationship remained fractured. "I feel really let down," Harry said. "He's been through something similar. He knows what pain feels like. 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."

Prince Harry said the royal family "literally cut me off financially."

The couple's original intention was to move to a commonwealth nation and retain their royal titles, but not in a senior capacity. Ultimately, they were cut off financially from the royal family and their official security was removed. "The Netflix and the Spotify of it all weren't part of the plan," Harry said, explaining that happened after they were cut off financially.

He revealed that they are living off of money that his mother, Princess Diana, left him. "Without that, we wouldn't have been able to do this," he said, implying their relocation to California was made possible thanks to those funds. Harry said that his mom "would feel very angry with how this has panned out, and very sad, but ultimately all she’d ever want is for us to be happy."

Meghan cleared up rumors about her reported feud with Kate Middleton.

In a widely-reported story from 2018, it was alleged that Meghan had made Kate cry during Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress fitting.

However, Meghan said, "The reverse happened." She explained, "A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something—yes, the issue was correct, about the flower girl dresses—and it made me cry and it really hurt my feelings."

But in the months after, it wasn't Kate that she was upset with. In fact, according to Meghan, Kate "brought me flowers and a note apologizing, which is what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone...to just take accountability for it."

Instead, Meghan says she was unable to set the record straight—even when multiple wedding guests asked her comms team if they could go on record to dispute the story for her. "Everyone in the institution knew it wasn't true," Meghan told Oprah, who countered with the question: "So why didn't somebody just say that?" Meghan said: "That's a good question."

"They really seem to want a narrative of a hero and a villain," Meghan said. "She's a good person. So much of what I have seen play out is this idea of polarity where if you love me, you don't have to hate her. And if you love her, you don't need to hate me."

Meghan had to learn to curtsy just moments before her first meeting with the queen.

While Meghan and Harry were dating, they happened to be in the vicinity of Windsor where the queen was attending a church service, and Harry suggested that Meghan meet his grandmother. On the car ride, Harry asked Meghan if she knew how to curtsy—which Meghan soon realized was not just a public formality.

Outside of the church, Markle practiced curtsying with Harry and his relatives. "Fergie ran out and asked, are you ready?" she recalled. "I apparently did a very deep curtsy, and then we just sat there and we chatted. It was lovely and easy," she said. Meghan added that the queen "has always been wonderful to me. I've loved being in her company," explaining that the queen reminds her of her own grandmother. "She's always been warm, welcoming, and inviting."

Harry admitted that his relationship with his brother, Prince William, is strained.

Harry shared that during his time working as a senior royal he often felt “trapped within the system.” And while he now feels free, he said: “My father and my brother are trapped. They don’t get to leave.” Which might explain why, like his relationship with his father, Harry’s relationship with his brother, Prince William isn’t what it used to be: “As I said before, I love William to bits. We’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience but we are on different paths,” he said. “The relationship is space at the moment and time heals all things, hopefully.”

They have a chicken coop at their Montecito home, named Archie's Chick Inn.

In one clip where Oprah visited the cleverly-named Archie's Chick Inn (established, by the way, in 2021), Meghan revealed that they had rescued hens from a factory farm.

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