Meghan and Harry air criticisms of Royal Family

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

That brings Harry and Meghan's highly anticipated interview with Oprah to a close.

We've heard about the details of the interview throughout the course of the day because it aired in the US overnight, but this was the first time it was shown to UK audiences.

So, here are some of the key things you need to know:

1. Meghan said there were "several conversations" within the Royal Family about "how dark" their baby might be. (Oprah later said the family member was not the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh.)
2. She described feeling lonely after joining the Royal Family and even feeling suicidal - but said she was refused help. She even reached out to one of Princess Diana's friends.
3. Meghan denied a story that circulated a few years ago that she made the Duchess of Cambridge cry in the run-up to her wedding to Harry in a row over flower girl dresses - saying that the reverse was true.
4. She said she "didn't do any research" on the Royal Family prior to marrying Harry and said she was surprised to learn she had to curtsy when she met the Queen.
5. The couple actually exchanged vows three days before their wedding at Windsor Castle in 2018.
6. Harry said his family "literally cut [him] off financially" in the first quarter of 2020.
7. He said Prince Charles "stopped taking [his] calls" at one point after they stepped back as senior royals, and that he feels "let down" by his father.
8. Harry said his brother and father were "trapped within the system" of the Royal Family
9. But he added he has a "really good" relationship with the Queen and he has spoken to her more in the last year - including video calls with Archie - than he has for many years.
10. Archie - who appeared in the interview - likes to tell people to "drive safe" when they leave the house.
11. The couple confirm they're expecting a baby girl in the summer.

In the final instalment of the interview, Oprah asks Harry what "delights" him now in his new life in California.

Harry replies that he loves his "outdoor space", taking Archie out on the back of his bike, something he was "never able to do".

The couple laugh about Archie's most-recent favourite word being "hydrate" - with other top choices including "palm tree".

Oprah asks if Meghan got her happy ending with Prince Harry after all.

“Greater than any fairytale that you’ve ever read," she says.

By leaving the Royal Family, she says, "I think [Harry] saved all of us. He ultimately called it. He made a decision that saved my life and saved all of us.

"But you need to want to be saved.”

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Harry and Meghan are asked whether they have any regrets.

Meghan says she has one - "believing them when they said I would be protected". She says she believed that.

But she says now, they have not just survived "but are thriving".

This is about as bad it might have been for the Royal Family, barring direct criticism of the Queen.

Harry portrays his family as cold and unsympathetic, unable to relate emotionally, obsessed with who is going to pay for what.

It’s clear that relationships were and in some cases, still are, dreadful.

Oprah asks Harry about Meghan's earlier comments that an unnamed family member "how dark" their son Archie's skin might be

"That conversation, I am never going to share," Harry replies.

"At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked," he says, adding that this conversation took place "right at the beginning" of his relationship with Meghan.

Oprah asks what the exact questions were in that conversation. Harry says he's not comfortable sharing that but suggests a few moments later that it was along the lines of: "What will the kids look like?"

Oprah said earlier today that Prince Harry has clarified that the family member was not the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh.

MoD / CrownCopyright: MoD / Crown

Oprah asks Prince Harry what his relationship with his family is like now.

He says he has spoken to the Queen, his grandmother, more in the last year than he has for many, many years and they have a really good relationship. "She's my colonel-in-chief, right? She always will be."

Asked about his relationship with his father, Prince Charles - heir to the throne - Harry pauses for a moment.

"There's a lot to work through there," he says. "I feel really let down because he's been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like... and Archie's his grandson.

"But at the same time, of course 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."

Asked about the relationship with his brother, Prince William, Harry says he loves him "to bits" and they have been through "hell together".

"But we were on different paths," he adds.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Prince Harry says the Netflix and the Spotify deals he and Meghan have made recently were "never part of the plan".

He says that came from when his family "literally cut me off financially" in the first quarter of 2020, and he had to pay for his family's security.

He says the money that his late mother left him was the only way he and Meghan "were able to do this".

Harry draws parallels between the treatment of Meghan and his mother, Princess Diana.

“You know, for me, I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you with my wife by my side,” he says.

“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, because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us - but at least we had each other."

Harry's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, relinquished the Her Royal Highness title at the time of her divorce from the Prince of Wales in August 1996.

She died the following year in a car crash in Paris. The driver had been drinking and the car was being followed by paparazzi on motorbikes when the accident happened.

Trapped. That’s the word Harry used to describe his life in the Royal Family.

That’s the impression he gave very often when out and about.

But he goes on – he says his brother William, his father Charles, they too are trapped. And he feels compassion for them. It is a velvet-covered dagger into the institution he walked away (or, in his words, stepped back) from.

You can read Jonny's full analysis here.

REUTERSCopyright: REUTERS

Oprah asks Meghan and Harry about one of the prevailing storylines about the royal couple: that Meghan orchestrated their departure from the Royal Family, in what the tabloids branded as "Megxit".

"Can you imagine how little sense that makes?" Meghan replies. "I left everything for him."

She continues: "Our plan was to do this forever."

