Meghan Markle interview: Baby’s sex revealed during shocking Oprah interview

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on CBS was packed with shocking revelations about the couple’s life before and after their time as senior members of Britain’s royal family. But there was one truly joyful moment, when the couple made a big announcement about their second child.

Prince Harry and Markle sat down to talk with the queen of talk shows in Santa Barbara, California, for the couple’s first joint interview since their engagement in 2017. The edited interview aired over the course of two hours during prime time on March 7, but in reality, the interview lasted nearly three and a half hours, according to Winfrey, and covered a wide range of topics.

Early in the interview, Winfrey asked Markle about the baby, and she said they’d announce the baby’s sex later in the interview, when Prince Harry joined her. Later, when Harry joined his wife, she said he should be the one to make the big announcement.

“It’s a girl,” Prince Harry said, and then put his fists in the air with excitement.

Markle and Prince Harry’s son, Archie, is going to have a little sister! The couple did not give a specific due date, but they did say their daughter is expected sometime this summer. Markle’s current pregnancy comes following a miscarriage in July 2020, which she opened up about in an op-ed piece for The New York Times.

“To have any child would’ve been amazing,” Harry told Winfrey. “But to have a boy and a girl, what more could you ask for?”

Shocking Revelations from the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Interview with Oprah

In addition to the happy news about the upcoming arrival of their new daughter, both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle talked candidly about the circumstances leading up to leaving their senior roles in the British royal family, as well as their own future plans.

Some of what the couple said during the interview clearly shocked Winfrey, as well as viewers around the world. Here are some of the biggest revelations from “Oprah with Meghan and Harry.”

Harry and Meghan Plan on Having Two Children

The baby girl on the way will be the last child for Prince Harry and Markle. “We’ve got our family,” Prince Harry told Winfrey. “We’ve got the four of us and our two dogs. It’s great.” Winfrey followed up with, “Done? Two is it?” The couple confirmed that two will be the magic number for their family.

Harry and Meghan Had a Secret Wedding Before the Big Royal Ceremony

The world watched as Prince Harry married Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, in a lavish ceremony fit for fairy tales. However, the couple decided to exchange vows in private three days earlier.

“Three days before our wedding, we got married. No one knows that, but we called the [Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby] and we just said, ‘Look, this thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us,” Markle told Winfrey. “The vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

She said that the couple knew the May 19 ceremony was “planned for the world” and they wanted a special day for themselves.

Tyler Perry Helped Harry, Meghan and Archie With Security And a Home

The royal couple told Winfrey they were in Canada when they found out the family’s security detail would be removed due to their “change in status” — when they were no longer senior members of the family.

“The biggest concern was while we were in Canada, in someone else’s house, I then got told, short notice, that security was going to be removed,” Harry said to Winfrey. “At this point, everyone knew, thanks to the Daily Mail, our exact location. So suddenly it dawned on me: ‘Hang on. The borders could be closed. We’re going to have our security removed. Who knows how long lockdown is going to be,'” he said, referring to coronavirus lockdowns. “‘The world knows where we are. It’s not safe, it’s not secure. We probably need to get out of here.'”

When director and philanthropist Tyler Perry heard of the situation, he offered his Los Angeles home and security detail to help them get settled.

“We didn’t have a plan. We needed a house, and he offered his security as well, so it gave us breathing room to figure out what we were going to do,” Markle said of Perry’s offer, which they gladly accepted.

Before Archie Was Born, There Were Conversations About His Skin Color

While she was pregnant with Archie, Prince Harry’s conversations with the royal institution became increasingly difficult, Markle said in the interview.

“We have in tandem the conversation of, he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title,” Markle says of the discussions about Archie, then pauses. “And also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”

Winfrey pauses, apparently stunned, then finally says, “What?”

“Who is having that conversation with you?” Winfrey says. Then she repeats, “What?”

Markle said she didn’t want to reveal who had had those conversations with Harry because it would be so “damaging to them.”

When Prince Harry joined the interview, he told Winfrey he figured out early in his relationship with Markle that her mixed-race background might come up, but he had no idea how toxic it would become for the couple.

“There were some real, obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard,” he said during the interview. “That was right at the beginning — ‘What will the kids look like?'”

Other than saying it wasn’t Prince Harry’s grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, the couple refused to elaborate on who within the royal institution had initiated the conversation.

Markle Had Thoughts of Suicide

During the interview, Markle revealed that she’d had suicidal thoughts during her time as a senior member of the royal family. She cited the intense and racist tabloid scrutiny, as well as the expectations of the royal family that she simply brush it off.

“I just didn’t see a solution,” she told Winfrey. “I would sit up at night, and I was just like I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out … and I realized it was all happening just because I was breathing.

Markle told Winfrey she knew she needed help and asked for it from “one of the most senior people” in the royal institution. But she was rebuffed —  this person said having her go somewhere for inpatient care “wouldn’t be good for the institution.”

“It takes so much courage to admit that you need help. It takes so much courage to voice that,” Markle told Winfrey. “And as I said, I was ashamed. I’m supposed to be stronger than that. I don’t want to put more on my husband’s shoulders.”

Celebrities React to Oprah’s Interview with Meghan and Harry

Following the interview, many celebrities came out in support of the couple and Markle specifically. Serena Williams tweeted, “I know first hand the sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of color to minimize us, to break us down and demonize us.”

You can stream the full Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview with Oprah Winfrey on CBS.