Harry & Meghan, directed by Liz Garbus

[admin]

Harry & Meghan
Episode 2

[New York, November 2021]



[Driver] So, yes, so when we come out of here, we're gonna go all the way to the West Side Highway. But as soon as we get on it, if you can grab me the lane all the way to the left against the center median.

[Man on radio]Not a problem.

[Driver] Um, southbound.

[Man 1] They're gonna be waiting.

[Driver] They're camped out now.

[Man] Yeah.

[Driver] Unfortunately.



[Meghan Markle] Thank you. Okay.

Hello! [Prince Harry] Weee! [Meghan Markle] Hello!

[Prince Harry] How are you? Hi, Matt.

[Matt] Good morning.

[Meghan Markle] Never a dull moment.

[Man] Oh no.



[Meghan Markle] Okay.



[Prince Harry] Mm-hm? Do you know how long the drive is?

[Meghan Markle] Maybe like, um, I don't know now with our detour. Matt, how long is the drive gonna be?

[Matt]Uh, I looked before, 20-something minutes.

[Meghan Markle] Okay.

[Matt] Let mr just double check cause I wasn't getting good service.



[Meghan Markle] Do we have that pap on the scooter again?

[Matt] Yes, ma'am.

[Meghan Markle] Oh we do, really? Same guy?

[Matt] Same guy.

[Megan Markle] Oh my God.

[Matt] I watched him go into this park.



[Prince Harry] He's going to be with us?

[Matt] Yes, sir. He was just ahead.



[Prince Harry] There's a lot of people who think, "They've got such a problem with the paparazzi."



[Meghan Markle] There was um, the guys in the basement of the building too, as we were doing that walk, they were recording, just so you're aware.



[Prince Harry] Back in my mum's days, it was physical harassment. You know, cameras in your face, following you, chasing you.



[wistful music playing]



[Meghan Markle] He's following us?

[Prince Harry] Who?



[Meghan Markle] This pap. Safety first. Worst case scenario. The worst case scenario, we're going from one garage to another. Like it's not the end of the world.



[Prince Harry] Paparazzi still harass people.





The harassment really exists more online now.





Once the photographs are out and the story is then put next to it,



then comes the social media harassment.

Megass needs to rot somewhere I loathe that thing she's trying to kill the Queen just like they killed Philip
thesun.co.uk/fabulous/16319
11:46 PM Jul 26, 2021

[The Sun on Sunday
Queen's Hard Megxit for Couple
Meg and Harry hand back £2.4m
They have to give up HRH titles
But they STILL pocket Charles cash
And WE will fork out for security
PAYBACK TIME]

Meghan Markle declares war on Queen telling pals 'nothing stopping' her using "Sussex Royal" brand.
I wouldn't bet on that young lady!
express.co.uk/news/royal/124...]

No divorced American slags need apply.

Smegsy you fucking bitch, look at what ...

I am so fed up seeing MeAgain everywhere.

To see another woman in my life who I love,

Meghan Markle started a Race War.

we hate you MM!

You cunt!

The only title for Meghan is bitch!

go through this feeding frenzy. That's hard.

Bottom line: #MeghanMarkle is just a bitch. @RoyalFamily #Sussexroyal @KensingtonRoyal #MEGXIT
Meghan would like the world to see her & her behavior through her eyes as 'PERFECTION' Meghan speeks to hear what she wants everyone to hear, but does what she wants to do believing no one will talk.
Palace Staffers Tell All!
THE TRUTH ABOUT MEGHAN

It is basically, the hunter versus the prey.





[Prince Harry] We'll be with friends in less than ten minutes.

[Meghan Markle] Yeah.



[Emotive theme music playing]

[Emotive theme music fades]

HARRY & MEGHAN

[Photographer] Sorry, do you mind leaning forward just one second.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] [clears throat]



[Woman] Can you just start off by introducing yourself to us?



[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's Mother] Sure. My name is Doria and I'm Meghan's mum.



And um, the last five years has been challenging. Yeah.

[Woman] How does it feel to be here talking about that today?

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's Mother] I'm ready to have my voice heard, that's for sure.



A little bit of my experience, you know, as her mom. Yeah.



[Woman] Do you remember, (laughs when Meg told you she was dating Harry?

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's Mother] I do. And when she told me, we were on the phone and she says,



(whispering) "Mommy, I'm going out with Prince Harry." And I started whispering,



(whispering) "Oh my God." She says, "You can't tell ..." And so it was from the beginning, it was very sort of, (whispering) "Oh my God. Nobody can, you know..." Mm-hmm, and I remember when I first met him too.



You know, he was like 6'1", handsome man with red hair. Really great manners. He was just really nice.



And they looked really happy together. Yeah, like he was the one.





Once it was announced that they were together, it seemed kind of like a novelty.



[Man on TV] It's official...

[SUNDAY EXPRESS
ROYAL WORLD EXCLUSIVE
HARRY'S SECRET ROMANCE WITH TV STAR]



[instrumental music playing]



[Man on TV] American actress, Meghan Markle, is the new girlfriend of Prince Harry.



[CELEBRATING 25 YEARS!
DELTA]



[Woman on TV] Prince Harry, it seems like he's fallen for somebody.



Rumored, her name is Meghan Markle.





[Woman on TV] She's on the show Suits in case you are wondering like, "How do we know her?"



[Woman on TV] She's the brainy beauty who's captured Prince Harry's heart.











[Woman on TV] Actress Meghan Markle has reportedly won the heart of royal bad boy, Prince Harry.



[crowd whooping, cheering]



[Woman on TV] I am so ... I am so excited!



[HELLO!
IS THIS PRINCE HARRY'S NEW GIRLFRIEND?
Secret Romance]



[DAILY EXPRESS
Romance is Blooming for Harry's Girl]

[VOGUE
Meet Meghan Markle: Prince Harry's Feminist, Philantropist, Actress Girlfriend
by Michelle Ruiz
November 18, 2016]



[Meghan Markle] Right when the news broke, I think we both felt tremendous relief.





And the people that I hadn't told I was dating H



were just texting me, "Is this true? Oh my gosh! What?!"



And people were just overjoyed.



[THE SUN
HARRY'S NEW LOVE?
Royal ‘besotted’ with Suits actress Meghan Markle as it’s claimed pair have been dating secretly for months – and she already has ‘seal of approval’ from Wills and Kate
The young royal is said to be 'besotted' with the Suits star
by kala paul-worika and kathryn cain
30 Oct 2016]



[US WEEKLY
HARRY'S SECRET ROMANCE]





[THE SUN
HIS AND HERS? Prince Harry and 'new flame' Meghan Markle pictured wearing matching bracelets]



[Vicky Tsai, Friend] When I saw the headlines, I was happy for her. It looked like a fairy tale.



[Dhrul Purohit, Friend] My sister called me and said, "Do you know who Meghan is with?



I think she's with Prince Harry."



And I said, "What?!"



[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] My phone just started going crazy.





I was like "What is happening?" And then, it was like this tidal wave.



[Female reporter] This young lady though is very philanthropic.





She's also a part of the UN.



She does a lot of charity work,



which was probably their original connection.



[Nicky, Harry's Childhood Friend] I remember we discussed this, "Wouldn't it be great



if somebody already had their identity, some successes



and had carved their role in the world?"





[Meghan Markle] 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.





[Woman on TV] All eyes are on that new transatlantic alliance. A British Prince and his American sweetheart.

[Meghan Markle] There was a frenzy happening.



And it almost felt like all the things we were nervous about, of it getting out,



"okay, don't worry. It's fine."



And then that very quickly changed.



[TORONTO 2016]

[Meghan Markle] 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 are all sort of blocking the car. And they said, "Hey, how are you doing, Meghan?" And I was like, "Oh, thanks. Stay warm, guys!" And I remember H the next day saying, "You can't talk to them." And I was like, "I'm just trying to be pleasant. Like, I don't know what to do. I've never dealt with this before." He's like, "Right, but the UK media are saying you love it. You're smiling. You love it."

[THE SUN
ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle shows off her new necklace with their initials
The smitten actress has made her feelings very clear with new bit of jewellery
by Ellie Henman
7 Dec 2016
Meghan Markle couldn't stop smiling as she was spotted wearing a necklace with their initials on it.
The Skins actress showed off her new piece of jewellery as she shopped for flowers in Toronto.]

