Prince Harry Tells Oprah Winfrey Racism Was a ‘Large Part’ of Why He Left the UK With Meghan Markle

In a new clip from their interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry revealed that racism in the U.K. was a “large part” of why he and Meghan Markle left the country. The revelation was made a little more than a year after the couple stepped back as working royals, after which they briefly stayed in Canada before settling down in the United States with son Archie.

Asked by Winfrey if racism was the reason why they left the U.K., where they had been residing together since their engagement, Harry, after a long pause, admitted, “it was a large part of it.” Airing exclusively during Monday’s episode of CBS This Morning, the previously unaired clip saw the royal recalling a conversation he had at a fundraiser amid his battle with British tabloids. According to Harry, someone at the dinner told him, “‘Please don’t. Please don’t do this with the media. They will destroy your life.’”

“This person is friends with a lot of the editors. And I said, ‘So just to elaborate what do you mean by that?’ Obviously I knew,” Harry recalled. “He said, ‘You need to understand that the U.K. is very bigoted.’ And I stopped and I said, ‘The U.K.’s not bigoted — the U.K. press is bigoted, specifically the tabloids. Is that what you mean?’ And he goes, ‘No, the U.K.’s bigoted.’ And I said, ‘ I completely disagree.’ But unfortunately if the source of information is inherently corrupt or racist or biased, then that filters out to the rest of society.”

The Sunday night interview, which Winfrey revealed actually lasted over three hours but was edited down to 90 minutes, came a little more than a year after the couple announced they would be stepping back as working royals and less than a month after Buckingham Palace confirmed they had officially retired. During the interview, Harry said their decision to take a step back came from “a lack of support and lack of understanding” from his family, revealing that he had been cut off financially and was told he would no longer receive security. Harry also said that during this time, his “biggest concern was history repeating itself… When I’m talking about history repeating itself, I’m talking about my mother.” He added that he was shocked by the racism Markle faced. The couple also revealed during the interview that prior to their son Archie’s birth, there had been “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be.” The couple did not confirm which members of the royal family those conversations took place amongst, though Winfrey revealed Harry confirmed to her it was not Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.