Harry and Meghan have told their story to the world as the final three episodes of their Netflix documentary aired today.
The final volume of the Sussexes’ controversial Netflix documentary features claims about Meghan’s treatment in the press, her mental health and their relationship with the Prince of Wales.
Some of the more explosive claims by the pair included Harry talking of the 'terrifying' moment his brother 'screamed and shouted' at him, and when the duchess described feeling suicidal after her treatment by the British media.
Here's everything we learnt from the final three episodes.
Meghan felt calm on her wedding day
In episode four, Meghan says she felt doesn't know how she felt so calm on her wedding day. All she wanted was a mimosa, a croissant and to play the song Going To The Chapel, which is exactly what she did.
Meghan said she knew when she got to the castle to get married there would be ‘tonnes of people’ but she didn’t realise that they would be lining both sides of the street for the 15-minute drive there. Her and her mother Doria couldn’t believe it.
Theirs was the first Royal wedding to feature a Gospel choir, which the couple say Charles helped to set up. The reception was held at St George’s Hall and Harry and Meghan cut their cake with a sword.
Meghan says in the new documentary: “It was all so over the top - I think most people were like ‘what’s happening!’ She said she couldn’t find her mum because she’s b-lined to the stage to see Elton John sing.
Meghan asked Charles to walk her down the aisle
Meghan says Harry’s dad is very charming and she told him ‘I’ve lost my dad in this,’ adding: “So him as my father-in-law was really important to me.” She asked him to walk her down the aisle and he said yes.
Footage showed King Charles walking Meghan down the aisle. Harry says when we saw her walking down he thought: “Look at me, look what I got…look what I found. The world was watching us, but when we were at the altar as far as I was concerned it was just the two of us.”
Meghan felt like the Queen was family and a great 'grandmother figure'
Meghan was grateful that she Queen was a grandmother figure in her life. As part of their first Royal engagement together, Meghan took the Royal train with the Queen to Cheshire and they had breakfast together. When asked what she spoke about with the Queen of England, Meghan says she treated her as her husband’s grandma, adding: “Knowing that of course there has to be a completely different sense of propriety and what not in public”.
Meghan says when she and the Queen got into the car in between engagements, Her Majesty got a blanket and put it over Meghan’s knees. She said: “I recognise and respect that you are the Queen, but in this moment I’m so grateful that there is a grandmother figure. Because this feels like family.” Meghan says she was really close with her own grandmother and took care of her in her final years.
Meghan worked closely with Grenfell Tower survivors
When news broke of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Meghan said she wanted to help out. The fire left so many families displaced she connected with women at Al-Manaar mosque.
Survivors were living in hotels and given vouchers for fast food to live off. Munira Mahmud, Grenfell survivor, decided to use the mosque's kitchen so people could cook and have a few hours of normality together. Munira was surprised when Meghan asked if she could help.
She visited the kitchen and Munira gave her an apron and she got hands on. Meghan visited over the course of 8 or 9 months. She helped the community launch a cookbook so they could afford to cook in the kitchen everyday, rather than twice a week.
Meghan felt suicidal as negative press coverage of her grew
Meghan and Harry were proving popular with the public - and the media. One morning, after an event which included the whole of the Royal family, the couple woke up to find Meghan splashed across the front pages.
Soon, more critical stories about Meghan began to break, with many comparing her to Prince Harry's wife Kate. Meghan says she thought: “All of this would stop if I wasn’t here. And that’s the scariest thing about it, such clear thinking.”
Meghan’s mum Doria says it ‘broke her heart’ when Meghan told her she had wanted to ‘take her own life’. She continues: “I knew that it was bad, but to just constantly be picked at by these vultures. Just picking away at her spirit, that she would actually think of not wanting to be here. That’s not an easy one for a mom to hear, you know.” She wipes away tears and sniffs, adding: “And I can’t protect her. H can’t protect her.”
Harry says he was devastated and he knew that Meghan was struggling. He says they were both struggling, adding: “I never thought it would get to that stage. And the fact that it got to that stage I felt angry and ashamed. I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional Harry as opposed to husband Harry.
"And what took over my feelings was my royal role. I had been trained to worry more about what are people going to think if we go to this event, we’re going to be late. Looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.”
