It’s here. Volume I (in roman numerals, no less) of Netflix’s unprecedented, all-access documentary about Harry & Meghan. “We’ve never been allowed to tell our story... until now,” purrs Meghan, forgetting, perhaps, the tell-all Oprah documentary the couple did last year.
The first three hours (the next three will be released December 15) chart Harry and Meghan’s relationship, from their first date at Soho House on Dean Street (he was late) to the day before their £32m wedding at Windsor Castle.
“This is a great love story,” says Harry. “And the craziest thing is that I think this love story is only just getting started. She sacrificed everything that she ever knew, the freedom that she had, to join me in my world, and then, pretty soon after that, I end up sacrificing everything that I know to join her in her world.”
So let’s get into it. These are the best bits so far…
1. They started filming themselves before they ever signed a Netflix deal
“A friend of ours actually suggested that we document ourselves through this period of time,” says Harry. “With all of the misinformation that was going on out there, especially about us and the departure, it seemed like a really sensible idea.”
Meghan says: “We know that, right now it might not make sense, but one day it will make sense.”
Hence the footage of Harry in a VIP lounge at Heathrow airport as he fled to Canada. “Hi. So we’re here on Wednesday the something of March. We’ve just finished our two weeks, our like final push, our last stint of royal engagements. It’s really hard to look back on it now and go, ‘What on Earth happened’? Like, how did we end up here?’”
Cut to mournful piano music playing over Meghan filming herself with a towel on her head. “I don’t even know where to begin,” she quivers.
So much of what Meghan is and how she is, is so similar to my mum
2. They believe they’re making the documentary out of a sense of ‘duty’
“This is about duty and service and I feel, being part of this family, it is my duty to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media,” says Harry. “This isn’t just about our story. This has always been so much bigger than us. No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth. The institution knows the full truth. And the media know the full truth because they’ve been in on it.”
3. Meghan is similar to Princess Diana
“So much of what Meghan is and how she is, is so similar to my mum,” says Harry. “She has the same compassion, the same empathy, she has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her.” About his parent’s divorce, Harry says: “I saw things, I experienced things, I learned things — the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution.”
I remember we were in the car driving up and he’s like, ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’ And I just thought it was a joke
4. Having dinner with the Queen was like going back to medieval times
“My grandmother was the first senior member of the family that Meghan met,” says Harry. “She had no idea what it all consisted of. so it was a bit of a shock to the system for her.”
Meghan says: “There wasn’t, like, some big moment of, ‘Now you’re going to meet my grandmother’. I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car, and we were going to Royal Lodge for lunch, and he’s like, ‘Oh, my grandmother’s here, we’re going to meet her after church.’ And I remember we were in the car driving up and he’s like, ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’ And I just thought it was a joke.”
Harry says: “How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you will need to curtsy. Especially to an American. That’s weird.”
Meghan adds: “Now I’m starting to realise, ‘This is a big deal’. I mean, Americans will understand this... We have Medieval Times, dinner, and tournament. It was like that.”
I think, for so many people in the family, especially the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who perhaps you are destined to be with
5. Meghan struggled with the concept of a royal ‘walkabout’
“I never saw pictures or videos of a walkabout, I was like, ‘’What’s a walkabout?’’’ says Meghan.
Harry adds that he wasn’t able to give her style advice for her first walkabout. “The piece I didn’t really know about was the style... what a woman needed to do, how they needed to dress, and that sort of stuff.”
Meghan adds that deciding what to wear for her first day with the royals was tricky, especially after a wardrobe malfunction. “And then the zip breaks... the whole thing was just ridiculous,” says Harry.
6. A low blow at William and Kate?
“I think, for so many people in the family, especially the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who perhaps you are destined to be with,” Harry says. “The difference between making decisions with your head or heart - my mum certainly made most of her decisions, if not all of them, from her heart - and I am my mother’s son.”
7. Meghan was surprised at the formality of the royals (and her hugs didn’t go down too well)
“When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits. I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go, ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman
8. They claim the royals didn’t think the couple would last because Meghan was an actress
“I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed, some of them didn’t quite know what to do with themselves. Because I think they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman. But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning, ‘Oh, she’s an American actress; this won’t last’.”
