Meghan Markle struggled as a new member of Britain’s royal family after her marriage to Prince Harry to such a degree that she even contemplated suicide, the Duchess of Sussex revealed in an explosive tell-all interview with American chat show host Oprah Winfry.

The two-hour special, aired on the CBS network in the US on Sunday and set to be aired on ITV in the UK on Monday night, saw Prince Harry joining his wife half-way through as the couple also spoke about concerns of racism within the royal ranks after being asked about their son Archie’s expected skin colour when mixed-race Meghan was pregnant with their first child.

“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” Meghan said, adding that when she “went to the institution for help” she was told it would not be forthcoming as it “wouldn’t be good for the institution”.

The 39-year-old former American actress, who is pregnant with her second child, revealed that the couple are expecting a baby girl and shared how the palace decided that their first-born, Archie, could not be a prince and would therefore have no security.

She alluded to “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.

“Who is having that conversation?” asked a stunned Winfrey. Meghan replied: “That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations the family had with him, and I think it was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations.They were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince or a princess and that he wasn’t going to receive security.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s children do not automatically become princes or princesses because of a rule that has been in place since 1917, unless the Queen steps in.

Both Meghan and Harry refused to divulge who exactly made remarks about their son’s skin tone, with Meghan admitting that if she revealed who was involved in such talks it “would be very damaging to them”.