Meghan says she wanted to go somewhere to get help but she wasn’t allowed to as it would’ve looked bad on the institution.
Meghan felt pressure around having the royal baby photo on the hospital steps
Meghan says there was pressure of having the traditional Royal picture of Archie on the steps outside St Mary’s Hospital. She says she had been really worried about going into that labour because she was a bit older and didn’t know if she’d have to have a C-section.
Meghan trusted her doctor but they were at Portland Hospital and she needed to have the photo on the stairs of St Mary’s. Instead, the couple presented Archie two days after his birth in the entrance of St George’s Hall. The documentary shows how some of the medi criticised them for the move.
Harry says that one of the first things he saw on social media after Archie was born was someone posting a photo of a couple with a chimp, and at the top it said ‘Royal baby leaves hospital.”
Baby Archie went on his first Royal tour when he was four months old
At four months old, Archie went on his first royal tour to South Africa. Harry says it was a real strange experience as it was the first time the family had travelled together for official work.
A royal documentary greenlit by the palace had been commissioned while the couple were in Africa. Meghan thought it would’ve been a glossy version of a happy tour.
As part of the documentary, the journalist asked Meghan to sum up the past year. Meghan says she hadn’t touched up her make-up, she didn’t know what she was going to be asked and she was ‘just fried.’ In answer to the question Meghan spoke about feeling vulnerable, especially as a new mother and a newlywed.
She thanked the journalist for asking him if she was ok as no one had asked. When asked, she confirmed the last year had been a struggle for her. Meghan says: “I was so exhausted, I was just really grateful that someone seemed to ask me something like I was a human being. I didn’t even think they’d use it in the documentary.”
But what she said made headline news. Harry says to Meghan: “I think someone in your position speaking so openly about it, made so many other women feel seen.”
Harry says no one in the family speaks that openly and no one had done apart from one person - his mum. Harry says the fallout from the media coverage after Meghan had been so open was ‘bonkers’. He says the front pages were different to the general public’s reaction and that when they expected support from the people closest to them, they got the opposite.
Meghan says there’s only so much you can take on your own and it was a huge turning point. It’s when they started having harder conversations about what needed to happen to continue to make this work.
Meghan was advised by senior royals to write a letter to her dad
In episode five, Meghan discusses her relationship with her dad, which turned sour when he began giving interviews to the media. Meghan said she was close to her father, Thomas Markle, growing up and they would speak several times a week.
But asked when things 'started to go awry', Meghan says: "When the media got involved". Newspapers ran articles with headlines such as "Meghan Markle's dad slams daughter's sense of superiority". Meghan says he also started speaking out against the royal family.
Meghan reveals that she reached out to the Queen for advice. “It was suggested by the Queen, Prince of Wales, that I write my dad a letter", she says in the documentary. The letter was sent and soon appeared in newspaper articles. The Mail on Sunday claimed to publish the 'full' letter, Meghan says, but huge parts had been redacted. Meghan said it took out " every single thing about how the media manipulated you [Thomas Markle]".
Meghan said she reminded royal lawyers that she wrote the letter under the advice of senior royals and encouraged them to take legal action.
Meghan was 'Palace scapegoat' and suing Mail on Sunday was 'the catalyst for all the unravelling'
Royal lawyers dragged their feet, according to Meghan so the couple decided to hire their own lawyers to take on the Mail on Sunday. Harry and Meghan hired Jenny Afia, a partner at Schillings Law Firm in London.
Jenny alleges that the palace deliberately gave negative briefings to the media on Harry and Meghan. She tells the documentary: " Theres a narrative that the royal family adopt a 'never complain, never explain' approach to the media, and I think Meghan went along with that for a long period. There was a real war against Meghan and I’ve certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people’s agendas.”
The duchess' friend Lucy Fraser adds: “Meg became this scapegoat for the palace, so they would feed stories on her whether they were true or not to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.”
Jenny says them suing the Mail on Sunday “was one of the first acts of them breaking away from the institution”. Meghan adds: “Everything changed after that. That litigation was the catalyst probably for all of the unravelling”.
