Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a tell-all documentary revealing their side of the "Megxit" story. It should have been a fairytale romance; a Hollywood actress meets a prince, the two fall in love, and they marry. Sadly, it didn't take long for the relationship to become controversial; the couple found themselves targeted by paparazzi, subjected to hostile tabloid headlines. According to Prince Harry, he doesn't remember anything about his mother - he suggests the trauma of Diana's death when he was a child has probably meant he's repressed these memories. But the pattern was so very similar, and the documentary presents the story in such a way that the outcome never seemed in doubt.
In January 2020, Harry and Meghan announced their intention to "step back" as senior members of the British Royal Family. This became known as "Megxit," with the couple moving to Vancouver, Canada. As they note in the years since their relationship has been described in countless books, usually written by people they've never met. The Harry and Meghan documentary on Netflix is an attempt to get their side of the story out there - although it's perhaps an indication of how ubiquitous the coverage has been that there's not a lot of new information in the first three episodes, which released on December 12, 2022.
Harry Insists His Teenage Rebellion Was Exaggerated
Prince Harry discusses his rebellious teenage years, insisting his "hell-raising" was exaggerated. His years at Eton were extensively covered by the British tabloid press, with a stream of accounts of raucous nightclubs and experiences with drugs. "Not all of the stories were made up," Harry admits, "but they were exaggerated." He opens up about one particularly controversial moment from 2005, where he was photographed going out to a party in a Nazi costume. According to Harry, this was "probably one of the biggest mistakes" in his life, but he learned from it. "All i wanted to do was make it right. I sat down and spoke to the chief rabbi in London, which had a profound impact on me. I went to Berlin and spoke to a Holocaust survivor. I could've just ignored it and gone on and probably made the same mistakes over and over again in my life, but I learned from that."
Harry & Meghan Describe Their First Meeting
Harry and Meghan describe the beginning of their relationship, giving a slightly different account to the one they'd shared in the past. Harry first saw Meghan on a friend's Instagram, and apparently immediately wanted to get to know her. Meghan checked out Harry's Instagram too, and remembers being interested in him because of his photographs of a trip to Africa. The first date didn't actually go well, with Harry turning up 30 minutes late; Meghan wasn't impressed, initially getting quite the wrong idea of the kind of person she was meeting, but those impressions changed when she realized he was genuinely flustered at being late. Harry, who had grown up in such a repressed environment, says he was immediately drawn to Meghan's sense of freedom.
Harry & Meghan Started Recording Their Lives
Harry and Meghan's documentary is complemented by personal recordings taken on their phones during the chaos of Megxit. "A friend of ours suggested we document this period of our lives because there’s already so much misinformation around," Harry explains. It seems the Netflix documentary was always inevitable, a fact that will clearly divide viewers
Meghan Reveals Her Confused Reaction To The Paparazzi
Meghan reveals her initially confused reaction to the paparazzi. She was surprised to encounter a pack of nine or ten paparazzi as she left a florist; "They were all sort of blocking the cars, going, ‘Hey, how you doing, Meghan?’, and I said ‘Oh, thanks, stay warm guys,'" she recalls. Meghan was warned to be wary of the paparazzi, because it was leading to stories in the tabloid press that she was loving the attention. It didn't take long for things to become a lot more intrusive, though, with Meghan feeling increasingly threatened. She found it extremely disturbing when she realized there were "six grown men" sleeping outside her home every night, and there was nothing the police could do. "Paparazzi paid to have a live stream camera in my backyard," Mehan observes. The Palace's official advice was simply to ignore it.
Meghan's First Meeting With Queen Elizabeth II
One of the most entertaining stories in the Harry and Meghan documentary is the tale of Meghan's first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, which perfectly sums up how strange it is to marry into the Royal Family. Meghan's first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II was unexpected, and she had little time to prepare for it. She describes the surreal experience of being asked to curtsy. "How do you explain to bow to your grandma," Harry asks, laughing. "And that they’ll need to curtsy? Especially to an American – it’s weird." Meghan understandably sounds to have been rather intimated, remembering doing an exaggerated curtsy, but was told she'd handled it well.
Meghan's First Meeting With Kate Windsor
Meghan's first meeting with Kate Windsor sounds to have been rather awkward. "I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot," she notes. "I’m a hugger, I’ve always been a hugger. I didn’t know that could be jarring for a lot of Brits." Some viewers believe there's actually a subtle dig at Kate in episode 1 of the documentary; "I think for so many people in the family, especially men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who you are perhaps are destined to be with," Harry observes. This feels like a broader criticism, however.
Harry & Meghan Place Their Marriage In The Context Of Brexit
The Harry and Meghan documentary places the controversy in its historical context, and also notes that it exploded during Brexit, Britain's exit from the European Union. Brexit is perhaps best understood as a crisis of identity in the United Kingdom, and it is a matter of record that it inflamed tensions over race and immigration. There is a sense, then, in which the fairytale of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was taking place at the worst possible moment, at a time when the country became increasingly aware of matters of race, and the couple believe they were simply victims of timing.