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] I remember saying to her, "When this goes public, it is not gonna be easy." The UK media are notorious for doing whatever they can to get a story. And that they will go through rubbish bins, they will try and break into accounts. They will do whatever they can to get an exclusive and make money. I remember she was quite shocked. And she was like "Really? They would do that?" I said, "Well, yeah. When it's going to make them millions."

[Meghan Markle] It felt like all of the UK media descended upon Toronto.

[instrumental music playing]

[11-24-2016]

My house was just surrounded. Just men sitting in their cars all the time, waiting for me to do anything.

[Prince Harry] I was hearing all of this from thousands of miles away. And trying to do something about it, but being completely helpless.

[Meghan Markle] Then my neighbors texted me saying, "They're knocking on everyone's doord, trying to find you.

[camera shutters clicking]

They had paid certain neighbors to put like a live stream camera into my backyard. Suddenly, it was like everything about my life was just getting so much more insular. Like, all the curtains were pulled, all the blinds were pulled. Like, it was scary. My face was everywhere. My life was everywhere.

[THE SUN
Don't fall for my little sis, Harry, she'd be the next...
PRINCESS
PUSHY
MEG
MY DAY]

[US WEEKLY
HARRY'S SECRET ROMANCE
Sleeping over at the palace!
How things heated up quickly for Prince Harry and Suits star Meghan Markle]

[DAILY STAR
Meghan will always be my princess -- Family share sweet photos of Harry girl
THESE sweet snaps show stunning Meghan Markle before she grew up to steal Prince Harry's heart.
by Helene Perkins
18 Dec 2016
HARRY GIRL WINS BY SMILES]

[Women's Weekly
Meghan's
SHOCK PAST
Is Harry heading for trouble?]

[THE SUN
WORLD PICTURE EXCLUSIVE
Harry and his Meg
1st SNAP OF PRINCE WITH LOVE
by Emily Andrews
Royal Correspondent
PRINCE Harry and girlfriend Meghan Markle are pictured together for the first time as they enjoy a theatre date last night.
The couple wore beanie hats and strolled among shoppers along Piccadilly and Shaftesbury Avenue in London's West End.
A pal said: "They are clearly not afraid to be seen in public together."]



Tabloids had taken over everything. Long distance relationships are work, no matter what way you slice it. And then you add this layer? And look, bearing in mind you're still discovering things about each other.

[Prince Harry] There were things that were said and things that were written that I had to go to her to ask. And, that was the hardest piece.

[Prince Harry] And so it really accelerates the learning curve [laughs] in a relationship.

[CNN
TONGUES WAG ABOUT PRINCE HARRY'S REPORTED GIRLFRIEND]


[Female presenter] Tongues are wagging, needless to say. Let's find out more about her and what people are saying. What do we know about this mysterious woman, Paula?

[MIRACLE MILE, LOS ANGELES
January 2022]

[Meghan Markle] Such a sweet neighborhood.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] Yeah. I remember you came home one day from Immaculate Heart. You said, "We live over a garage." I was like, "Yeah, it's a great spot."

[Meghan Markle] It was a great house. We walked down the driveway.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] That was our driveway. It was private.

[Meghan Markle] Oh, my gosh.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] We had our parties back there.

[wistful music playing]

[Meghan Markle] Because, I remember I would take a little wagon and come down the driveway and then be able to come back up the other side.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] Mm-hm.

[wistful music continues]

[Meghan Markle] I grew up in LA, and I just remember my mom telling me stories about taking me to the grocery store and women going "Whose child is that? You must be the nanny." She's like, "It's my child." They are like, "No, you must be the nanny. Where's her mom?" Because I was really fair-skinned and my mom darker. My parents lived in the Valley until I was about two. And when their relationship ended, she and I moved to a maybe like 40-minute drive from there. At the time, it was mostly a Black community where my mom and I were living.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] We were close to my mom, her grandma. And my sister was close by. And my girlfriends were 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, making friends. You know, she was a very empathic child. Very mature. I remember asking Meg if I feel like her mom. And she told me that I felt like her older controlling sister. I never forgot that.

[children chattering indistinctly]

[HOLLYWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE
ESTBL. 1945
curiosity
fearless
learning
inspired]

[Meghan Markle] [Meghan squeals] Oh, Miss Debbie! I can't believe it!

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] Hello, Duchess!

[Meghan Markle] Oh my God! How are you?

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] I'm very well.

[Meghan Markle] Aww!

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] So happy to see you!

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] Nice to see you.

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] So much love to you.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] Oh, my goodness. It's amazing. What a great choice this was to start Meg here. And your mom, and ...

[Meghan Markle] When we went back to, we still call it the Little Red School House. But Hollywood School House. I was there from ages 2 to 12. It was so nice to be back.

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] I want you to see what you wrote to me.

[Meghan Markle] Oh my gosh! Show me. [laughs]

[Miss Debbie, Former Principal] Your penmanship was fantastic. Go ahead and read that. But I want you to pay attention to the PS.

[Meghan Markle] "Dear Ms. Debbie, you have helped me so much since I was two years old. I knew I could count on you to be there for me as a principal and also a friend. I can't thank you enough. Even though I was at this school for ten years, I wish I could have stayed for ten more. This school will always have a special place in my heart. Much love, Meghan. 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 laughing]

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] That's true.

[Meghan Markle] Says the 11-year-old.

[Miss Debbie, former principal] [laughing]

[Meghan Markle] Oh my God.

[instrumental music playing]

I was a big nerd growing up. This is like an important part that people don't understand about me. Like, I was not the pretty one. My entire identity was wrapped up in being the smart one. And there are those catalyzing moments in your life, and from my standpoint, I had this commercial change when I was young, because I found it to be sexist.

[Man on TV] Women are fighting greasy pots and pans with Ivory Clear.

[Meghan Markle] I was eleven.

[Young Meghan Markle] "Dear sir, last week at my school, we decided to watch the news for social studies. While flipping through the channels, we saw a commercial for the new Ivory Clear dishwashing liquid. In the commercial they said women are battling grease, meaning only women do dishes. When I heard this, the boys in my class started saying, "Yeah, that's where women belong, in the kitchen." So I was wondering if you would be able to change your commercial to people all over America."

[Man on TV] The gloves are coming off. People are fighting greasy pots and pans with Ivory Clear.

[Meghan Markle] I changed that commercial, from my little handwritten letter. And it was a big deal because I was going to middle school after that. So I was like I was the little activist.

[rock music playing]

[Susan Williger, Meghan's Childhood Friend] I met Meghan in the seventh grade. We were walking into all of our new classes and she was holding the door open, and tap dancing. And we became fast friends. We were both into a lot of the same extracurricular activities. And spent a lot of time in leadership roles at school, volunteering. When I ran for Student Council, she was like my campaign manager. And took it so seriously.

[Meghan Markle] 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. I loved it. And I loved the camaraderie of a crew.

[Susan Williger, Meghan's Childhood Friend] Tom did a lot for our school, being a lighting director, and Meghan being so involved with performances.

[Young Meghan Markle] [on stage] You could not.

[Boy] Could too.

[Young Meghan Markle] [on stage] You could not, Mr. Liar!

[Boy] I'm not lying!

[Susan Williger, Meghan's Childhood Friend] Meghan loved the theater. I would go to all of her musicals, performances.

[Young Meghan Markle] [on stage] [screaming]

[Susan Williger, Meghan's Childhood Friend] She was so passionate about it. And very driven to be successful.

[CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT
Is Presented to
Rachel Meghan Markle
for Scholastic Excellence
This 11th day of June 1993
By the Hollywood Little Red School House
Debra Pease Wehbe, Director]

[CERTIFICATE OF HONOR
This certificate is presented to
Meghan Markle
as an acknowledgement
of outstanding achievement in Drama III
Immaculate Heart High School
May 19, 1998]

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] I couldn't help her with her homework. She was way smarter. She got straight A's. Very disciplined. I would say that Meg's an old soul.

[Young Meghan Markle, Age 13] [Giving graduation speech] We will always dedicate ourselves to making it a better world. Thank you.

