Megan and Harry: All the key quotes from bombshell Oprah interview
Meghan and Harry have spoken to Oprah Winfrey in a high profile interview aired in the US. Here are some of the key quotes…
Meghan on her wedding day:
“It was like having an out-of-body experience and I was very present for,” said Meghan.
“I think we were both really aware, even in advance of that, this, this wasn’t our day, this was the day that was planned for the world.”
On marrying into the Royal Family:
“I will say I went into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the Royal Family,” said Meghan.
“It wasn’t something that was part of conversation at home, it wasn’t something that we followed.”
On the gender of her next baby:
Asked if she knows whether she is having a boy or a girl, Meghan said: “We do this time. I will wait for my husband to join us and we can share that with you.”
On newspaper reports she had reduced the Duchess of Cambridge to tears at Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress fitting:
Meghan said this was “a turning point”, and insisted it was Kate who made her cry.
Meghan said she did not want to be “disparaging to anyone” and claimed Kate apologised with flowers and a note “to take accountability”.
It was not a “confrontation” and it would not be “fair” to Kate to go into detail, she said, adding it was “hard to get over” being blamed for something she did not do.
On son Archie not being a prince or receiving a title, and the colour of his skin:
“They didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol, and (said) that he wasn’t going to receive security,” Meghan said.
“In those months when I was pregnant… we have in tandem the conversation of, you won’t be given security, not gonna be given a title and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
She declined to name who expressed those concerns: “I think that would be very damaging to them.”
On considering self-harm and suicide:
Meghan said: “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 said she went to senior people in the institution to ask for help.
“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.
“This wasn’t a choice. This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically I am concerned for my mental welfare.”
On the royal institution:
“There’s the family, and then there’s the people that are running the institution, those are two separate things and it’s important to be able to compartmentalise that because the Queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.
Asked whether the royal couple were silent or had been silenced:
Meghan said: “The latter. Everyone in my world was given a very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating to always say no comment.”
Harry, when asked about Meghan going to him and telling him she did not want to live anymore:
“I had no idea what to do. I wasn’t prepared for that. I went to a very dark place as well, but I wanted to be there for her.”
Asked if he told people in his family that Meghan needed help, he said: “That’s just not a conversation that would be had.”
The duke added: “I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them. And I don’t know whether they’ve had the same feelings or thoughts. I have no idea. It’s a very trapping environment that a lot of them are stuck in.”
Elaborating on feeling trapped:
Asked if he would have stepped back from senior royal duties had he not met Meghan, Harry said: “No, the answer to your question is no.”
He said he would not be able to leave because “I myself was trapped. I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped.”
He then claimed other family members are also trapped. “My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave,” he said.
Harry on the conversation he had over Archie’s skin tone:
“That conversion, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked.”
He said he was “not comfortable” sharing the question he was asked by the unnamed person, but said it happened “right at the beginning” of his relationship with Meghan.
On his father, Prince Charles:
“I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like, [and] Archie’s his grandson.
“But at the same time – 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.
“But they only know what they know, or what they’re told.”
On his brother, Prince William:
“The relationship is space at the moment. And time heals all things, hopefully.”
On the Queen:
Asked by Winfrey, “did you blindside the Queen?” with the announcement he was stepping down, Harry replied: “No, I would never blindside my grandmother, I have too much respect for her.”
Souurce: Sky News
