Prince Harry (left) and Meghan arrive to attend the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London on March 9. Photo: AFP

Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, said there were concerns about how dark her son Archie's skin would be before his birth and that such worries explained why he was not given the title of prince.

Meghan, whose mother is black and father is white, said she was naive before she married into the royal family in 2018, but that she ended up having suicidal thoughts and considering self-harm after asking for help but getting none.

"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 that he wasn't going to receive security," Meghan said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey aired on CBS late on Sunday.

"In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so 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."

She declined to say who had aired such concerns. Asked if she was silent or had been silenced, she replied: "the latter."

The highly anticipated interview is set to intensify an already acrimonious row between Meghan and Harry on one side and the British monarchy on the other.

The couple have stepped down from their royal duties and are starting a new life in the US.

Harry said he left because of a lack of understanding and because he was worried about history repeating itself - a reference to the 1997 death of his mother Diana.

He said he had not blindsided his grandmother, the queen, as he had too much respect for her, although his father, Prince Charles, had stopped taking his calls.

Reuters