Meghan & Harry show how royal family missed a chance to lead on diversity, mental health – USA TODAY

The Editorial Board, USA TODAY Published 7:26 p.m. ET March 8, 2021 | Updated 4:36 p.m. ET March 10, 2021

During a Sunday night special on CBS, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made a number of shocking revelations to Oprah about their royal roles. USA TODAY

American viewers of dramas like"The Crown" and"The Queen" and documentaries like "The Royal House of Windsor" are all too familiar with the British royal family's gift for surviving based on aquizzical blend of tradition and adaptability.

The trappings of crownand scepter, coupled with an "everyman" willingness to, for example, pay taxes (in 1992) and embraceTwitter (in 2014), areamong thereasons Queen Elizabeth II remains today at 94 the most admired woman of all time.

But aWindsor willingness to evolve appeals onlyif it's honest.Oprah's bombshell-dropping interviewSunday with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on first reference suggests that something less than honest, even sinister, lurking within an intolerant royal family.

The fairytalewedding three years ago ofHarry younger brother to Prince William, heir to the throne and Meghan Markle, an American biracial actress, was must-see TV. In the United States alone, 29.2 million people watched the pageantry at 7 a.m.ET on a Saturday, no less.

And it was particularly enchanting for ageneration of Black and mixed-race Britons who suddenly found a more accessible monarchy.

But the House of Windsor, not so much.

Harry and Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that the royal family worried aboutthe 2019 birth of thecouple's first child, Archie. Meghan said there were concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be." Family members said they did not want the mixed-race child to be a prince or princess. Harry and Meghan declinedto say who in the family made these remarks.

Oprah Winfrey's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, aired on CBS on March 7, 2021.(Photo: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese via Getty Images)

Meghan also said she suffered suicidal thoughts during her pregnancy atime when she was barred from leaving the residence and bullied by thepress and was denied inpatient care by a senior royal, who said it "wouldn't be good for the institution."

Harry described a life of privilege where he felt perpetually trapped.The couple stepped back from their roles as senior royals a year ago and fully left last month, when they announced they wouldn't return to work and their royal patronages would revert to the queen.

Their description of a Buckingham Palace sullied by racial intolerance and mental health insensitivity if true suggests irreparable damage to the Windsor "institution" going forward. And this was clearly a missed opportunity for the palace to embrace Britain'sgrowing diversity. Thousands took part in racial justice protestsin London last summer after the police killing ofGeorge Floyd, with protesters invoking the names of local victims of police violence or racial injustice.

Moreover, millions in the United Kingdom and elsewhere might benefit from a royal family willing to address emotional despair and embrace those, even within their own family, who suffer from mental health crises. That was another missed chance for Buckingham Palace to lead,rather than slip into denial over something deemed to be uncomfortable or unseemly for the institution.

The queen's popularity is sounassailable, she might weather the crisis. Her grandson and his wife spoke warmly of her during the interview.But when she's gone, valid questions may persist about whether the monarchy remains tragically impervious to change and truly relevant to future generations of Britons.

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Meghan & Harry show how royal family missed a chance to lead on diversity, mental health - USA TODAY