Prince Harry has compared paparazzi following Diana to the online harassment faced by his wife Meghan, telling an interviewer: ‘To see another woman I love go through this feeding frenzy is hard.’
The second episode of the bombshell Netflix series also sees Meghan’s mother Doria speak on camera for the first time, as she describes a ‘challenging’ five years and says she is ‘ready to have my voice heard’.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, recounts how his wife, 41, has been repeatedly targeted by social media trolls, and portrays the relationship as ‘basically the hunter versus the prey.’
The episode recounts the early days of their relationship, with Meghan telling of her relief when the news first came out in the media and how ‘everyone was just overjoyed’.
The duchess also tells a shocking story about her mother being called the N-word at a concert in the US, but says in general she ‘wasn’t treated as a black woman’ before her race was ‘made an issue’ when she came to the UK.
Episode two opens in New York in November 2021, with Harry and Meghan getting into a car as a bodyguard discusses how to avoid photographers ‘camped out’ along the road
As the couple become stuck in a traffic jam, they realise they are being followed by a photographer on a scooter, with Meghan asking, ‘Do we have that pap on a scooter again – the same guy’, to which the bodyguard replies, ‘yes’
The episode sees Meghan’s mother Doria speak on camera for the first time, as she describes a ‘challenging’ five years and said she was ‘ready to have my voice heard’
Among the key moments of episode two –
- Opens with with a message written in white on a black background which says : ‘This is a first-hand account of Harry & Meghan’s story, told with never before seen personal archive. All interviews were completed by August 2022. Members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series’;
- Meghan’s mother Doria, appearing on camera for the first time, describes the last five years as ‘challenging’;
- News footage is played describing how Meghan was ‘very philanthropic’ and a member of the young UN;
- Harry’s childhood friend ‘Nicky’ says he and the prince had spoken about how good it would be for him to meet ‘somebody who had success and carved their own role in the world’;
- Meghan says she felt positive about the initial reaction to their relationship being announced, but says ‘it very quickly changed’;
- Wrote to her headmistress aged 11: ‘When I am rich and famous, when I write my life story I will talk about you and the school so you will be known worldwide’;
- Recounts a shocking story about her mother being called the N-word at a concert in the US;
- Says she wasn’t ‘treated as a black woman’ growing up in the US before her race was ‘made an issue’ when she came to the UK;
- Harry complains about the Palace’s reluctance to hit back against negative Press stories and says his family felt that being criticised in the Press was a ‘right of passage’;
- Unseen footage appears of Archie, who speaks to Meghan in an American accent;
- Harry says he and Meghan ‘don’t want to repeat the mistakes perhaps our parents have made’;
- Harry describes how Meghan meeting the Queen for the first time was a ‘shock to the system’;
- Duchess describes going to the palace to meet the Queen as being ‘like medieval times’;
Episode two opens in New York in November 2021, with Harry and Meghan getting into a car as a bodyguard discusses how to avoid photographers ‘camped out’ along the road.
As the couple become stuck in a traffic jam, they realise they are being followed by a photographer on a scooter, with Meghan asking, ‘Do we have that pap on a scooter again – the same guy’, to which the bodyguard replies, ‘yes’.
Harry, narrating, says: ‘Back in my mum’s days, it was physical harassment, cameras in your face, people chasing you. Paparazzi still harass people, but the harassment exists more online now.
‘Once the photographs are out and the story is next to it, then comes the social media harassment. To see another woman in my life who I love go through this feeding frenzy, that’s hard. It’s basically the hunter versus the prey.’
Meghan’s mother Doria appears on camera, and tells an interviewer she has found the last five years ‘challenging’ but is ‘ready to have my voice heard’.
Asked if she remembered when Meghan told her she was first dating Harry, she replies: ‘I do, when she told me we were on the phone and she said ”Mummy I’m going out with Prince Harry” and I started whispering ”oh my god”.
