Who made the Archie skin colour comments?
Oprah Winfrey gave an intriguing new insight into her shocking interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on CBS.
The TV host revealed that she still did not know the identity of the royal who the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said raised concerns about Archie skin colour before his birth.
However, she said Prince Harry wanted to make it very clear it was neither the Queen nor Prince Philip who made those comments.
The American TV star revealed that even she was surprised that Meghan and Prince Harry told her about the comment.
Image: Supplied
“[Harry] did not share the identity with me but he wanted to make sure that I knew and if I had an opportunity to share it that it was not his grandmother [the Queen] nor his grandfather [Prince Philip] that were a part of those conversations,” she said as she appeared on CBS This Morning just a day after the sensational interview.
“He did not tell me who were a part of those conversations,” she added, admitting that she tried to get more details both on camera and off.
Meghan also revealed that the Palace did not want her and Harry’s son, Archie, to have a royal title or security detail.
Prince Harry also later said that the Queen had invited him and Meghan to Sandringham to talk and stay overnight after their decision to leave as working royals in January 2020.
However he said the invite was suddenly retracted and he was told the monarch was “too busy”.
She said the stories about the Queen being “blindsided” by their exit were “very damaging to them and also very hurtful” because there had been “months and months of preparation” before they moved to Canada.
She noted that the Queen even said this in a January 2020 statement.
“There are people surrounding the family who are advisers to the family who have been there a long time and that’s part of the hierarchal structure and those people have a lot of influence and input,” she said.
Harry said that after the Queen invited the couple to Norfolk, her secretary quickly got in contact to say she was “busy all week”.
“I didn’t want to push because I kind of knew what was going on,” he said.
“Doesn’t the Queen get to do what the Queen wants to do?” Oprah asked.
“No, when you are head of The Firm there’s 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 replied.
In another clip just aired with CBS, Oprah asked Harry if he left the UK because of racism.
“It was a large part of it,” Harry said.
"'I just need you to tell me. And if you tell me the truth, we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that." — Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on a conversation she had with her father regarding tabloids #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/XhPwGM0Uvl
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 8, 2021
He revealed that a media insider at a fundraising dinner for his Sentebale charity had told him: “Please don’t do this with the media, they will destroy your life. You need to understand the UK is very bigoted.”
“I stopped and I said, ‘The UK’s not bigoted, the UK press is bigoted, specifically the tabloids, is that what you mean?’” Harry said he asked.
“And he goes, ‘No the UK’s bigoted’. And I said, ‘I completely disagree’, but unfortunately if the source of information is inherently corrupt or racist or biased then that filters out into the rest of society.”
Oprah revealed she had sat down with the couple before the interview to speak about their intention for the chat.
“I think they agreed to do it, wanted to do it, were ready to do I because when you have been lied about for a series of years, I think anybody you can understand this if in your own office or in your own family, somebody is saying things about you that are not true and how hurtful that is. or if you’re online and you read the comments from something that somebody has said about you and you continue to see those comments, how hurtful that is.
“Imagine that over a period of months and years, and you know that it isn’t true.”
Oprah said they wanted “not to be intruded upon,” when asked about the couple’s desire for privacy.
The talk-show host, who is a neighbour of the couple in Montecito, California, clarified on CBS that no one wants people outside their home filming their child.
Prince Harry said that “sadly” no one in the royal family had apologised for the fact that he and Meghan, 39, felt they had to leave.
“The feeling was that this is our decision therefore the consequences are on us.
Does your father think it's a toxic environment or relationship? — @Oprah
"No, I think he's had to make peace with it." — Prince Harry #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/FH9YrLMDYh— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 8, 2021
“And despite three years of asking or help and seeing or visualising how this might end, it was … it’s been really hard because … I am part of the system with them, I always have been.
“But I guess, I’m very aware of this, my brother can’t leave the system, but I have.”
Asked if Prince William wanted to leave, Harry said he did not know.
“But with that relationship and that control and that fear from the UK tabloids … it’s a toxic environment.”
Oprah asked: “Does your father think it’s a toxic environment or relationship?”
Harry replied: “No, I think he’s had to make peace with it.”
The Duke of Sussex said he “will always be there” for his brother and his family.