The Duke of Sussex said he feared “history repeating itself” in a reference to his mother’s death as he recounted his royal life with wife Meghan in the couple’s much anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey.

US television network CBS has released two 30-second excerpts from Oprah With Meghan And Harry: A CBS Primetime Special, which is set to air at 8pm Eastern Time in the US on Sunday – or 1.00am Monday UK time.

The first video begins with Oprah asking the Duchess of Sussex if she was “silent or silenced”, with Meghan’s answer not revealed.

She then asks the duchess: “Almost unsurvivable. Sounds like there was a breaking point?” The clip then quickly cuts to the duke commenting: “My biggest fear was history repeating itself.”

In the second video, Harry says he is grateful to have had Meghan’s support throughout his exit from royal life, while also expressing admiration for what his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, had to endure under similar circumstances.

He tells Winfrey: “I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you, with my wife by my side, because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her, going through this process by herself, all those years ago.

“Because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had each other.”

It comes days after Harry’s appearance on US talk show The Late Late Show, in which he told host James Cordon the “toxic” atmosphere created by the British press is what forced him and his family to leave the UK.