Charles asked Harry to send his 'stepping back' plans to him in writing - then they got leaked
Meghan and Harry chose to spend Christmas 2019 on Vancouver Island because of the negative press around the lawsuit. Harry says they chose the location because 'there wasn't a single paparazzi living there'.
Harry says he called his dad around the end of December and told him: "We've got a plan". He explained that they wanted to move to Canada to "get some breathing space" but continue their work throughout the Commonwealth and support the Queen. He said they also wanted to become financially independent - "you get us, and you get us for free," Harry says.
Harry says Charles asked him to put his plans in writing, which Harry was reluctant to do after a previous document about a potential move to South Africa was leaked, scuppering the plans. Harry did as his dad asked, telling the documentary that he sent emails on January 1 ,2 and 3. In one of them, he says he mentioned that if the plan didn't work out the couple ‘would be willing to relinquish the Sussex tiles if need be’.
Meghan says the story was in the newspaper five days after Charles told them to put the plan in writing. Harry says it was "clear that the institution leaked the fact that we were going to be moving back to Canada", adding: "The key piece of the story that made me aware that the contents of the letter between me and my father had been leaked was that we were willing to relinquish our Sussex titles.”
Harry was stopped from seeing the Queen when he returned to the UK
Harry says that he rang his grandmother before returning to the UK in January 2020. He says he told her he would love to visit her. "She knew that we were finding things hard, I had spoken to her many times about it," he says.
Harry says the Queen told him she had no plans for the week and invited the couple to stay the night. Meghan then reveals that the couple received an 'urgent' message as they got on the plane telling them that they would not be allowed to see the Queen.
The couple were told "she has plans all week" but Harry says "that's the opposite of what she told me". Harry says he rang the Queen again and she told him that she had now been told that she was busy.
Meghan tells the documentary: “This is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict, because they are blocking you from seeing the Queen, but really they’re blocking a grandson from seeing his grandmother”.
Harry says William 'screamed and shouted' at him during Sandringham meeting
A meeting was arranged to discuss the couple's plans at Sandringham with members of the royal family present. Harry says he believes it was deliberately arranged for when Meghan had left to go back to Canada so she couldn't attend.
“Imagine a conversation, a round table discussion, about the future of your life, when the stakes are this high, and you as the mom and the wife and the target in many regards, aren’t invited to have a seat at the table," she says.
At the meeting, Harry says he was given three options - ranging from one being 'all in' to five being 'all out'. He says he chose the third option - 'half in half out'.
Harry says the meeting ended without a 'solidified action plan'. He recalled what had happened behind closed doors, saying: “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that simply weren’t true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in.” He said he understood that the Queen's 'ultimate responsibility' was for the institution.
“I think from their perspective they had to believe that it was more about us, and maybe the issues we had as opposed to their partner, the media and themselves and that relationship that was causing so much pain for us, they saw what they wanted to see," he said.
Harry also revealed that the statement that went out on behalf of William and himself denying accusations that his brother had 'bullied' him out of the royal family, was put out without his knowledge. He told the show: "No one asked me, no one had asked my permission to put my name to a statement like that."
Harry says he rang Meghan to tell her and she burst into tears “because in four hours they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us”. Meghan added: “Suddenly it clicked in my head, it’s never going to stop, every rumour, every negative thing, every lie, everything I knew wasn’t true was being allowed to fester.”
Meghan felt 'scared' over tweets telling her she should die
Meghan tearfully spoke about how hate-filled tweets about her made her feel. Talking about how some people on social media said they wanted her to die, Meghan said: “That’s actually out in the world because of people creating hate, and I’m a mom, that's my real life, that's the piece when you see it and you go, you are making people want to kill me. It's not just a tabloid, it's not just some story, you are making me scared.”
She recalled walking up and down the corridors in her home thinking ‘are we safe?’ “Thats real," she said. "Are my babies safe? You’ve created it for what? Because you're bored? It helps you sell papers? It makes you feel better about your own life? It’s real what you’re doing.”
Meghan wore colour for 'bittersweet' final week of royal engagements - but Harry felt 'distant' from family
Harry said the final week of royal engagements in March 2020 was "a real whirlwind". He said it was a relief to know they would be getting "some breathing space" but "at the same time it was really sad", while Meghan described their final week in the UK as "bittersweet”.
