In a 2-hour, wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, revealed some very frank reasons as to why she and Prince Harry have stepped away from their royal duties. After joining the royal family, she said, she did not get the support she needed from her new in-laws, even as the British tabloids printed “racist propaganda” about her.
In addition, while pregnant, she was told that her son would not receive the title “prince” (and thus would not have the security afforded to other royal children) and that a senior royal had “concerns and conversations” about how dark her son Archie’s skin would be.
These stresses led to one of the interview’s biggest bombshells, that in November 2019, while pregnant with Archie, Markle had considered suicide: “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she told Winfrey. “And that was a very clear, and real, and frightening … constant thought. I just didn’t see a solution.”
The duchess said she initially felt ashamed by this and was reluctant to tell Harry, “because I know how much loss he’s suffered. But I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it.” However, when she did tell him, “[Harry] just cradled me.”
Markle went on to explain how she attempted to get help, consulting one of the most senior palace officials. “I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. And I said that I’d never felt this way…