[crowd applause]

[Meghan Markle] This is where I had my high school graduation. The Hollywood Bowl. A hundred and three girls on the stage, all wearing white gowns. Not like cap and gowns, like beautiful white gowns. There it is. It's also, the last concert I went to there, I went to with my mom. And we were in the parking lot leaving, and my mom like honked her horn, because this woman was taking a long time to like figure out how to get out. And the woman turned around and screamed the N-word at my mom. I just remembered my mom like, I remember the grip that her hands had on the steering wheel. And, and, like you could see that her fist was so tight, like the knuckles get all white. And she was just silent the rest of the drive home. We never talked about it.

[somber music playing]

[Meghan Markle] I had 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. I will just say 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 like a "Black woman." So that talk didn't have to happen for me.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] As a parent, in hindsight, absolutely, I would like to go back and have that kind of real conversation about how the world sees you.

[Woman, The Real GirlChat] Can you imagine if he... You be Harry, and I'm gonna be, you know, the Queen.

[Woman 2, The Real GirlChat] [Imitating English accent] Grandmother, I met this beautiful woman, and she just happens to be mixed-race.

[all laughing]

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] I said to her -- I remember this very clearly -- that this is about race. And Meg said, "Mommy, I don't wanna hear that." And I said, "You may not want to hear it but this is what's coming down the pike."

[Meghan Markle] At that time, I wasn't thinking about how race played a part in any of this. I genuinely didn't think about it.

[Daily Mail.com
EXCLUSIVE: Harry's girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed -- so will he be dropping by for tea?
Prince Harry's New girl, Suits star Meghan Markle, is from Crenshaw, LA
Crenshaw has endured 47 crimes in the past week -- including murder
Gangs, including the Bloods, count the neighborhood as their territory]

[Prince Harry] Within that first week that it became public knowledge, the first story was, 'Harry's new girl [almost], in brackets, straight outta Compton.' I was like, "Whoa!"

[Meghan Markle] Well firstly, I'm just not from Compton. I've never lived in Compton. So it's factually incorrect. But why do you have to make a dig at Compton?

[somber music playing]

[Prince Harry] The direction from the palace was, "Don't say anything."

[Meghan Markle] "No comment. Everyone just say, No comment."

[Prince Harry] 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'd been put through as well. So it was almost like a rite of passage. And some of the members of the family were like, but "Right. 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."

[DAILY STAR
November 3, 2016
ONE'S GONE GANGSTER
by Louise Berwick
Prince Harry could marry into gangster royalty - his new love is from a crime-ridden Los Angeles neighbourhood.
Meg's a Brit dunce]

[The Daily Star
"Harry's hottie Meghan Markle comes from one of the city's roughest suburbs, famed for its gangland wars."]

[Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE: Meet the family! How Harry's American girl's ancestors were a tailor, a teacher and a cleaner in racially divided Jim Crow South - while his were ruling the British Empire]

[Daily Mail
Prince Harry's new girl, Suits star Meghan Markle, is from Crenshaw, LA
Crenshaw has endured 47 crimes in the past week - including murder
Markle' social worker mom, Doria Ragland, lives in the run-down area]

[tense music playing]

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] They would take pictures of different parts of, say, skid row, and say that was where I lived and that was where she was from.

[camera shutters clicking]

[NATIONAL ENQUIRER
ROYAL SHAME!
Meghan Markle's Mom Hits the Laudromat
Prince Harry's princess frolics in Africa while her mother toils like a peasant!]


[Meghan Markle] It was horrible. But I continued to hold the line, like, "say nothing."

[Prince Harry] Eight days after the relationship became public, I put out a statement, calling out the racist undertones of articles and headlines that were written by the British press, as well as outright racism from those articles across social media.

[A Statement by the Communications Secretary to Prince Harry
Published 8 November 2016
Since he was young, Prince Harry has been very aware of the warmth that has been extended to him by members of the public. He feels lucky to have so many people supporting him and knows what a fortunate and privileged life he leads.



He is also aware that there is significant curiosity about his private life. He has never been comfortable with this, but he has tried to develop a thick skin about the level of media interest that comes with it. He has rarely taken formal action on the very regular publication of fictional stories that are written about him and he has worked hard to develop a professional relationship with the media, focused on his work and the issues he cares about.

But the past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public - the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments. Some of it has been hidden from the public - the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life.

Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm. He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game’. He strongly disagrees. This is not a game - it is her life and his.

He has asked for this statement to be issued in the hopes that those in the press who have been driving this story can pause and reflect before any further damage is done. He knows that it is unusual to issue a statement like this, but hopes that fair-minded people will understand why he has felt it necessary to speak publicly.]

[Sombre music playing]

[female reporter1] Kensington palace issuing a statement about the harassment being experienced by Meghan Markle.

[female reporter2] Now, he says that she has suffered abuse and harassment with racist undertones.

[female reporter3] Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle's safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. This is not a game, it's her life.

[Dickie Arbiter, Former Royal Press Secretary] It is a very clear message to the British press, "Back off."

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] She was a princess straight out of Compton. It was brutal, but it was also in some ways unsurprising.

[dramatic music playing]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] The UK tabloids have a very unique role to play in British life. On one hand they have a real sensationalized element that loves the gossip. But equally, it's not just entertainment, because the tabloids have been arbiters of public opinion for such a long time. A number of the tabloids could sway governments. At election time, they are the popular press for a reason.

[Daily Mail.com
Sorry Harry, but your beautiful bolter has failed my Mum Test
by Rachel Johnson for the Mail on Sunday
5 November 2016
When I look at Meghan Markle – the American small-screen actress currently starring as "Harry’s Hottie" – I can’t help it. I assess her as a future daughter-in-law.

Prince Harry, 32, lost his mother when he was a boy, and ever since that dark day I’ve had feelings for him. Maternal feelings. And every time he has a girlfriend, I subject her to the "Mum Test". I try to decide whether Princess Diana (and the Queen) would give Chelsy, or Cressida, or Jenna, or whomever, the thumbs-up or down as a potential Royal consort and addition to The Firm.

So I have done my due diligence on Miss Markle, and this is where I stand. Genetically, she is blessed. If there is issue from her alleged union with Prince Harry, the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA. Miss Markle’s mother is a dreadlocked African-American lady from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in LA, and even the sourest spinster has to admit that the 35-year-old actress is extremely easy on the eye. Miss Markle has an active social conscience, and anti-landmine campaigner Princess Diana would be delighted that she is the Ambassador for World Vision and has toured Afghanistan and Rwanda as part of her humanitarian effort.

She is also an accomplished actress and, indeed, her role as sultry paralegal Rachel Zane in TV series Suits is so popular that some clips from it have been viewed many, many thousands of times online (on a site I’m afraid readers will be unacquainted with called YouPorn).

Like Princess Diana, she wears her heart on her sleeve, and is emotionally open. "My cup runneth over," she told the Toronto Sun, in her only comment on her new squeeze. "And I’m the luckiest girl in the world."

As part of my research I had a look at her Instagram feed, along with the rest of the world, trying to read clues of her relationship status into pictures of bananas spooning and one of a jigsaw puzzle and a tea cup. (That one’s easy. "Jigsaw and cup of tea?" is, obvs, the couple’s secret, social media code for ‘Netflix and chill?’)

Apart from these teasing images (which add to the impression this showgirl has expertly ‘played’ the playboy Prince) you will find motivational quotes such as "Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti" and cute pictures of her two rescue dogs. This is all good so far, but there are, I admit, a couple of things that don’t pass the Mum Test.

She’s divorced and, as soon as she met Prince Harry, she is said to have dropped her gorgeous chef boyfriend like a hot brick, as she reeled in the biggest fish in the dating universe by not replying to Harry’s texts for several days (that old trick!).

And that’s a red line for a future mother-in-law. You see, if a girl does it to one man, to two men – there’s every chance she’ll do it to your son, too. As far as the Royal Family is concerned, a bolter is far worse than a black sheep.

Harry needs a sticker, a tremendous, limpet-like sticker, like Sophie Wessex. Or Kate Middleton. Nobody cares that Miss Markle is mixed race or a tease, but racy is a different story. Racy is not official Wife Material. Flirty Harry has met his match – and that means one thing.