‘And I remember when I first met him too, he was a six one handsome man with really great manners. He was just really nice and they looked really happy together, like he was the one.
‘Once it was announced that they were together it seemed kind of like a novelty.’
Episode two includes footage of Princess Diana being followed by photographers, with Harry comparing her experience to Meghan’s
After footage plays of news presenters announcing their relationship, Meghan says: ‘Right when the news broke I think we both felt tremendous relief. And the people I hadn’t told I was dating H were texting me saying ”oh my goodness it’s true!”. Everyone was just overjoyed.’
Meghan’s friends then recall their reactions, with one, Vicky Tsai, saying it ‘looked like a fairytale’.
A second friend, Dhru Purohit, says: ‘My sister called me and said ”Do you know who Meghan is with, I think she’s with Prince Harry”. And I said ”what!!”.
Meanwhile, Meghan’s former agent Nick Collins, remembers: ‘My phone just started going crazy. It was like a tidal wave.’
One of Harry’s childhood friends, who’s name is given only as Nicky, recalls how he had spoken about the prince of the importance of meeting someone like Meghan.
He says: ‘I remember we discussed wouldn’t it be great if someone already had their identity, some successes and had carved their role in the world.’
The documentary then shows news footage from the time the Sussexes’ relationship was first made public, with a presenter describing Meghan as ‘very philanthropic’ and ‘part of the UN’, adding: ‘She also does a lot of charity work which was probably their original connection’.
An archive clip appears of Meghan telling an audience: ‘If there is a problem out there and we have the means to really find the call to action and do something about it then I completely believe that it’s our responsibility to do it.’
Summing up her thoughts immediately after the news of her relationship was made public, Meghan says: ‘There was a frenzy happening, and it almost felt as if all the things we were nervous about had actually turned out fine. But that very quickly changed.’
Meghan describes visiting a flower shop in Toronto and walking outside to find ‘nine or ten paps’
At this point the action switches to Toronto in 2016, with Meghan seen walking down a street as she narrates her experience of paparazzi photographers.
She says: ‘I remember going to get flowers, coming out of the flower shop, and there must have been nine or ten paps standing in the middle of the street.
‘And they were saying ”Hi, how are you doing Meghan” and I said ”thanks, stay warm guys”. And I remembered H the next day saying I couldn’t talk to them.
‘I was like, ”I’m just trying to be pleasant, I’ve never dealt with this before”. But he said the UK media are saying you love it – you’re smiling, you love it.’
The duchess describes how she felt the media had ‘descended’ on Toronto and says: ‘Long distance relationships are work no matter what way you slice it, then you add this layer. And bear in mind we’re still discovering things about each other.’
The narrative then switches back to Meghan’s childhood in America, with Doria appearing on camera for a second time.
The duchess recounts how she’d go to the grocery store and how women would ask ‘who’s child is this?’ – with customers not believing Doria could be her mother because of her dark skin.
Doria then describes Meghan’s early years, saying: ‘We were close to my mum, her grandma. My sister and girlfriends were also close by. So we had a nice network of women who really helped me raise Meg.
‘She was always so easy to get along with, very congenial. She was a very emphatic child, very mature. I remember asking Meg if I felt like her mom and she said I felt like her older, controlling sister – I never forgot that.’
The duchess meets her old headmistress, with the pair hugging during an emotional reunion.
She then reads a note Meghan put in a yearbook aged 11 which thanked her before adding in a ‘PS’: ‘When I am rich and famous, when I write my life story I will talk about you and the school so you will be known worldwide.’
Meghan tells an interviewer how she was a ‘nerd growing up’, adding that ‘this is an important part people don’t know about me’.
‘I was not the pretty one,’ she says. ‘My entire identity was wrapped up in being the smart one.’
After recounting a familiar story of how Meghan once wrote to Proctor and Gamble aged 11 to complain about a ‘sexist’ washing-up liquid advert, the duchess talks about how she first became involved with acting.
