Last week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sent shock waves across the internet when the first three episodes of their docuseries, Harry & Meghan, premiered on Netflix. The couple gave never-before-seen insight into their lives after they announced they were stepping down from their roles as working members of the royal family in March 2020.
In part one, the couple detailed the start of their relationship, from secret meet-ups to the onslaught of media attention that ensued after they went public with their love. It also touched on the subject of the role paparazzi has played in their lives and the particular racist undertones the British press had towards Markle and the toll it took on the actress. They dived into both of their childhoods, discussed Markle’s relationship with her family, what it was like when she met her soon-to-be royal in-laws and ended with the news of their engagement.
Now, in part two, the couple discusses their wedding, the pressures of living in the spotlight and the toll the tabloids took on their mental health, as well as what happened when they stepped down from their royal roles. Catch up on all the bombshells from Harry & Meghan, below.
Prince Williams ‘screamed’ at Harry when he announced royal exit
When Harry and Meghan decided to step back from their royal duties, Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, called a meeting with the most senior members of the royal family (called the Sandringham Summit). The Queen, Harry, Prince William and Prince Charles all met at Sandringham after Meghan had already left the country for Canada. “It was clear to me that they planned out so that you weren’t in the room,” Harry said.
The talk occurred five days after the couple made their public statement about stepping down from their royal duties. “I went in with the same proposal that we’d already made publicly. But once I got there, I was given five options. One being ‘all in, no change,’ five being ‘all out,'” Harry said.
“I chose option three in the meeting. Half in, half out; have our own jobs but also work in support of the Queen.”
He said that response caused a very strong reaction from his brother. “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.”
“The saddest part of it was this wedge that it created between myself and my brother.”
Harry says he feels ‘ashamed’ for how he reacted to Meghan’s suicidal thoughts
In the couple’s first tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan revealed she had suicidal thoughts. In part two of their docuseries, Harry said he felt ashamed at how she handled the situation. “I was devastated. I knew she was struggling. We were both struggling, but I never thought it would get to that stage and the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed.”
He added, “I dealt with it as ‘Institutional Harry’ as opposed to ‘Husband Harry.’ And what took over my feelings was my royal role. I’d been trained to worry more about, ‘What are people going to think if we don’t go to this event? We’re going to be late.’ Looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she [Meghan] needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.”
Harry claims Meghan’s miscarriage was caused by her legal case against the British press
After the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline published parts of a private letter written by Meghan after her wedding to her father Thomas Markle (who did not attend), the royal pursued legal action against the Associated Newspapers in 2019. She explains in the doc that she suffered a miscarriage the first morning at their new home in California in 2020. “I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the Mail did,” said Harry. “I watched the whole thing.”
He added, “Now do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was created caused by that? Of course, we don’t, but bearing in mind the stress that that caused, the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was, I can say from what I saw, that miscarriage was caused by what they were trying to do to her.”
Meghan’s lawyer Jenny Afia also spoke to the stress it caused her. “Meghan and I would be texting at 1 a.m. or 3 a.m. her time, she’d be awake, unable to sleep, thinking about this case, and the wider issues and the toll it was taking.”
Harry claims the his plan to move to Canada with Meghan was leaked to the press by the royal family
Prince Harry believes that the news that he and Meghan were moving to Canada was leaked to the press by someone in Kensington Palace. According to Harry, it was leaked after he wrote a letter to his father about the decision and alleges that it was by someone from King Charles office.
“It became clear that the institution leaked the fact that we were gonna be moving back to Canada,” he said.
Tyler Perry is Lilibet’s godfather
In the docuseries, the star is interviewed and he details how and when he was asked by Harry and Meghan to be the godfather of their second child, Lilibet Diana.
“I go, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ They said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be Lili’s godfather.’ I go, ‘Whoa. I had to take a minute to take that in. And I thought, ‘I’d be honored. I’d absolutely be honored.'”
He then asked if that means he would have to go to the UK for a formal baptism and suggested. “Maybe we can do a little private ceremony here [in the U.S.] and let that be that, and if you have to do it there, then that’s okay.”
He said he “immediately empathized” with Meghan when he saw the situation that happened with her family members (who spoke to the media) prior to her royal wedding. “When my life changed and success started to come, family members became different people, and I know how hurtful and horrible it can be,” he said.
Perry offered them solace at his property in L.A. and they moved in after they left their duties as working members of the royal family.