I’ve turned up my hearing aid, but I’m still not hearing wedding bells, not this side of the Atlantic, anyway. Miss Markle may be truly scrumptious, but she still fails my Mum Test.]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] The British tabloid press exists both as a series of publications, but also as a mentality. And it's toxic. We have to recognize that this is a White industry. Black people are about 3.5% of the population, and they are about 0.2% of the journalists. So, people who come up with these headlines, they are doing so in a newsroom that's almost entirely White. And they get to decide whether something has crossed the line of being racist. And anyone who steps into the public eye, particularly someone who's female and someone who is Black, is fair game in their minds.

[53RD NAACP IMAGE AWARDS
February 2022]

[Prince Harry] I'll take it from here.
[Meghan Markle] Woo!

[Woman] They are gonna take you in just a few minutes here.

[Meghan Markle] I've come a long way from Little Red School House.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] That's right.

[Meghan Markle] Are you nervous?

[Prince Harry] Yes.

[Meghan Markle] Just go with the flow. [Laughter] Urgh!

[Meghan Markle] People don't talk about what it's like to be mixed race. So much of my self-identification was trying to figure out where I fit in. And I think a lot of that is, like, you're not White enough or you're not Black enough. But I don't see the world that way.

[Anthony Anderson] Nice to meet you.

[Meghan Markle] You too. My mom's here too tonight.

[Anthony Anderson] Mama! Meghan Markle's mom is here too. [To Prince Harry] How are you, brother? Anthony. Nice to meet you, man. Pleasure.

[Prince Harry] One thing I've learnt is that we don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are. By the time I met Meghan, I think I had traveled half of the Commonwealth. I met people in communities all around the world. And through that, I thought I knew. I thought I had an awareness to issues, ways of living, unconscious bias. Like, all of it.

[Male announcer] And now, it is my honor to present the NAACP President's Award to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

[crowd applause]

[Prince Harry] But hearing her talk and having seen her have conversations and chats, well, I was just like, "Well, here you are just blissfully, like, I guess, sleepwalking through life."

[Prince Harry] I think it's safe to say that I come from a very different background than my incredible wife. Yet our lives were brought together for a reason. We share a commitment to a life of service. A responsibility to confront injustice, and a belief that the most often overlooked are the most important to listen to.

[Meghan Markle] And I couldn't be prouder that we are doing this work together. We moved to California, my home state, shortly before the murder of George Floyd. And for Black America, those nine minutes and 29 seconds transcended time, invoking centuries of our unhealed wounds.

[Prince Harry] My son, my daughter, my children, are mixed race, and I'm really proud of that. When my kids grow up and they look back at this moment, and they turn to me and say, "What did you do in this moment?" I want to be able to give them an answer.

[Prince Harry] [Harry singing] ♪ Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it's off to work we go ♪ [Harry whistling]

[wistful music playing]

[Prince Harry] I think it's such a responsibility as human beings that if you bring a small person into this world, that you should be doing everything you can to make the world a better place for them.

[Archie chatters]

[Prince Harry] Look at Mummy's legs, Archie. [whispering] We won't get a chance to be this close to hummingbirds ever again.

[Archie] Why?

[Prince Harry] [whispering] Because they're scared of humans. These guys, look at them! Archie!

[Archie] I've got a dirty foot, mama! Because I was with you. [laughing]

[Meghan Markle] [laughing] Oh my God!

[Archie] I've got a dirty foot.

[Meghan Markle] You've got a dirty foot, sweetheart. Papa is a bird watcher, so this is a really big moment for him.

[hummingbird chirping]

[Prince Harry] But equally, what's most important for the two of us is to make sure that we don't repeat the same mistakes that perhaps our parents made.

[Prince Harry] "Who's that? That is the centipede."

[Meghan Markle] There's so much I think from anyone's childhood that you bring with you into the present. Especially when you are the product of divorce.

[wistful music playing]

[Prince Harry] I think most kids who are the products of divorced parents have a lot in common, [laughs] no matter what your background is. Being pulled from one place to another, or maybe your parents are competitive, or you're in one place longer than you want to be and you're in another place less than you want to be. There's all sorts of pieces to that.

[Meghan Markle] Even though my parents co-parented well, you think about how that informs what you grew up to be and what you want. It's so funny, when I was 12, I was at Immaculate Heart, and one of the assignments was to write a poem about your life. And I remember this poem till this day, which was, Two houses, two homes, two kitchens, two phones, two couches where I lay, two places that I stay. Moving, moving, here and there, from Monday to Friday, I'm everywhere. Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad, but oftentimes it makes me sad. I want to live that nuclear life, with a happy dad and his loving wife, a picket fence, a shaggy dog, a fireplace with a burning log. But it's not real, it's just a dream, I cannot cry or even scream. So here I sit with cat number three, life would be easy if there were two of me.

[wistful string music playing]

[Meghan Markle] I was with my mom during the week and then with my dad on the weekends. And my dad lived alone. He had two adult children who had moved out of his house.

[May 19, 1993]

[Young Meghan Markle] Where's Daddy? Whoa. I gotta zoom back on you

[Thomas Markle] Gotta push that button on the back.

[Young Meghan Markle] Oh yeah.

[Thomas Markle] See? If you hit that button you go wide.

[Young Meghan Markle] Agh! Okay. Alright. Am I there? I wonder. Okay, see you later. Bye-bye.

[Meghan Markle] I was a daddy's-girl my whole life.

[Young Meghan Markle] Okay, I gotta press the button there.

[Meghan Markle] And I was with him a lot.

[Thomas Markle] Go ahead.

[Young Meghan Markle] Daddy's fishing.

[Thomas Markle] We're gonna catch fish for dinner, right?

[Young Meghan Markle] Fish for dinner. That's our goal. Yes it is.

[Meghan Markle] But I do remember also feeling lonely when I was a kid. And wanting to have more people around.

[Thomas Markle] Determined.

[Young Meghan Markle] What?

[Thomas Markle] Determined. (laughs)

[lively upbeat music playing]

[admin]

Episode 2 [Cont'd]

[2016]

[Abigail Spencer, Friend and "Suits" Co-Star] She had a whole life before she met H.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] She had a core group of friends, and Meg was very outgoing, super social. Living in Toronto. She was very openhearted.

[Meghan Markle] I lived in a great little residential community. I had my two dogs. And it was great. It was easy, low-key. Go for hikes and walks. You go to set. I loved my job.

[Male TV crew] Here they come. Get ready with the slates please. Lock it up.

[Chantelle Humphrey, Meghan's Former Personal Assistant] I feel Toronto is kind of a safe haven for actors who are working in the city. Meg would go to the grocery store and get recognized. And people would say, "Aren't you that girl from Suits?"

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] When we were out on the streets, she was the one always interacting with the fans. And like, "Let's take a selfie." And putting their arms around her.

[Meghan Markle] Of course! What's your name?

[Chantelle Humphrey, Meghan's Former Personal Assistant] Other than that, she had so much freedom. She had such a beautiful life before everything exploded.

[tense music playing]

[camera shutters clicking]

[shouting]

[Meghan Markle]Yeah, of course.

[Chantelle Humphrey, Meghan's Former Personal Assistant] It really did take a dark turn quickly.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] There is like a baked-in level of curiosity and opinion, dealing with royals that I have not seen before. The paparazzi started coming out to try to get eyes on her. And ...[sighs] ... there were people trying to buy call sheets from production assistants on our show, so they could find out when she was shooting. They'd get theses really long lenses and like hide on hills so that they could get a view of her. There were people breaking into the area where their trailers are, and trying to get pictures of her coming in and out of her trailer. It started feeling a little bit dangerous for her. At a certain point, we had to cage in all the trailers. And that was really challenging logistically, because she was on a TV show and her nature is to never make things more difficult for anyone. But I don't think anyone knew how to manage that new normal.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] I was terrified somebody was gonna just be in her trailer waiting for her.

[Meghan Markle] I would say to the police, "If any other woman in Toronto right now said to you, 'I have six grown men who are sleeping in their cars around my house and following me everywhere that I go, and I feel scared,' wouldn't you say it was stalking?" And they said "Yes, but there's really nothing we can do because of who you are dating." So I'm just supposed to live like this? And then I got a death threat, and then things changed because I needed to have security.