Oprah turns to Harry, asking if he would have stepped back from his life in the Royal Family if it were not for Meghan.

"The answer is no. I wouldn’t have been able to," he says. "I myself was trapped."

Oprah pushes back - asking how a "literal prince" could be "trapped".

I was "trapped within the system", Harry replies. "My father and my brother - they are trapped. They don’t get to leave - and I have huge compassion for that."

EPACopyright: EPA

Harry looks so relaxed, so happy, so comfortable.

Such a change from the deeply unhappy man he appeared to be in the final year in the UK.

Meghan and Harry both come across very sympathetically, speaking without rancour but with the utmost clarity about a time in their lives they both clearly bitterly regret.

This is explosive stuff – raw, revealing and hugely damaging for the Palace.

Giving further details about his disappointment that his family did not show Meghan public support, Harry says: "I also am acutely aware of where my family stands, and how scared they are of the tabloids turning on them."

He says there was an "invisible contract" between the Royal Family and UK tabloids - where if royals give access to reporters, they will get better press.

"There is a level of control by fear that has existed for generations."

REUTERSCopyright: REUTERS

Oprah asks about how Harry and Meghan dealt with Meghan experiencing suicidal thoughts.

"I had no idea what to do, I wasn't prepared for that, I went to a very dark place as well," he says.

Harry says he did not tell anyone in the family because "that's just not a conversation that would be had".

"I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them," he says, adding that it's a very trapping environment.

"I didn't have anyone to turn to," he adds.

"For the family, they very much have this mentality of, 'this is just how it is. This is how it's meant to be, you can't change it, we've all been through it'.

"But what was different for me, was the race element. Because it wasn't just about her, it was about what she represents.

He adds that for Meghan and Harry, "and the specifics around her race", it was an opportunity for the Royal Family "to show some public support".

He says the "most telling" parts - and "saddest parts" - was that more than 70 MPs came out and condemned the colonial undertones of headlines and news articles.

"Yet no-one from my family ever said anything over those three years," he says. "That hurts."

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Just slipped into the conversation, as he listed the calls that he made to his family to talk about his future, is that Harry’s father - Prince Charles - stopped taking his calls.

Did Harry mean to let that slip? Who knows? But it is an insight into how bad things got, maybe still are, in private relations inside the Royal Family.

Harry says his biggest concern while living in Canada was that their security was going to be removed and people knew their location. He adds in a jibe at the Daily Mail newspaper at this point - saying that people knew their exact location "courtesy of the Daily Mail".

He says the Palace's justification for removing security was "a change in status"- but Harry says he "pushed back" and asked whether there had been a change of threat or risk, to which the Palace said no.

They decided to move to California because they felt they were not safe in Canada.

Oprah asks them what was the tipping point to their decision to step back as senior royals.

"It was desperate," says Harry. "I went to all the places which I thought I should go to to ask for help, we both did, separately and together.

Oprah asks: "So you left because you were asking for help but couldn't get it?", "Yeah, basically," says Harry.

"But we never left," he says.

"We never left the family," adds Meghan, saying they only wanted to have a type of role that already exists - a non-senior royal.

Harry says they wanted to "take a breath" from this "constant barrage".

"Meghan clearly felt that the Palace was against her. That it didn't care. That it didn't relate to the kind of pain that she was in."

BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond is on the latest Newscast podcast talking through what the interview tells us about some of the relationships in the Royal Family.

Hear the full conversation now on BBC Sounds.

Harry denies ever "blindsiding" his grandmother, the Queen, with his family's departure from senior royal duties.

"I’ve never blindsided my grandmother, I have too much respect for her," Harry tells Oprah.

He says he had three telephone calls with the Queen ahead of the first statement announcing he and Meghan would be stepping back.

He spoke with his father twice, he says, "before he stopped taking my calls".

Why did Prince Charles stop speaking to Harry, Oprah asks.

"Because by that point I took matters into my own hands," Harry replies.

"It's really sad that it's gotten to this point, but I've got to do something for my own mental health, my wife's and for Archie's as well, because I could see where this was headed."

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Harry said he and Meghan wanted to "take a breath" from "the constant barrage" the couple were facing as working royals.

"My biggest concern was history repeating itself," he tells Oprah.

"And what I was seeing was history repeating itself."

But he said this time it was "far more dangerous" compared to his mother's situation, taking into account the race and social media dimensions.

He said he asked for help to "call the dogs off" but said none was given, and was instead told continuously "this is how it is".

Press AssociationCopyright: Press Association

The allegation that there were discussions in the Palace about how dark Meghan’s first baby might be is a devastating one.

This is heading into "worst-case scenario" territory for the Palace.

It is worth remembering we are currently only getting one side of the story. And Meghan has not revealed who said that to Harry. But it is a horrible allegation for the Palace to deal with.

Now it's time for Prince Harry to join Meghan and Oprah.

And no sooner has he sat down than they announce they are having a baby girl.

Harry says his first thought was "amazing" and feeling "grateful".

"We've got our family," he says - "the four of us and our two dogs".

They confirm that two children "is it".