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It certainly felt like Christmas overnight as Netflix dropped part one of Harry & Meghan, the explosive tell-all docuseries from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The long-awaited series arrived as part of a £112 million contract with the streaming platform and for royal enthusiasts it did not disappoint.
Directed by Emmy award winner Liz Garbus, part one comprised of three hour-long episodes and shared insight in to the childhood of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well as their early courtship. Here we’ve broken down the biggest revelations so far before part two – three final episodes – air next Thursday.
Harry & Meghan. A Netflix Global Event.
Volume I: December 8
Volume II: December 15 pic.twitter.com/WpFzVEC7Yx— Netflix (@netflix) December 5, 2022
Prince Harry’s Private Grief Following The Death Of Princess Diana
Perhaps most polarising in part one of Harry & Meghan is the recollection of the Duke’s memory of the late Princess Diana. In the first episode we are shown videos of Prince Harry and Prince William following the death of their mother in 1997 and the pressure he felt in the public eye.
“When my mom died, we had two hats to wear,” he explained. “One was two grieving sons, wanting to cry, grieve, and process that grief because of losing our mom. And two was the royal hat, show no emotion, get out there, meet the people, shake their hands.”
He continued, “The UK literally swept me and William up as their children,” and in turn “an expectation to see myself and William out and about was really hard for the two of us.”
Prince Harry was then forced to face the same overwhelming attention from the paparazzi that Princess Diana did before her death. At age 13 he attended Eton College and became the subject of negative tabloid headlines for alleged drinking, substance abuse and dating.
“There’s a difference between having to accept, okay, we have this position in the family and therefore there’s going to be a level of interest and being swarmed by paparazzi, chasing you in cars through red lights,” he said. “And then chasing you down the road on foot, which probably happened about 40 times when I was younger. It was too much. Everything that was happening in the UK was so intense. I was trying to balance the experience of being a young boy who was trying to deal with the loss of his mom without much support or help or guidance. It didn’t seem right, it didn’t seem fair.”
The Real story of how Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Met
In a BBC interview organised to announce their engagement, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle told the public they met via a mutual friend who had set them up on a blind date. The couple told Netflix that the entire interview was “rehearsed” with Markle adding it was an “orchestrated reality show”. Instead the Duke revealed they met on Instagram (how very Millennial of them) after he saw a photo of the actress on a friend’s page.
The couple’s first date was at Soho House on Dean Street, a private member’s club.
The Royal Family ADVISED Prince Harry TO Stay Silent On Racism
As the couple’s relationship was made public in 2016, Markle faced an onslaught of “racial undertones” and “outright racism” within the the English tabloids. “At that time, I wasn’t thinking about how race played a part in any of this,” Markle recalled. “I genuinely didn’t think about it.”
Prince Harry was advised by the Royal Family to stay silent after getting upset over Markle’s treatment. “But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well,” he explained in the docuseries. “So it was almost like a rite of passage. Some of the members of the family were like, ‘But my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?’ And I said, ‘The difference here is the race element.'”
Despite protocols, Prince Harry went on to issue a statement condemning in November 2016 the “abuse and harassment” of Markle in the media.
Harry & Meghan is streaming on Netflix now. Part two will be released on December 15.
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