MEGHAN MARKLE says that when she was pregnant with her son Archie, someone within the Royal Family expressed concerns about how dark his skin might be.
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey that these worries were relayed to her by Prince Harry having been first raised in private conversations with the palace.
She said: “In those months when I was pregnant, we had in tandem the conversations of him not being given security or a title, and also concerns about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
The remarks stunned Oprah, who asked: “What? Who is having that conversation with you?”
Markle refused to say who expressed these concerns, saying "I think that would be damaging to them".
She only added that the concerns were passed on to her by Prince Harry, who had been told in "several conversations" that there were concerns about “what that would mean or look like”.
Meghan added: "That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations the family had with him, and I think it was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations.”
Oprah probed further asking whether the concerns focused on whether Archie would be “too brown, to which Markle replied: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”
“You’re not going to tell me who had that conversation?" Oprah asks after Meghan says there were concerns about her child's skin color
“I think that would be very damaging to them.” #OprahMeghanHarry pic.twitter.com/TGulbooO8P— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 8, 2021
Prince harry later confirmed the conversations took place though, like Markle, he refused to be drawn on who expressed the concerns.
He said: "That conversation I’m never going to share. At the time it was awkward. That was right at the beginning. ‘What will the kids look like?’”
“That was right at the beginning when they said we weren’t going to get security. There were signs before we got married that this was going to be really hard.”
Markle explained how these issues were highly upsetting “in those first months when I was pregnant”.
She also revealed that the pressures of Royal life led to suicidal thoughts.
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she told Oprah. Adding that when she sought support from palace official, she was warned not to get outside help due to how it would be perceived.
Image: CBSMeghan said both she and Harry had wanted Archie to be a prince given the security it would afford him. However, she was left worried when the Royal Family said he would not be a prince.
“They didn’t want him to be a prince or princess, not knowing what the gender would be, and he wasn’t going to receive security,” she said.
“While I was pregnant, they said they wanted to change the convention for Archie”’ she said, adding she was unclear as to why they wanted to.
"The idea of the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way other grandchildren would be” was upsetting, she said.
“It was really hard,” the Duchess aid, expressing shock at “the idea of our son not being safe”.
Under rules set out by King George V more than 100 years ago, Archie is not entitled to an HRH or title of prince. He will, however, be entitled to one when Prince Charles ascends to the throne.
Archie would be due to become Earl of Dumbarton or Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