The episode recounts the familiar story of how she wrote to Proctor and Gamble aged 11 to complain about a ‘sexist’ washing-up liquid advert
A letter Meghan sent to the company complaining about the advert for ‘Ivory Clear Dishwashing Liquid’
‘After school I would see my dad, who was a lighting director. Sometimes I’d go on the set of this TV sitcom called Married With Children.
‘I loved being on set and I loved the camaraderie of a crew.’
Previously unseen footage is shown of Meghan in a school play, before Doria comes back on camera.
‘I couldn’t help her with her homework, she was way smarter than me,’ Doria says.
‘I would say Meg’s an old soul,’ she adds, before footage flashes up of Meghan aged 13 telling an audience: ‘We will always dedicate ourselves to making it a better world.’
The duchess describes her graduation at the Hollywood Bowl, a concert venue, before recounting a shocking story.
‘The last concert I went to there I went to with my mom,’ she says.
‘We were in the parking lot leaving and my mom honked her horn because she was taking a long time to leave and she turned around and screamed the N-word.
‘I remember the grip that her hands had on the steering wheel and you could see it was so tight that the knuckles were all white. She was silent the rest of the drive home.
‘I’d never in my life heard someone say the N-word. It’s very different to be a minority but not be treated as a minority right off the bat.
‘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 as a black woman.’
Meghan at her high school graduation
Footage of Meghan aged 13 telling an audience: ‘We will always dedicate ourselves to making it a better world’
Meghan in a school play
Doria says: ‘In hindsight absolutely I would like to go back and have that kind of real conversation about how the world sees you.’
The narrative pans back to the early days of Meghan and Harry’s relationship.
Doria tells the interviewer: ‘I said to her, I remember very clearly, that this is about race. And Meg said ”mommy, I don’t want to hear that”.’
Meghan says: ‘At that time I wasn’t thinking about how race played a part in any of this. I genuinely didn’t think about it.’
Harry then describes how the Palace would be reluctant to hit back against stories, and says his family felt that being criticised in the Press was a ‘right of passage’.
‘Some of the members of the family were like ”my wife had to go through that so why should your girlfriend be treated differently?
‘And I said the difference here is the race element.’
Harry says he ‘sleepwalked’ through life before meeting Meghan, who taught him about racial issues, before previously unseen footage appears of their son, Archie.
‘I think it’s such a responsibility as human beings that if you bring a small person into this world that you should be making a world a better place for them,’ he says.
‘But equally, what’s most important for the two of us is to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes that perhaps our parents made.
‘I think most kids who are the product of divorced parents have a lot in common, no matter what your background is.
‘Being pulled from one place to the other, or maybe your parents are competitive. Or you’re in one place longer than you want to be and in another less than you want to be.’
Archie, speaking in an American accent, tells Meghan – who is filming – ‘I’ve got a dirty food mama, because I was with you!’
Episode two included previously unseen footage of the couple’s eldest son, Archie
Meghan said she found the ‘formality’ of being in the royal family ‘surprising’.
Speaking in episode two of the six-part Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries, she said: ‘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.’
Harry described during episode two how Meghan meeting the Queen for the first time was a ‘shock to the system’.
Harry said: ‘My grandmother was the first senior member of the family that Meghan met. She had no idea what it all consisted of so it was a bit of a shock to the system for her.’
Meghan said: ‘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 said: ‘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 added: ‘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.’
Harry and Meghan were asked if they were putting money before family as they graced a star-studded gala
Harry and Meghan have already made a number of claims in two trailers released by Netflix in recent days, claiming they had no protection from the Palace and accusing aides of actively leaking and ‘planting’ stories against them as part of a ‘dirty game’.
But the Royal Family believes the series will actually be slim on new revelations, with a source telling The Mirror: ‘There’s a real feeling in the camp that Harry and Meghan are making a lot of noise and there isn’t much more to say. But preparations are being made for all outcomes, especially if there are unjust accusations being made.’