Meghan said she decided to wear colourful outfits for her final engagement after spending previous years trying to "blend in" with more neutral tones. “I thought well let's just look like a rainbow," she says, adding that she was surprised to find people she spoke to were "sad" the couple were leaving.
Harry says he felt distant from his family during the final engagement at Westminster Abbey, where the couple appeared alongside the Queen, his dad and brother and their families. “I felt really distant from the rest of my family, which was interesting because so much of how they operate is about what it looks like rather than what it feels like, and it looked cold, but it also felt cold", he said.
Their motivations behind the infamous Oprah interview
Episode six is the final instalment of the series, and covers the period from March 2020 when the pair left for California to 2022 — but it doesn’t address the death of HM The Queen. In that time, the pair spoke to Oprah Winfrey about their experiences in the Royal Family.
It was one of the most captivating watches of 2021 — but viewership was not their goal, the couple say. “Sitting down with Oprah was a reaction to what had happened in the previous year,” Harry says, by which he means their decision to leave the Royal Family and move to Canada, then the US.
“People just did not understand why we left,” Meghan adds in the episode. Just before the interview, in March 2021, news footage is played of allegations Meghan bullied Royal staff, prompting Buckingham Palace to open an investigation.
“I can’t think what my mum went through, all those years ago, all by herself. To see this institutional gaslighting happens is extraordinary.
“That’s why everything that happened to us was always going to happen to us. If you speak truth to power, that’s how they respond.”
The interview was about ‘filling in the blanks’ that others were doing on their behalf, Meghan says. “We didn’t see it until the world saw it,” she continues.
“I thought me being very open about the depression I experienced, and how extreme that became, would be the biggest takeaway. It was entirely eclipsed by the conversation surrounding race.”
The day after the interview aired, Meghan video called her mum who is supportive. Beyonce texted Meghan, which prompts Harry to do a comical ‘wow’ with his hands to camera, saying she was ‘just checking in’.
Harry talked with Charles and William around Prince Philip’s death
A month on from the Oprah interview, HRH Prince Philip passed away. The Queen’s husband was Harry’s grandfather, and it’s clear that the pair had a close bond.
It’s also clear that the funeral took its toll on Harry, from having frank discussions with the rest of the family to having to walk behind the coffin — something he had to as a child when his mum died.
Harry flew back to Britain alone, Meghan was very pregnant at the time.
“To be walking behind the coffin again must have brought up some other stuff as well,” Harry’s childhood friend Nicky says to camera. “I don’t have the qualifications to unpick that,” he adds. Nicky also says the Duke of Edinburgh and his pal had a lot in common, such as the ability to put people at ease.
“I was actually really happy for my grandfather,” Harry says. “He went quietly, he went peacefully, he went happily.”
Going back to the UK and the family ‘was hard’, however, he adds. “Especially spending time having chats with my brother and my father who were just very much focused on the same misinterpretation of the situation.
“None of us wanted to have to talk about it at my grandfather’s funeral, but we did. I had to make peace with the fact that I probably won’t get genuine accountability or an apology.
“My wife and I are moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”
Lilibet takes after Diana, Archie takes after his mum
It’s safe to say 2021 was a big year for the couple. Following the Oprah interview and death of Prince Philip, their second child, Lilibet, was born in June.
“There was something so complete once we had Lilibet,” Meghan says, reflecting on her birth. “I see a lot of my wife in Archie,” Harry says. “But I see a lot of my mum in Lili. She’s very Spencer-like, she has very blue eyes.”
“Blue blue eyes!” Meghan exclaims. “Like a golden reddish hair, too,” the Prince continues.
Harry is also firm in his belief that California is his family’s home. “We can do things with our kids that we would never be able to do in the UK,” he says.
Cali might be home — but Harry misses the UK
Although Harry doesn’t seem to have any regrets over moving across the Atlantic, saying he ‘outgrew’ his life in Britain, he does miss his place of birth.
“I miss the weird family gatherings, when we’re all sort of brought together under one roof at certain times of the year,” he reflects
“I miss the UK, I miss my friends, I’ve lost some friends. I came here because I’d changed. I’d changed to the point where I had outgrown my environment therefore this was the most obvious place to come. This is one of the places my mum was going to end up living, potentially.”
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