[Steve Davies, Meghan's Former Security Detail] I was hired by NBC to take over the security for Meghan. And this has been the most intense situation with the media. I mean, I've worked with A-list celebrities before, high net-worth families before. This blew the meter right out the water.

[Woman] Meg, c'mon!

[Steve Davies, Meghan's Former Security Detail] The paparazzi, they'll do what they have to do to get a picture. My job was to make sure that they didn't really know where we were going and when we were going there. We had a special driver taking myself and Meghan to the studio all the time. He was trained in evasive driving. And we used to have to take different routes to the studio to get away from the paparazzi that were chasing us. And when we were coming back down to the residence after the studio, there were people on radios letting people know we were coming back down into the area. So we had to go down in alleys and bring Meghan to the back of the house, open the garage door, make sure no one was there so we could sneak in.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Chantelle Humphrey, Meghan's Former Personal Assistant] It was scary. There were people constantly at her door, or trying to get into her house, or trying to get around so that they can find her.

[Steve Davies, Meghan's Former Security Detail] Mail was screened that was coming into the studio. There were some things that came in that were a little bit out of the ordinary and we used to send those over to Harry's security detail in the UK and they used to take care of those situations and monitor what was going on.

[Meghan Markle] When all of that started happening, my friends and people in my life who love me and care about me are like, "Is he worth this?" Like, "We know that you're happy and we know that you love him. Is he worth this? Look at what's happening to your life."

[April 2017]

[Meghan Markle] We just did everything we could to be there for each other.

OK so what I know so far:

May 4-8 M to London - booked

May 16-21 M to London - booked

June 12-15 M to London Need to book

June 30-July 4 M to London Need to book

[Meghan Markle]We had to stay connected. We wouldn't have survived it if we weren't.

[Prince Harry] I don't know how we did it, but we did it.

[instrumental music playing]

[Prince Harry] Most of the time, we were on the other side of the Atlantic. She was in Canada working. I would try to get over and see her, and she would get over and see me more.

[Meghan Markle] I would go straight from set to the airport. Get there, land. Get harassed. Try to get to him discretely, hunker down. And then fly right back and go to set. Just rinse and repeat. Constantly.

[Prince Harry] Dating became this combination of car chases, anti-surveillance driving and [inhales deeply] ... disguises. [chuckles] Which isn't a particularly healthy way to start a relationship. But we always came at it with as much humor as possible. Whenever we saw each other, we would just give each other a massive hug and ... [inhales] try and have as much of a normal life as possible. So we'd go away and have a weekend with her with a group of friends.

[Meghan Markle] [laughing] It's so funny if I look back at it now, because now I know so much, and I'm so glad I didn't then. Because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness.

[instrumental music playing]

[Meghan Markle] Even when Will and Kate came over and I had met her for the first time. They came for dinner. I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. Like, I was a hugger. I've always being a hugger. I didn't realize 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. That there is a forward-facing way of being. And then you close the door and you go, "Oh, great. Okay, we can relax now." But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.

[Prince Harry] 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 Markle] I mean, it's surreal.

[instrumental music playing]

[Meghan Markle] There wasn't like some big moment of, "And now you're gonna meet my grandmother." I didn't know I was gonna meet her until moments before. We were in the car, and we were going to Royal Lodge for lunch, and he was like, "Oh, my grandmother is here. She's gonna be there after church." And I remember, we were in the car, and driving up he said, "You know how to curtsy, right?" And I just thought it was a joke.

[regal music playing]

[Prince Harry] 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 Markle] Now I'm starting to realize this is a big deal. I mean, Americans will understand this. We have Medieval Times, dinner and tournament. It was like that. Like, I curtsied as though I was like... [chuckles] "Pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty." Like, "Was that okay?" It was so intense. And then when she left, Eugenie and Jack and Fergie say "You did great!" "Thanks?" I didn't know what I was doing.

[Prince Harry] I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed. Some of them didn't quite know what to do with themselves. [laughs] So I think they were ... they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman. And such an intelligent woman. But the fact that I was dating an American actress, was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else in the beginning. "Oh, she's an American actress. This won't last."

[Meghan Markle] The actress thing was the biggest problem, funny enough. There was a big idea of what that looks like from the UK standpoint. Hollywood and... [inhaling deeply] It was just very easy for them to typecast that.

"A Lot Like Love" (2005) Role: "Hot Girl"

[Meghan Markle] Hi.

[Male Actor] Hi.

[Other Male Actor] Hi.

[Meghan Markle] Hi.

[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] I first met Meghan, it was 2007. At that point she had already gotten cast in a few things. I got a phone call from an executive at Fox and they said, "We cast this girl and she was amazing, and she needs an agent, and we love you," and whatever. "You should meet her." I was like, "Great."

[instrumental music playing ]

[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] She had to just go in and meet and audition, and start from the ground up.

[Hollywood]

[Meghan Markle] It is very, very hard on your confidence to be an auditioning actor, especially when you don't fit into any box.

[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] I did not know she was biracial. I thought she was sun-kissed, California, freckly. And I don't even remember the point at which I found out she was biracial. And I think once I found out, I would send her out for Black roles. But sometimes I'd pitch her for those roles, and the casting would be like, "What do you mean?" And I'd be like, "Well, you know, she's biracial. Her mum is Black." And it was like, "No, she doesn't look it."

[Meghan Markle] When you hear "no" all the time, you go, "What's wrong with me? I'm not good enough for this or this or this." And it triggers the same stuff for me when I was a kid. I was like, where do I fit in?

[lively instrumental music playing]

[Heather Dorak, Friend] She was auditioning and getting close to roles, but not getting them. I was just so amazed and proud of her that like, you know, you fall down, you get back up. And she just kept going and going and going.

[Universal Studios]

[Meghan Markle] All I wanted was to be on a TV show with longevity and consistency.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] She was relentless, which was amazing, that she didn't throw in the towel. And then finally, the universe said yes.

[Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane] Mike Ross? Hi. I'm Rachael Zane. I'll be giving you your orientation.

[Mike Ross] Wow! You're pretty.

[Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane] Good. You've hit on me. We can get it out of the way that I'm not interested.

[Mike Ross] No.

[Male Actor] I always loved that picture.

[Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane] [laughs] Me too.

[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] Rachael Zane was really, in some ways, one of the first representations I'd seen of a real identified biracial woman. You know, seeing her family and how it fits together.

[Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane] I was a child.

[Male Actor] Most children let things go.

[Nick Collins, Meghan's Former Agent] And then, once they knew who she was, to their credit, they wrote to it.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] She'd just bring this, like, lightness. And for a director, she is such a simple actor in that she is always natural, but is absolutely trusting. She didn't overthink it. She just did it. And I think it put a lot of people at ease.

[Male Actor] Hi. Welcome to the Suits blooper reel, Season Five.

[soft rock music playing]

[Woman] Still rolling.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] All the cast really cared for each other. And Meg was the glue for a lot of those cast relationships.

[Meghan Markle on "Suits"] Blooper reel.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] I think she liked being part of something. But I don't think acting was actually her true passion. She just seemed like boiling over with ideas. That's how I would describe her at that time.

[lively instrumental music playing ]

I think she was on a track to do bigger things.

[Meghan Markle Videoing Herself] Right now, we are in Beverly Hills, and we're gonna pass the, um, Beverly Hilton Hotel, where I'll be on Sunday, meeting the other Northwestern people.

[Meghan Markle] At Northwestern, I double-majored in Theater and International Relations. And I just ... I loved writing. And I minored in English.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] So there is the brainy part. There is the care about how the world functions.

[Meghan Markle on video] Oh my god! [laughing] It's proper ice!

[Meghan Markle] I've never really been the type of person to do only one thing. I guess that's how my website was born.

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] When she first was describing it to me, she was like, "It's your best friend telling you all the fun things that you wish you knew about, in one place."

[Meghan Markle] There was fashion. There was tons of food and travel. It was all the things that I loved. And TheTig wasn't just a hobby. It became a really successful business.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend and "Suits" Co-Star] I always said to her, "I think you are a producer." Like, "I think you are a producer. I think you are an activist."

marie claire
ON HOW SHE MADE THE JUMP FROM POLITICS TO ACTING.

MEGHAN MARKLE: I'M MORE THAN AN 'OTHER'
-- 'Suits' star Meghan Markle on creating her identity and finding her voice as a mixed race woman.

