Whoever thought modernizing the 1,200-year-old British monarchy was kinda dumb. I mean, hear me out, one biracial American actress couldn’t have revolutionized a millennium of colonization and imperialism—that’s a hell of a burden for a former mediocre Suits actress. And most of all, Meghan Markle never claimed to be the sole agent that would topple a monarchy that predated most countries. 

Sunday night, the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex, or informally known as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, sat down in an exclusive and eye-opening interview with Oprah Winfrey to discuss the details of the two years they worked as senior members of the British royal family. Surprise! The monarchy that colonized most of Africa, Asia and South America is racist.

During the two-hour interview, Meghan revealed that in her two years as a member of the royal family that the racist tabloids, the unsupportive monarchical institution and the stress of her new royal status and position led her to suicidal ideation. Worst of all, when she asked the human resources department of the royal family to be institutionalized at a mental health facility, she was denied help.

This was, in my opinion, the most triggering moment in the entire special, especially to anyone who has dealt with mental health issues. Meghan even mentioned that the unbearable depression almost pushed her to self-harm. You would think that an institution with power, influence and wealth would use its resources to aid its struggling members; but that was not the case with Meghan and clearly not the case with the late Princess Diana, who also dealt with bulimia and depression whilst she was still married to Prince Charles and worked as a senior royal. 

For me, the most troubling part about Meghan being denied access to mental health support has to be that as the first bi-racial Black woman who married into this family, her mental health concerns were directly tied to the racist vitriol she received and her cries for help which were not considered as valid, real or important. Also, keep in mind she was in the middle of her pregnancy when she was denied help. This situation is also heightened because of the abysmal statistics on how high infant and maternal mortality rates are for Black women.

This wasn’t even perhaps the worst of what she experienced or expressed to the shocked interviewer Oprah. Meghan divulged that when she was pregnant with her almost two-year-old son Archie, members of the royal family questioned how dark his skin tone would be when he was born. 

Not only was his skin tone a discussion, but the institution made it clear that Archie would not receive a royal title or the security that came with that title. Which was a wildly abnormal protocol breaking precedent set in law that stated grandchildren of the heads of state, aka the Queen or future King, are always granted a title and security.

Why would this centuries-old precedent be broken, you may ask? Maybe because Archie would be the first quarter Black blood-born royal in a modern age. It is not off-base to assume that the lack of royal recognition, security and protection for Archie and even Meghan is the result of a millennium of anti-Black racism ingrained in the very fabric of this archaic and dying British institution.

The same monarchy, whose leaders Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are third cousins and have blood ties to Nazi-Germany, was worried about the skin color of a quarter Black unborn child. That is undeniably a system you cannot fix— a system that never worked to begin with.