Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan spoke to Oprah Winfrey in an interview aired on U.S. station CBS.

Following are key quotes:

Meghan, on son Archie not being a prince or receiving a title:

"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 (said) that he wasn't going to receive security.

"In those months when I was pregnant ... 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.

Meghan declined to name who expressed those concerns: "I think that would be very damaging to them."

Meghan, on considering suicide:

"I just didn't want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he (Harry) just cradled me."

She said she went to senior people in the institution to ask for help.

"I remember this conversation like it was yesterday, because they said, my heart goes out to you because I see how bad it is, but there's nothing we can do to protect you because you're not a paid employee of the institution.

"This wasn't a choice. This was emails and begging for help, saying very specifically I am concerned for my mental welfare."

Asked if she thinkinhg of harming herself, or having suicidal thoughts, she said:

"Yes. This was very, very clear ... and very scary."

Meghan, on a newspaper story that she made Prince William's wife Kate cry over flower girls' dresses before Meghan and Harry's wedding:

"That was a a turning point."

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 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, asked if she was silent or had been silenced:

"The latter. Everyone in my world was given a very clear directive from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating to always say no comment."

Meghan said she believed she was being protected by the royal institution.

"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. But they weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband."

Asked if she was not supported by the powers that be, she said: "There's the family, and then there's the people that are running the institution, those are two separate things and it's important to be able to compartmentalise that because the queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me."

Meghan, about her wedding day:

"It was like having an out-of-body experience ... I think we were both really aware, even in advance of that, this wasn't our day, this was the day that was planned for the world."

Meghan, on marrying into the royal family:

"I will say I went into it naively because I didn't grow up knowing much about the royal family."

 

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Jane Wardell)