In another candid moment,Meghan revealed she had contemplated suicide while pregnant with Archie. She worried about telling Harry but eventually confided in him.

“I knew that if I didn’t say it,that I would do it,” she said. “I just didn’t want to be alive any more.”

Meghan said her mental health problems accelerated after the couple’s tour of Australia in 2018.

“Those tours...I’m sure they have beautiful pictures and it looks vibrant and all of that is true... but it is also really exhausting and I was fried and I think it just hit me so hard because we were making it look like everything was fine.”

The duchess went to “one of the most senior people” in the royal household to get help but was told that would be a bad look. She then went to the royal household’s human resources department.

“They said there is nothing we can do for you,because you are not a paid member of the institution,” Meghan recalled.

Meghan ultimately sought support from an unidentified friend of Princess Diana.

“It takes so much courage to admit that you need help - to admit how dark of a place you’re in,” Meghan told Winfrey.

Other royal brides in the past such as Diana,Princess of Wales,and Sarah,Duchess of York have spoken of the loneliness and isolation of their lives after marriage.

Asked how his late mother would think about his split from the royal family in January 2020,Harry replied:“She would feel very angry with how this has panned out and very sad. But ultimately,all she’d have ever wanted is for us to be happy.”

The duke reserved some of his toughest criticism for Prince Charles,revealing the heir to the throne stopped taking his son’s calls ahead of the public announcement of Harry and Meghan’s resignation as working members of the royal family.

“There’s a lot to work through there,” Harry said of the relationship with his father.

“I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar,he knows what pain feels like,and Archie’s his grandson.

“At the same time I will always love him. But there’s a lot of hurt that has happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”

He also described his relationship with Prince William as one of “space”.

“Time heals all things,hopefully,” he said.

The feuding brothers are expected to reunite in public this July for the unveiling of a memorial to their late mother at Kensington Palace to mark what would have been her 60th birthday.

Harry said the royal family had cut him off financially but they were being supported by money left by Diana.

Earlier,Meghan also confirmed a rift between herself and William’s wife Catherine,the Duchess of Cambridge,triggered by a pre-wedding dispute over a bridesmaid’s dress.

Meghan said the palace did nothing to correct the record when she claimed that “the opposite had happened”. This would be an ongoing pattern of behaviour,she claimed.

“It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that 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.

“But they weren’t willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.”

The couple also revealed they were married in secret three days prior to their wedding on May 19,2018.

If you or anyone you know needs support callLifeline on 131 114,or Beyond Blue’scoronavirus mental wellbeing support service on 1800 512 348.