[Meghan Markle] I was writing op-eds about your self worth, and about being biracial, and about volunteer work. When I would do Suits, I would, in hiatus, go to India. Go to Rwanda and do cause-driven work.

[people singing in Swahili]

[Meghan Markle] That's what I was excited about. I wasn't trying to find, like the great Indie film that's gonna get me an Oscar. No. I just wanted to go and volunteer.

[crowd cheering]

[UN WOMEN]

[March 2015]

[Meghan Markle] Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am tremendously honored to be UN Women's advocate for political participation and leadership. I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.

[crowd cheering]

[Silver Tree, Friend and Producer, "Suits"] She's fed through service. And I think H is like that too. And that's rare.

COVID VACCINE UN MEETING

September 2021

[Meghan Markle] Welcome, and thank you all so much for being here, truly. We're very grateful. This is something we've been...

[Meghan Markle] A lot of what H and I connected on in our courtship was that H and I have so many parallel interests even though our world and our lives were so different.

[Meghan Markle] For us, what's deeply important is this idea of equity. Be it racial equity, gender equity. And in this sense, vaccine equity. To just be equipped with the information that we need to be able to better serve this larger purpose.

[Prince Harry] From my perspective, I fell head over heels in love with her, because my heart told me that she was the one that I was gonna spend the rest of my life with. And then, once I got to know her even more, my head then told me, "Well, she's absolutely perfect for the role as well."

[soft music playing]

[Prince Harry] When it came to Meghan, that was, I guess, the case of finding a needle in a haystack.

[Interviewer] Tell me about the proposal, please.

[Meghan Markle] Why are you looking at me? You tell it.

[string music plays]

[November 2017]

[Prince Harry] I wanted to do it earlier. Like, I was... because I had to ask permission from my grandmother, I couldn't do it outside of the UK. I did pop a bottle of champagne while she was roasting a chicken and that kind of slightly gave the game away. She goes, "What's the occasion? You don't drink champagne." And I was like, "I don't know. Just had it laying around here, whatever."

[Meghan Markle] It was a magnum. [laughing]

[Prince Harry] Wasn't that I knew she'd say yes, but she'd already moved Guy over. So I had Guy as a hostage.

[Meghan Markle] My dog, yeah.

[Prince Harry] and he was in stilts, so he couldn't run away. And the little walled garden, being overlooked by the staff flats, I got 15 of those electric candles.

[Phone call to friend Jess]

[Meghan Markle whispering: Oh my God, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess. It's happening. Oh my God. He told me not to peek. Oh my God.

[Interviewer] What position were you in?

[Prince Harry] Uh, downward dog.

[Meghan laughing] That was good. That was really clever. You see? He's funny.

[Prince Harry] Of course I got down on one knee. Of course I did.

[Meghan Markle] He was down on one knee. I was just like, "Yes!" We were so joyful and excited. I was like, "Ah, we're doing this."

[Engagement Evening]

♪ I know why I've waited
♪ ♪ Know why I've been blue
♪ ♪ I've been waiting each day
♪ ♪ For someone exactly like you ♪

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] They were so happy. And they were gonna keep it quiet because it was gonna be announced a few weeks later. We had a little engagement party, and everyone was dressed in animal onesies. And Meg and Harry were in matching penguin onesies, because penguins mate for life. And they were so sweet. And we had so much fun.

[Lindsay Jill Roth, Friend] She felt like they could take on the world.

♪ She knew just around the corner
♪ ♪ Yes, she knew just around the corner
♪ ♪ That there was somebody exactly like you ♪

[BREAKING NEWS]

[HERE COMES THE PRINCESS BRIDE!]

[Female reporter] Breaking royal news. Prince Harry officially engaged to American actress Meghan Markle. The announcement putting weeks of speculation to rest.

[Male reporter] Lots of people are excited that she's gonna bring this fresh sparkle into the Royal Family, and it's all seen as good news.

[Man] I can't tell you how excited we are. The whole world is.

[Woman] It just shows how much more in touch with the general population the royal family is becoming.

[Male Reporter] Raise your hand. Does everyone know who Meghan Markle is?

[School children] Yeah. I think it will make a difference, um, slightly, because some people are really racist to other people because of their color. And, um, because Meghan Markle is joining the royal family, I think it might make them change their minds.

[Misan Harriman, Chair, Southbank Centre (London), Photographer, and Friend] The union of Harry and Meghan, for a lot of people of color and the Black community in the UK, possibly for the first time, made a lot of people feel seen.

[soft music playing]

[The New York Times

Meghan Markle Is Going to Make History]

[TIME

A Woman of Color Is Starring in a Real-Life Fairytale]

[San Francisco Chronicle
BRITAIN
Black women celebrate storybook royal engagement]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] Like everyone else, a lot of Black Britons that I know were getting swept up in this romance and the sort of, the kind of wonder of this moment. I wanted it to work, as so many people wanted it to work.

[soft music continues]

[Daily Mail

New official Meghan pictures

Yes, they're joyfully in love. So why do I have a niggling worry about this engagement picture?
SARAH VINE]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] But this fairy-tale is embedding itself in a nation that is having a pretty toxic debate about the European Union.

[tense music playing]

[Boris Johnson] Now, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to take back control of this country. Can you hear me in the back?

[Man] Yeah!

[BBC News] Immigration is the number one issue.

[Male Reporter] The people are very upset, they are very unhappy.

[crowd protesting]

[We want our country back]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] If you go back and look at the social media at that moment, immigration was in the absolute center of those debates. And immigration is very often, in this country, a cipher for race.

[crowd clamoring]

[Man1] Everybody should feel concerned about illegal immigration. We don't know who these people are.

[Man 2] Go back to Africa!

[Man 3] Send them back home.

[crowd clamoring indistinctly]

[MAKE BRITAIN GR8 AGAIN]

[The Guardian

'A FRENCY OF HATRED': HOW TO UNDERSTAND BREXIT RACISM]

[ECRI REPORT ON THE UNITED KINGDOM
(fifth monitoring cycle)
Adopted on 29 June 2016
Published on 4 October 2016]

[Prince Harry] So the EU commissioned a report in 2016, exactly the same time that our relationship became public. It warned that if the government isn't going to do something or if the media aren't going to sort themselves out, then a culture war, that already existed, was going to become huge and become a real problem.

[INDEPENDENT
08 October, 2016
The Sun and Daily Mail accused of 'fuelling prejudice' in report on rising racist violence and hate speech in UK]

[ALJAZEERA

Brexit: Increase in racist attacks after EU referendum

Violence, intimidation and calls of "Go home" directed at minorities from Europeans in England to non-white Britons.]

[tense music continues]

[DailyMail.com

'There ARE too many immigrants in the UK,' say seven in 10 Britons]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)]: It was a perfect storm, that gave credence to jingoism and nationalism, and gave people with really horrible views of the world, a little bit more strength and confidence to say what they wanted to say, to do whatever they wanted to do.

[Crowd protesting indistinctly]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] So it was an inauspicious moment for Britain to be trying to live out this fairy-tale story, with this fairy-tale princess and this diverse, modernizing country.

[tense music playing]

[crowd protests indistinctly]

[ROYAL ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
November 27, 2017]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] You were slightly watching it with your hand in your mouth. Could the tabloids control themselves? Could the Palace persuade the tabloids to control themselves? Could we as a nation wean ourselves off wanting to intrude into the lives of the royal family far more than is reasonable?

[camera shutters clicking]

[fquote][Woman 1] Congratulations from all of us. How are you both feeling?

[Prince Harry] Uh, yeah, thrilled. [laughs] [Meghan laughs] Over the moon. Very glad it's not raining, as well.

[Woman 2] Meghan, how are you feeling?

[Meghan Markle] So happy, thank you. [/quote][/quote][/quote]

[Meghan Markle] At that point, I was still very much believing what I was being told.

[soft instrumental music playing]

[Meghan Markle] Which was, "It will pass. It will get better. It's just what they do right at the very beginning." This promise of once you're married, don't worry, it will get better. "Once they get used to you, it will get better. Of course, it will get better." But truth be told, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how good I was, no matter what I did, they were still gonna find a way to destroy me.