Meghan adds: “The actress thing was the biggest problem, funnily enough. There is a big idea of what that looks like from the UK standpoint - Hollywood - and it’s just very easy for them to typecast that.”
9. Harry claims his family was unsympathetic to Meghan’s need for protection
“Eight days after the relationship became public, I put out a statement calling out the racist undertones of articles and headlines that were written by the British press as well as outright racism from those articles across social media.” But, he says, “The direction from the palace was, just don’t say anything.”
He continues, “But what people need to understand was that, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well. So it was almost like a rite of passage. And some of the members of the family were like, ‘Right, well, my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should she get special treatment? Why should she be protected?’
“I said, ‘The difference here is the race element’.”
He was this 6ft 1in handsome man with red hair, [he had] great manners. He was just really nice. They look really happy together. He was The One
10. They’re sad about Thomas Markle
“Of course, it is incredibly sad what happened,” says Harry. “She had a father before this and now she doesn’t have a father. And I shouldered that because, if Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad.”
11. Meghan’s mum speaks for the first time
“My name is Doria and I’m Meghan’s mum. The last five years have been challenging,” she says. “I’m ready to have my voice heard. A little bit of experience as her mum.”
She instantly knew Harry was The One, commenting, “He was this 6ft 1in handsome man with red hair, [he had] great manners. He was just really nice. They look really happy together. He was The One.”
Speaking about the press coverage of Meghan’s background, Doria said that paparazzi would take pictures of deprived neighbourhoods in Los Angeles. “They would take pictures of different parts of say, Skid Row, and say that is where I lived and that is where she was from.”
“It was horrible,” adds Meghan. “But I continued to hold the line. Say nothing.”
It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life
12. Harry on race and the time he wore a Nazi uniform
Harry goes on to talk about the issue of race. “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias. The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself, you then need to make it right.
“It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.”
Harry then spoke about wearing a Nazi uniform to a private party in 2005, saying, “It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I felt so ashamed afterwards. All I wanted to do was make it right.”
He goes on, “By the time I met Meghan, I think I had travelled half of the Commonwealth.
“Through that, I thought I knew. I thought I had an awareness of issues, ways of living, unconscious bias.. all of it.
“But hearing her talk… sitting down having conversations and chats, I was just like… well, here you are, just blissfully sleepwalking through life.
“My son, my daughter, my children, are mixed race and I’m really proud of that.
“When my kids grow up and they look back at this moment and they turn to me and say, ’What did you do in this moment?’ I want to be able to give them an answer.”
13. Meghan on race
“It’s very different to be a minority but not be treated as a minority right off the bar. Obviously now, people are very aware of my race because they made it such an issue when I went to the UK. But, before that, most people didn’t treat me like a black woman, so that talk didn’t have to happen for me.”
We weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want [it]
14. Their engagement interview was ‘orchestrated reality TV’
Meghan says the BBC interview to announce their engagement felt like an “orchestrated reality show”.
“It was rehearsed,” Meghan says. “We did the thing out with the press, then we went right inside, took the coat off, and did the interview. So it’s all in that same moment.”
The interviewer asks if it was explained to her how the process worked. Meghan replies, “Yeah, but also like, ‘Then there’ll be a moment where they’ll want to see the ring, so show the ring’... We weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want [it].”
I don’t know your middle name, I don’t know your birthday, and you’re telling people that you raised me and are calling me ‘princess pushy’?
15. She hardly knows her sister, Samantha Markle
“My half-sister [Samantha Markle], who I hadn’t seen for over a decade, and that was only for a day and a half, suddenly it felt like she was everywhere... I don’t know your middle name, I don’t know your birthday, and you’re telling people that you raised me and are calling me ‘princess pushy’? I don’t remember seeing her [Samantha] when I was a kid... the last time that I saw her,I remember, was when I was in my early 20s... I hadn’t had a fallout with her, I wasn’t close enough with her... and I wanted a sister!”
