Harry and Meghan loaded up a plane and dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace in their Oprah interview

Harry and Meghan's explosive interview will pose serious questions for Buckingham Palace. Credit: Courtesy of Harpo Productions/CBS

When the Oprah interview finished at 3am, UK time, this morning, I didn’t know quite what I should do.

I was momentarily paralysed in my chair having spent the previous two hours, typing and tweeting like crazy.

But as I came up for air, the magnitude of what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had said to Oprah hit me all at once.

On Sunday, I had spent the day wondering how a two-hour interview could sustain viewers.

I asked myself how many explosive stories could Harry and Meghan actually drop in that time.

Well, when the show was over, it dawned on me that the couple had effectively loaded up a B-52 bomber, flew it over Buckingham Palace and then unloaded their arsenal right above it, bomb by heavily-loaded bomb.

I mean, where should I begin?

  • Meghan being told they couldn’t help her over her suicidal plans because she wasn’t a paid member of staff?

  • Harry’s family, she claimed, had conversations with him about the darkness of Archie’s skin colour?

  • Meghan claimed the “first member of colour of the family” was not being titled and the convention was actively being changed to work against Archie

  • Harry said 70 female MPs called out the colonial undertones of the press coverage but “nobody from my family” said anything about it

  • Harry phoned the Queen and Prince Charles about his intentions to leave the Royal Family and his dad stopped taking his calls?

  • Meghan said Harry’s family was willing to lie to protect other members of the family but they were not willing to tell the truth to protect Harry and Meghan

  • Meghan says Kate was the one who made her cry before the Royal Wedding but no one wanted to correct the opposite narrative that had formed in the press

  • Harry says his father cut the money for his son and grandson and he felt let down by Prince Charles

  • Harry’s relationship with his brother William is now reduced to “one of space”

  • Harry says his family are “scared” of the British tabloids and won’t take them on

  • No-one at the Palace, says Meghan, helped her when she arrived or told her what to do, how to act even how to sing the National Anthem

  • Harry and Meghan had a private wedding service with the Archbishop of Canterbury, three days before the Royal Wedding which a few billion people had tuned in for

Meghan and Harry had a lot they wanted to get off their chests now they are, as Meghan described it, “liberated” - but there are two very serious questions for Buckingham Palace this morning.

The first is the lack of support Meghan claims the institution gave her even when she pleaded for help from the Household’s Human Resources department when she was actively thinking about ending her life.

If an employer or institution can’t help someone when they are seeking help for something that serious, then it needs to look very closely at itself and how it operates.

The second serious question, is the allegation that members of Prince Harry’s family were having discussions with him about the colour of his future son’s skin.

I understand that Harry was not referring here to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

But that leaves the question, which member of Prince Harry's family was it? Neither Harry nor Meghan would say.

And what does that say about attitudes towards race in modern day Britain?

Meghan tells Oprah about “concerns and conversations' about Archie's skin colour

At all times, both Harry and Meghan were very clear about their support for - and admiration of - the Queen and she was often singled out for praise in a way in which Harry’s father and brother were not.

But if the Duke and Duchess have such serious concerns about the shape of the institution of which the Queen is the head, surely their severe criticisms of it extend to the Queen herself?

She might be Harry’s beloved grandmother whom he zoom calls with Archie, but she remains the Head of State and Head of the Monarchy – the very institution her grandson now says he couldn’t wait to leave.

Buckingham Palace has yet to respond and we have only heard one side of this story.

Kate, left, and Meghan had been subject to rumours of a falling out. Credit: PA

But the questions for the institution are so great that they have decided they will not rush to respond.

We must also remember that last week, the alleged victims of the bullying complaint which was filed against Meghan, when she worked at Kensington Palace, wanted to share what they said was the other side of this story.

When the Queen has her regular breakfast media briefing this morning, her aides will have to deliver some very serious news – about “The Firm” she leads.

She may well insist on another of those Zoom calls with her grandson in California to ask Harry why he thought it had gone so spectacularly wrong.

I said, when I first revealed the news of the Oprah interview, that it had the potential to be a very uncomfortable watch for the UK in general and the Palace in particular.

Uncomfortable does not begin to describe how they must be feeling in Buckingham Palace right now.

Oprah With Meghan and Harry will be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday 8 March at 9pm. It will also be available on ITV Hub.

Listen to our royal podcast The Royal Rota