Senior royals are said to be bracing for the worst and will be prepared to address any unfounded accusations as the new series drops on the streaming service at 8am GMT.
But the Royal Family believes the series will actually be slim on new revelations. A source told The Mirror: ‘There’s a real feeling in the camp that Harry and Meghan are making a lot of noise and there isn’t much more to say.
‘But preparations are being made for all outcomes, especially if there are unjust accusations being made.’
Members of the Sussexes’ now defunct household are also said to be ‘seething with rage’ over trailers for the six-part documentary.
Officials from both Buckingham and Kensington Palace will watch the first three episodes of the series this morning.
But it is understood that the Prince and Princess of Wales will refuse to watch the first three episodes of the documentary.
An insider also told The Sun that the royals are reluctant to engage in a tit-for-tat battle over the series.
They said: ‘If there are parts which are blatantly wrong, then it is only right that they are corrected.
‘The trailers already have some glaring errors and misrepresentations, which doesn’t bode well for the full series. But the plan is to keep schtum and carry on.’
But sources told the newspaper they are unlikely to respond until the full series has been released – due next Thursday.
It is understood that Netflix offered a right of reply to senior royals to allow them the chance to respond to any allegations featured in the series.
But Buckingham and Kensington Palace both deny receiving any such approach.
Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, have vowed that it is just the ‘beginning’ and have earlier spoken of ‘sweeping down walls of oppression’.
But Netflix’s use of ‘misleading’ footage in two trailers for the series would not have been tolerated by British broadcasters, according to producers.
Former BBC and Channel 4 commissioning editor Peter Grimsdale said lawyers would have intervened before the trailer was released.
He told The Times: ‘It’s almost hard-wired into us to make sure we know where every shot comes from because that’s the sort of thing that if there were complaints about it, you would be in real trouble.
‘There’s a certain duty of care. I think people working for Sky would feel the same way. It’s partly a function of regulations just being different in America.’
Mr Grimsdale added: ‘99.9 per cent of the time this doesn’t happen because everyone checks.’
It comes after the Sussexes faced an awkward grilling from journalists about their explosive documentary in New York on Tuesday night.
Harry and Meghan were asked if they were putting money before family as they graced a star-studded gala hosted by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights organisation, where they received an award for fighting racism in the Royal Family.
The pair did not give a direct response, but the duke could be heard saying ‘so many questions’ before they were escorted inside.
Earlier, they told the ceremony that their war against ‘oppression’ has only just begun.
Harry and Meghan delivered the politically charged pre-taped remarks after being honoured with an award for fighting racism in the Royal Family by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, a prize that counts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton among its former recipients.
Meghan also talked about her struggle with suicidal thoughts since becoming a member of the Royal Family, telling the audience she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ and revealing that the decision not to end her life ‘wasn’t easy’, in remarks echoing those made during her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In a speech praising the late RFK, the Duke of Sussex told the star-studded Ripple of Hope Gala: ‘As we all face a complete and challenging time in the world, we choose the path of optimism of care for each other and our communities.
‘We understand this honour, not about the culmination of a life’s work, but instead and in many ways for us, a beginning.’
He said: ‘Bobby Kennedy said, ”Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.”’
His wife said: ‘The enduring dream of RFK of a just and peaceful world is so much more than a simple hope. It’s a direct ask, a specific challenge, a call to action, a test of individual courage and collective spirit. And his appeal to humanity is as relevant today as it was in 1966 when he stood before the University of Cape Town, a place we’ve visited and hold close to our hearts. And he delivered a vision for the common good of society.
‘He also said those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance’.
Friends and family snub Harry and Meghan’s Netflix show: Elton, Oprah, Edward Enninful and the Obamas AREN’T taking part in bombshell series
Alison Boshoff, chief showbusiness writer for the Daily Mail
Prince Harry and Meghan’s most famous celebrity friends – and almost all of their families – have snubbed their bombshell Netflix documentary.
