The royal family cut Harry off financially in the first quarter of 2020
Prince Harry revealed that the royal family cut him off after he and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, announced that they would be stepping back from official royal duties.
The couple's recent deals with Netflix and Spotify were "never part of the plan" when they split from the family, he said. However, it happened after they were cut off from the family financially.
They initially relied on what Princess Diana had left for Harry.
"I've got all my mum left me. And without that, we would not have been able to do this," he said. "She saw it coming and I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process."
Harry: "I am never going to share" conversation with royal family about Archie's race
Oprah Winfrey asked Prince Harry about the conversations he'd had with the royal family about Archie when Meghan was pregnant with him -- and about concerns surrounding his race.
"That conversation, I am never going to share," Harry said. "At the time, it was awkward, I was a bit shocked."
When Winfrey asked if he could share the questions posed during the conversation, he declined, saying "I'm not comfortable with sharing that."
"But it was right at the beginning," he added. "What will the kids look like? That was at the beginning when she wasn't going to get security, when my family suggested that she might continue acting (because there wasn't going to be money for her)."
Winfrey then asked: If you had had more support, would you still be there? "Without question," Harry responded. But "I know and I'm comfortable in knowing that we did everything we could to make it work."
Diana would feel "angry" says Harry of how things have turned out
Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey that his mother, Princess Diana, would have been "very sad" about the couple's decision to step back from the royal family.
"I think she would feel very angry with how this has panned out, and very sad. But ultimately, all she'd ever want is for us to be happy," Harry said.
"I think she saw it coming. I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process. I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side," he said. "Because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, going through this process by herself all those years ago."
"It has been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other," he said, sitting next to Meghan in an outdoor set.
Royal family never challenged the "colonial undertones" in the media's coverage of Meghan, Harry says
Prince Harry said the royal family missed several opportunities to support Meghan and call the British press out on its negative coverage of the Duchess of Sussex.
"For us, for this union and the specifics around her race, there was an opportunity -- many opportunities -- for my family to show some public support. And I guess one of the most telling parts and the saddest parts, I guess, was over 70 female members of Parliament, both Conservative and Labour, came out and called out the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about Meghan. Yet no one from my family ever said anything. That hurts."
He added: "But I also am acutely aware of where my family stand and how scared they are of the tabloids turning on them."
"I just wanted to make them proud" says Meghan
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that she had left everything to join the royal family, and just wanted to make them proud -- even though she received little to no guidance or instruction.
"I left my career, my life, I left everything because I love him," she said. "Our plan was to do this forever -- I wrote letters to his family saying I am dedicated to this, I am here for you, use me as you'd like."
But "there was no guidance," she said. "There were certain things you couldn't do, but (unlike the movies) there was no class on how to speak, how to cross your legs, how to be royal."
She didn't even know the British national anthem, and nobody in the royal institution thought to teach or show it to her, she said. "That was me Googling late at night ... we were doing the training behind the scenes because I wanted to make them proud."
"I was trapped but I didn't know I was trapped," says Harry
When asked if he would have stepped back if not for Meghan, Harry replied no.
"I myself was trapped as well. I didn't see a way out. I was trapped but I didn't know I was trapped," he said.
When Oprah Winfrey asked how a prince born into privilege could have been trapped, he replied, "Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that."
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