Key revelations from Meghan, Harry's Oprah interview

Meghan Markle slammed as "character assassination" claim she had made Kate Middleton cry -- saying the reverse was true. In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan called the claim -- pored over at length by the gossip press -- "a turning point" in her relations with the royal family. "Everyone in the institution knew it wasn't true," Meghan said, adding: "The reverse happened." Kate "was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologized," Meghan said."The narrative with Kate, which didn't happen, was really, really difficult and something that I think that's when everything changed really." Asked if she made Kate cry: "The reverse happened. A few days before the wedding she was upset about something, pertaining to ... the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. And it really hurt my feelings.""There wasn't a confrontation and ... I don't think it's fair to her to get into the details of that because she apologised, and I have forgiven her. What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn't do, but that happened to me."

Meghan called the incident "the beginning of a real character assassination." "I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family," she said. Meghan spoke out forcefully about the loss of agency she says she suffered as part of the royal family."That's the sad irony of the last four years... I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice, and then I was silent," Meghan said.

Harry, asked whether he told his family about his plans to step away from his royal roles and about a newspaper story that they had "blindsided" the queen with their decision:"I've never blindsided my grandmother, 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.” “The queen has always been wonderful to me,” Meghan said.

Talking to Oprah, Meghan revealed that the Royal family members had conversations with Prince Harry before Archie's birth and had concerns about the baby's skin colour. She said, "They didn't want him to be a prince or princess, not knowing what the gender would be, which would be different from protocol, and that he wasn't going to receive security. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of, 'you won't be given security, not gonna be given a title' and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born."

Harry also said that his relationship with Prince Charles is strained as he failed to support his son. "I feel really let down because he's been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like, (and) Archie's his grandson. I will always love him but there's a lot of hurt that's happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship," he added.