The first three episodes of the highly anticipated Harry & Meghan documentary series on Netflix are now available to stream around the globe. After the couple’s prior statements against the Royal Family to Oprah, there is no doubt that the royals are prepared for any potential revelations.
In the couple’s highly anticipated documentary series, Prince Harry detailed the “feeding frenzy” surrounding his relationship with Meghan, and the duchess stated that the media would always “find a way to destroy” her.
The first three episodes of the couple’s six-episode Netflix series Harry & Meghan were released on Thursday morning, with the Royal Family no doubt bracing for potential bombshell disclosures as the behind-the-scenes look at royal life streams globally.
The series begins with a written statement that describes the series as a “first-hand account of Harry and Meghan’s narrative given with never-before-seen personal material” and states that members of the Royal Family declined to comment on its content. However, no royals or palace households were contacted over the video.
Key themes from the first three episodes:
- “Hunter versus prey”: Harry explains the “feeding frenzy” of the media.
- Meghan: “Regardless of what I did, they would find a way to destroy me.”
- The Duchess of Cambridge reveals a death threat while residing in Toronto.
- Rite of passage’: Reportedly dismissive of concerns by the Royal Family.
- Couple discloses their relationship began on Instagram.
- “One of the greatest errors of my life,” Harry says of his Nazi costume.
The 2017 engagement interview of the couple resembled a “orchestrated reality show.”
In the second episode, the Duke of Sussex discusses the paparazzi’s interest in their relationship, social media abuse, and his mother Diana.
“It’s difficult to watch another woman I love go through this feeding frenzy,” he says. It essentially comes down to the hunter vs the prey.
Vehicle pursuits and disguises
Dating Meghan “became a combination of vehicle chases, anti-surveillance driving, and disguises,” which is not a terribly good way to begin a relationship, but we always approached it with as much humour as we could.
When we saw each other, we would give each other a bear hug and attempt to live as normally as possible.
Meghan also claims being followed by paparazzi and receiving a death threat while in Toronto.
“I would say to the police, if any other lady in Toronto said you, ‘There are six grown guys sleeping in their cars surrounding my house, and they’re following me everywhere I go, and I’m afraid,’ wouldn’t you call it stalking?
“They agreed, but there’s nothing we can do about who you’re dating. I thought, So this is how I’m supposed to live? Then I received a death threat, and things changed because I needed protection.”
In another footage, she states that she was guaranteed the media attention would subside following their marriage.
“At the time, I strongly believed what I was told, which was that it would pass and become better; it’s simply what they do in the beginning,” she adds.
“But the truth is that regardless of how hard I tried, how talented I was, or what I did, they would find a way to destroy me.”
The distinction in this case is the racial element.
In the first episode of the series, Harry expresses his concern about his family.
“It is inherent to [the Royal Family],” he explains. I am really frightened for the safety of my family due to the volume of hatred that has been stirred up over the past three years, particularly against my wife and kid.
Later, he discusses the Royal Family’s response to his anxieties, stating that several members questioned why the Duchess of Sussex should be “protected” in response to newspaper headlines.
In episode two, Harry remarks, “The directive from the Palace was to remain silent.”
“However, what people must realise is that, as far as a large portion of the family was concerned, they had also been put through everything she was experiencing.
“Therefore, it was like a rite of passage, and some family members remarked, ‘My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated differently?’ Why should you receive preferential treatment? Why is she worthy of protection?'”
“I stated, ‘The racial element makes the difference'”
Meghan completed her ‘homework’ prior to their Instagram meeting.
In addition to the weightier subjects, the series explores how the couple met and how Meghan, an actress at the time, broke the news to her family.
Her mother, Doria Ragland, recalls the moment she learned her daughter was dating a member of the royal family.
“She told me, ‘Mummy, I’m dating Prince Harry,’ and I said, ‘Oh my God’. She says, “You can’t tell anyone,” so my initial reaction was, “Oh my God, nobody can know.”
Harry discloses that they met on Instagram.
“I was simply going through my page when I saw a friend’s Snapchat-like video with the two of them wearing dog ears. That was the very first thing I thought: “Who is THAT?!”
Meghan reports that a pal emailed her to set them up, referring to Harry as “Prince Haz.” She did her “research” by perusing his Instagram profile and was fascinated by all of his photographs of the nature and his time spent in Africa, she claims.
Earlier in the series, Harry asserts that both parties have made sacrifices for their partnership.
“I believe this love tale is only beginning,” he says. She gave up everything she ever knew, including her independence, in order to join me in my world, and shortly thereafter I gave up everything I know in order to join her in hers.
“I am my mother’s child.”
Speaking of his mother and ostensibly referring to her marriage to Charles, he says, “I think for so many individuals in the family, especially the men, there may be a temptation or a want to marry someone who fits the mould rather than someone you are destined to be with.
The distinction between deciding with your brain or your heart. And my mother made the most, if not all, of her decisions from the heart. And I am the son of my mother.”
Harry also discusses the 2005 private party where he wore a Nazi outfit. “It was perhaps one of the greatest errors of my life,” he admits. “I was really embarrassed afterward. I only wanted to put things right.
My conversation with the chief rabbi of London had a significant effect on me. I travelled to Berlin and met with a Holocaust survivor there. I might have disregarded it and moved on, likely repeating the same mistakes throughout my life, but I learned from it.”
Harry and Meghan inked lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify, estimated to be worth more than £100 million, after resigning as senior working royals in 2020 due to family rifts and difficulties with royal life.
Following their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, this Netflix docuseries, directed by Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus, is billed as a global event, with Harry and Meghan revealing “the other side of their high-profile love story.”
However, the pair faced criticism even before the episodes were shown, as it was discovered that a photo and video clip used in two preview trailers, ostensibly to highlight paparazzi harassment, were from unrelated events.
The first teaser included a photograph shot at the Harry Potter launch, while the second trailer used video from a Katie Price court hearing.