In publicity material released ahead of today’s transmission of the first three episodes, Netflix has promised that interviews with ‘friends and family’ of the couple will feature.
But the Mail can reveal key allies – including Elton John, Vogue editor Edward Enninful and Prince Harry’s ‘surrogate Dad’, the music producer David Foster – are not taking part.
It is thought that Oprah Winfrey is not a part of it either, and nor are the Obamas.
Moreover there will also not be a single royal ‘talking head’ in the Harry & Meghan series – not even Princess Eugenie with whom they remain close.
Harry and Meghan’s new show, which comes out on Netflix tomorrow, is promised interviews with ‘friends and family’. Pictured: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021
The Obamas are not thought to be taking part in the programme. Pictured: Prince Harry speaks to Barack Obama at a wheelchair basketball match during the 2017 Invictus Games
Of all the absences, perhaps the most surprising is Vogue editor Edward Enninful. He landed a major coup when Meghan agreed to guest edit the September 2019 issue, Forces for Change.
It was the fastest selling edition in Vogue’s history and in an article for the publication, Meghan wrote that she and Enninful were ‘like-minded thinkers who have so much in common’.
The following year, Enninful said he felt she had been criticised unfairly in the media storm over Megxit – the couple’s move to California.
But sources close to the Vogue editor confirmed that he was not taking part. He recently praised the Princess of Wales for her ‘graceful’ fashion sense.
Elton John, a key ally of the couple, is another who is thought not to be taking part in the show. Pictured: Elton John attends the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Oprah Winfrey is not thought to be appearing on their Netflix show. Pictured: Oprah (right) speaks to Harry and Meghan (left) during their interview in 2021
Another absent influential figure is Sir Elton, a great friend of Princess Diana’s who has gone out of his way to defend Harry and Meghan in the past.
He and husband David Furnish have had them for family holidays at his home near Nice in France and Furnish was among executives working on the proposed Archewell show Pearl, which was later shelved.
Last week Prince Harry sent the singer a video message thanking him for being a friend to the couple and their children, and to his late mother.
Sir Elton is regarded as an unofficial godfather to both William and Harry and was among the guests at William’s wedding. The Waleses had their first dance to Sir Elton’s Your Song.
Music producer Mr Foster has not taken part, a spokesman confirmed this week. He and Harry grew close during the Megxit crisis and Mr Foster helped to find them a temporary home in Canada before they settled in California.
Meghan and Mr Foster’s wife, Katharine McPhee, are old classmates and the four have been seen dining together in California where they all live.
And it can also be revealed that their preferred journalist, Omid Scobie, is not among those in the show.
Vogue editor Edward Enninful is another who is not thought to be appearing. Pictured: Edward Enninful at Paris Fashion Week in October 2019
Representatives for Miss Winfrey and the Obamas did not return requests for comment but sources in America say both are wary of being drawn into what they see as a ‘family drama’.
Guy Pelly, one of William and Harry’s oldest friends, is also not appearing, the Mail was told. Nor is former Vanity Fair editor and royal biographer Tina Brown, who has been covering dramas surrounding Buckingham Palace since the early days of Diana.
It was confirmed yesterday that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – the best friends of the Sussexes among the young royals – are not taking part.
Their mother Sarah, the Duchess of York – no stranger to a tell-all TV special – is also not going to be on camera, and neither is her ex-husband Andrew.
King Charles, Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales will naturally not feature.
A spokesman for Earl Spencer declined to comment on whether he or his sisters Jane and Sarah might appear, but sources indicate that it’s unlikely any of them would.
Which leaves only Meghan’s mum, Doria Ragland, as a possible family member appearing on the series. She has never previously spoken on camera and her rumoured appearance was, as of last night, still unconfirmed.
Meanwhile there are signs of a backlash from the public about the high-profile show. So far, the first Netflix trailer on YouTube has 20,000 likes and 288,000 dislikes and the second has 16,000 likes and 133,000 dislikes.