["Pledging My Love" by Erma Franklin playing]

♪ Forever my darling ♪ ♪
My love will be true ♪ ♪
Always and forever ♪ ♪
I'll love just you ♪ ♪
Just promise me darling ♪ ♪
Your love in return ♪ ♪
May this fire in my soul dear ♪ ♪
Forever burn ♪ ♪
My heart's at your command dear
♪ ♪ To keep love and to hold
♪ ♪ Making you happy is my desire dear
♪ ♪ Keeping you is my goal
♪ ♪ I'll forever love you
♪ ♪ For the rest of my days
♪ ♪ I'll never part from you
♪ ♪ And your loving ways ♪

[admin]

Part 1 of 2

EPISODE 3

[November 27, 2017]

[Meghan Markle] [laughing]

[Male voice] Good morning Sir.

[Prince Harry] [laughing]

[Interviewer 1] Your Royal Highness and Meghan Markle, congratulations to you both.

[Meghan Markle]

Thank you.

[Interviewer 1] Can we start with the proposal and the actual moment of your engagement. When did it happen? How did it happen?

[Prince Harry] Uh, it happened a few weeks ago.

[Meghan Markle] Mm-hmm.

[Prince Harry] Um, earlier this month. Here at our cottage.

[Interviewer 2] In your engagement interview, uh...

[Meghan Markle] [laughs] Orchestrated reality show, yep.

[tense music playing]

[Meghan Markle] It was, you know, rehearsed.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Meghan Markle] So we did the thing out with the press, and then we went right inside, took the coat off, sat down and did the interview. So it's all in that same moment.

[camera shutters clicking, machine whirring]

[Female presenter] Hearts are broken worldwide this morning, certainly because he's probably the most popular member of the royal family.

[Male Reporter] The official news: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged.

[Town Crier] Buckingham Palace proudly announce the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. God save the queen. [bell jingling]

[Interviewer 2] You mean, just like prepping you before? "They're gonna ask this, this, this?" Or how does that work?

[Meghan Markle] Yeah, but also like, you know, they'll also want to see the ring.

[Prince Harry]The main stone itself, um, I sourced from Botswana. And the uh little diamonds on the side are from my mother's jewelry collection to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together.

[Meghan Markle] Mm.

[Prince Harry] Um...

[camera shutters clicking]

[Interviewer 1] What do you think your mother would have thought of Meghan or said about Meghan?

[Prince Harry] They'd be thick as thieves. [laughs] Without question, I think she would be over the moon. Jumping up and down. You know, so excited for me. And then, as I said, would have probably been best friends, best friends with Meghan. So no, I'm sure she's, er...

[Meghan Markle] She's with us.

[Prince Harry] I'm sure she's with us, even jumping up and down somewhere else.

[Meghan Markle] [laughing]

[Woman] I think this is the happy ending that people have wished for, for Prince Harry.

[Prince Charles] No, we're thrilled.

[Camilla Parker Bowles] Absolutely thrilled.

[Catherine Middleton] Absolutely thrilled. It's such exciting news.

[Meghan Markle] His family has always been so welcoming.

[Prince Harry] Catherine's been absolutely amazing.

[Meghan Markle] She's been wonderful.

[Prince Harry] Amazing, as has William, as well.

[PRINCESSES AT WAR]

[BROTHERS TORN APART
They haven't spoken in weeks!]

[Don't fall for my little sis, Harry, she'd be the next...

Dating ... US actress Meghan and Prince Harry]

[Interviewer 1] You've met each other's families?

[Meghan Markle] And my mom, we've been spending a lot of time with, who is so much fun. He's talked to my dad a few times. Hasn't been able to meet him just yet, um ...

[Female presenter] Not just the notion of an American bride, but also with a mixed race background.

[Man 1] The first of mixed race ethnicity.

[Man 2] Many things about her make her relevant to the modern generation.

[Man 3] So much scrutiny.

[Interviewer 1] Do you have that sense that the combination of the two of you, your different backgrounds, that you'll represent something new for the royal family?

[parade music playing]

[Prince Harry] Um, no, you know, we're a fantastic team. We know we are. And we hope to, over time, try and have as much impact for all the things that we care about as much as possible.

[Meghan Markle] I am very excited about that, yeah.

[Meghan Markle] But yes. We weren't, so my point is, we weren't allowed to tell our story, because they didn't want ...

[Prince Harry] We've never been asked our story.

[Meghan Markle] [laughing] That's true.

[Prince Harry] That's the consistency.

[Meghan Markle] That is consistent. Yeah. Until now.

[Interviewer 2] I guess that's why we're here.

[Meghan markle] Yeah.

[emotive theme music playing]

[camera shutters clicking]

[crowd clamoring] Meghan! Meghan! Meghan!

[Woman] This way!

[Man] Meghan! Harry!

[Photographers] Harry! Harry!

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] Who dreamed that Britain would have a Black princess? Who could have conceived that? It was a conclusion to a history that was so improbable as to be astonishing.

[tense music playing]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] It is hard to believe the role that Britain's played in world history. This little island off the coast of Europe was at the center of the biggest empire that the world has ever seen. But the question we have to ask is, "Who's paid the cost in all of this?"

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] It's often said that Britain had a deep south that was just as brutal, that actually enslaved more Africans, than the United states of America did. But that deep south was the Caribbean.

[tense music continues]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] It was overseas. It was far away. It was out of sight and out of minds.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] Jamaica becomes this incredibly profitable center of British slavery. And then of course, there's the settlements in North America. Tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice further south. Slavery is fueling this early British empire.

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] The first ever commercial slave voyage conducted by Britain, was personally financed by Queen Elizabeth I. And it continued to be financed by kings and queens, right up until its abolition.

[BLACK NEWS
UK Taxpayers Have Been Paying Compensation to Slave Owners for More than 180 Years Until 2015]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] When I was at school, the only aspect of the whole story of British slavery that I was ever told, was the abolition of slavery. In 1807, Britain abolished its slave trade, and in the 1830s Britain abolished its slave empire. But even when we tell that very selective slice of the history, we miss out a critical aspect. Slavery wasn't just abolished. The slave owners were compensated. They were compensated enormously. Twenty million pounds for their human property. It's just another way in which our memory of British slavery has been airbrushed out of Britain's story.

[Crowd]

♪ God save our gracious Queen
♪ ♪ Long live our noble King...

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Growing up in the UK, I was completely oblivious to that history and that legacy. And when I look back on it, I think a lot of the focus was put on celebrating our colonial power and just how important Britain used to be globally.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] I think one of the oddest things is it was only in the very last decades of that imperial epoch, that Black and Brown people came to live in Britain in large numbers.

[wistful music playing]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] In the mid-20th century, Britain went to Caribbean Islands recruiting people to drive buses, become nurses in the newly created National Health Service, teachers in newly expanded schools. And these were, on the whole, low-paid jobs.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] And this city, London, began to look, for the only time in its history, like it actually was the center of an empire that was mainly made up of non-white people. I think what's happened over the past 50, 60 years, is that there is a call to re-imagine the Commonwealth, and to re-imagine Britain, to re-imagine its institutions. And so the moment when I thought, "Well, this is significant." was when they got engaged. Could this really be a moment in which, in essence, the royal family caught up with the rest of Britain?

[December 1, 2017

5 Months to Wedding]

[Reporter] Nottingham, this morning, center of attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The crowds waiting to take their place in the fairy tale of the soldier prince and a Hollywood actress.

[instrumental music playing]

[Man] Harry's brought his bird to town, so I brought mine.

[Man] And why are you here?

[Woman] Um, just to see Meghan. That's it. [laughing]

[Reporter] This is the moment which will be played around the world. The first royal test for Meghan Markle.

[Meghan Markle] I never saw pictures or videos of a walkabout. Like, what's a walkabout?

[instrumental music continues]

[crowd cheering]

[Prince Harry] I could talk her through as much as I knew from my own experience of what I'd seen. But the piece, the piece I really didn't know about was the style, right? And what a woman needed to, how they needed to dress and all that sort of stuff.

[Meghan Markle] No, you'd be there with the scissors like, "Guys, be ready. We have five minutes." "Okay." And I said, "Should I wear these earrings? Are these a British designer? I just ordered these online. Is this good? Wait, my tag's on. Cut the tag."

