MUMBAI: Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that she was utterly unprepared for the "monster machine" of the British royalty when she married Prince Harry.

Markle said she didn't "fully understand what the job was" when she, as an "American", waded into "the firm" - her description for the British royal family.

Within the first 15 minutes of the hotly anticipated interview, Meghan revealed to Oprah that all she wants is to "go back to the basics" and that the reality of royalty wasn't something she was ever ready for.

Around the 40th minute, Markle told Oprah that the royal family was "concerned" that her child would have "dark skin".

Markle stopped short of saying who within Buckingham Palace was having these conversations with her or Harry. Disclosing that "would be very damaging to them", she told Oprah.

"That's what was really tricky over those past few years, is when the perception and the reality are two very different things," Meghan said.

"And you're being judged on the perception, but you're living the reality of it."

The interview has been filmed in a backyard garden setting, with Meghan in a flowing black dress with a splash of white near the top right shoulder.

Meghan also said that she never "looked up" her husband online and did not think it was necessary to crawl through research on Harry.

Clips released ahead of the on-air interview showed Meghan tearing into the royal family.

In the two hour interview, Winfrey will also ask sMeghan how she feels about Buckingham Palace "hearing you speak your truth today?"

"I don't know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there was an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us," Meghan said, in one of the promo clips that are circulating.

"And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, there's been a lot that's been lost already."

Speaking about her first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan told Oprah she practised curtsying minutes before and never expected that she would have to endure this level of formality as a "working royal".

The two-hour pre-recorded interview began airing on CBS in the US on Sunday at 8 p.m.

It will be broadcast in the UK on Monday night on ITV.