CBS had promised Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan would be a "bombshell", and they did not disappoint.
Video / CBS
Prince Harry says he was "cut off" financially from the royal family, revealing he only managed to survive because his mother "saw it coming" and made plans for his future.
"My family cut me off in the first half of 2020, but I got what my mum left me," Harry told Oprah Winfrey in a blockbuster interview that aired today in the US.
He said if it wasn't for the money his mother Princess Diana had left him then he wouldn't have been able to afford security for himself, Meghan and Archie.
"You asked what my mother thought of this, and I think she saw it coming," he said.
The interview with Oprah Winfrey is the Sussexes' first since they stepped down from royal duties. Photo / Harpo Productions
Meghan, who is biracial, described that when she was first pregnant with son Archie, there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born".
In a rare positive moment in the interview, Harry and Meghan revealed their second child is a girl. The interview opened with Winfrey enthusing over Meghan's pregnancy and lamenting that Covid-19 protocols kept them from hugging.
The revelations aren't over: Winfrey teased additional bits of the interview would be shown in the US on Monday morning (Tuesday NZT).
In response to a question from Winfrey, Harry said he wouldn't have left royal life if he hadn't married Meghan, but that it was their relationship that revealed the strictures of royal life.
"I wouldn't have been able to, because I myself was trapped," Harry said. "I didn't see a way out.
"I was trapped, but I didn't know I was trapped," Harry said, before adding, "My father and my brother, they are trapped."
Harry acknowledged that he does not have a close relationship presently with his brother William, who is heir to the throne after their father, Prince Charles.
The Prince disputed rumours that he intentionally blindsided his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, with his decision to split. He suspected the rumours came from inside the royal family.
"I've never blindsided my grandmother," he said. "I have too much respect for her."
Meghan, too, was complimentary toward the Queen, despite saying at one point she realised some in the palace were willing to lie to "protect other members of the family".