[Prince Harry] And then the zip breaks, and it's like...

[Meghan Markle] And it's like, "Okay babes, safety pin. Just safety pin it."

[Prince Harry I mean, the whole thing was just ridiculous.

[Meghan Markle] "You ready?" "Yeah, okay." We just sort of went with it.

[crowd cheering]

[female presenter] Just days since we found out they were engaged, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were on their first ever royal walkabout.

[Male presenter] As an actress, Meghan Markle is used to the red carpet. She's used to all these crowds. This, however, is something else.

[Meghan Markle] Oh, thank you.

[Woman] They looked perfect. And she was dressed just on point. Yeah.

[Woman 2] She looked amazing.

[Woman 1] Yeah.

[Woman in crowd] Meghan.

[Woman 3]She was delightful. She was lovely.

[Voice in crowd] Meghan, we love you! Woo!

[Voice in crowd: Meghan!

[Prince Harry] Everybody was just so excited and pleased and happy. And I think people looked at it and went, "Wow, what a breath of fresh air."

[inaudible conversation]

[Woman] Good addition to the royal family.

Woman 2] Definitely. An American.

[Woman] Go, mixed kids.

[Woman 2] Yeah, mixed kids in the royal family now. [laughing]

[Reporter 1] What a day for Meghan Markle.

[Reporter 2] There was no doubt who sparkled the most today.

[Dec 1, 2017
EVENING STANDARD
royal art of winning over a crowd]

[Prince Harry] I thought to myself, like, "What a dream." I found a woman that not necessarily finds this easy but is able to do it and make it look easy.

[Dec 11, 2017
Hello!
THE MAGIC OF MEGHAN]

[NEW YORK CITY
November 2021]

[Meghan Markle] H, can you DJ?

[Prince Harry] Mm.

[pop music beat]

[Meghan Markle] Elton. [laughs]

[Mandana Dayani, Friend] Elton? Elton?? I'll take it.

[Meghan Markle] I mean, Archie loves "Bennie and The Jets." It is his favorite song. And to watch a two-year-old go "Bennie! Bennie! Bennie!"

[Daniel Martin, Makeup Artist and Friend] [laughing]

[Meghan Markle] Daniel was with me on our wedding. We've been together for the progression so much. How long has it been now?

[Daniel Martin, Makeup Artist and Friend] Oh my God. Ten, I think. Almost ten years? Over ten years?

[Meghan Markle] Easy.

[Daniel Martin, Makeup Artist and Friend] Oh my goodness. It's so crazy! [laughing]

[Meghan Markle] I know. I know. Nothing has changed, except for everything.

[both laughing]

[Mandana Dayani, Friend] Um, so maybe after this, we can do a little bit of prep. Just go through some of the journalists that post these accounts.

[Meghan Markle] Mostly royal experts? Is this one mine?

[Mandana Dayani, Friend] I don't understand what that means. Someone can just call themselves a royal expert?

[Meghan Markle] That's a question for my husband. People can just call themselves royal experts?

[Prince Harry] It's the same as ... It's the same as royal correspondent. Royal Correspondent is a title, I suppose, that is given to a select group of journalists, so that those newspapers can use them and their stories with "royal correspondent" as credible fact. Just so that whatever the papers print can come with extra credibility. I mean, not anyone can be a royal expert. The whole point of it is to try and lend legitimacy to media articles, and they get paid for it. And that press pack of royal correspondents is essentially just, an extended PR arm of the royal family. So it's been an agreement that's been there for over 30 years.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] The tabloids in the UK have a very special relationship with the royal family. There's a sort of unwritten contract between the institution and the press.

[instrumental music playing]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] And the way it's presented in the media is that the taxpayer in the UK pays for the royal family, and in return for those payments...

[Reporter] Can we just see the ring?

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] ... there is an expectation that the royal family will be available to the media. And this is a sense of, we pay, you pose.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] And they feel that they have a duty to their readers to bring private aspects of their lives to light.

[APR 16, 2017
THE SUN
TEARS IN THE ALPS
She wanted commitment from him, he couldn't give it ...]

[JAN 13, 1993
THE SUN
6 min LOVE TAPE COULD COST CHARLES THRONE
Another Royal scandal...How much more can WE take?]

[JAN 13, 2002
NEWS OF THE WORLD
HARRY'S DRUGS SHAME]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] Not all of it always directly related to the facts on the ground.

[Prince Harry] If you're part of the Royal Rota, you have priority over the story over everybody else.

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] The Royal Rota is a system by which certain media are allocated slots to cover the members of the family.

[THE TIMES
DAILY MAIL
DAILY EXPRESS
DAILY MIRROR
THE SUN
THE TELEGRAPH
EVENING STANDARD]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] And however aggressive their previous coverage might have been, they still get the right to be on the rota.

[Prince Harry] Like so, all royal news goes through the filter of all the newspapers within the Royal Rota of which, most of which, apart from the Telegraph, happen to be tabloids. It all comes down to control. It's like, "This family is ours to exploit. That trauma is our story and our narrative to control."

[thoughtful music playing]

[camera shutters clicking]

[Prince Charles] Cameras poking at you from every quarter, and recording every twitch. If you don't try to work out in your own mind some kind of method for existing and surviving this kind of thing, you would go mad I think.

[thoughtful music continues]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] Harry and William are the first generation that I've seen grow up under that contract.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] And I wish there was more introspection about the idea that you could be born into a contractual relationship with the British media.

[camera shutters clicking]

[NEWS OF THE WORLD
HARRY'S DRUGS SHAME]

[HARRY SNAPS]

[lively music playing]

[Man] Rota! A couple of steps back, please. Sorry, keep moving.

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] I remember doing an event with both the Duke and Duchess. And one of the photographers, almost, uh, in jest, said to me, "Oh, can't you get him to do something more. He doesn't perform for us anymore." So I went to Harry and Meghan. And I actually regret it wholeheartedly now. I said to them, "Sometimes, we just gotta play the game." And that ultimately, that game is the invisible contract. Harry, Meghan, and the rest of the family had an obligation to perform. And if they didn't, you would fall out of favor, and then any opportunity that would be used to write negative or highlight negative, would be taken.

[camera shutters clicking]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Imagine all of these people that have published horrible things about you, published horrible things about your family, have published horrible things about your mother...

[camera shutters clicking]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)]... you've got to perform for them. It's a real cutthroat business. And with Meghan...

[soft music playing]

[crowd shouting]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] ... there was no limit. It was fair game on everyone.

[Lindsay Jill Roth, Friend] You know, we knew that they would contact people that Meg was close to. I didn't know the lengths that they would go. There were journalists outside of my apartment building. There were people trailing us in London. It was intense.

[DAILY MIRROR
Meghan Markle 'obsessed with watching Princess Diana's royal wedding as a child' as we reveal their striking similarities]

[Susan Williger, Meghan's Childhood Friend] The press was ruthless. They would go to my parents' home. I remember a friend forwarded me this article where my mom was quoted. It was like, "Oh, Meghan's obsessed with Princess Diana." Just things that never happened and weren't true at all.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] [clicks tongue] I felt unsafe a lot. I can't just go walk with dogs. I can't just go to work. You know, there was always someone there waiting for me, following me to work. I was being stalked by the paparazzi. Once, I pulled over. And so he pulled up next to me and he said, "You know, I've just been trying to get a story. You know you could get a lot of money for this." And I just looked at him and said, "This is my child. Like... I've nothing to say."

[MUM'S SIDE: DIRT POOR IN DEEP SOUTH
(FAMILY TREE)]

[EXCLUSIVE
Her Sister Tells All
THE MEGHAN ONLY I KNOW]

[Family secrets.]

[fraught relationship]

[EXCLUSIVE: MEGHAN 'SHALLOW ...
Don't fall for my little sis, Harry, she'd be the next..
PRINCESS PUSHY
(... AND SHE'S ALREADY MET PRINCE CHARLES)]

[March 5, 2021
THE U.S. SUN
"In the past, Samantha has claimed to have raised Meghan for 12 years."


[Meghan Markle] The UK media, I truly believe, wanted my mom's side of my family to be the ones that all this drama could be stirred up with. And suddenly, you just had my mom, who's classy and quiet in there, and then you had the other side of my family that is just... acting differently. My half-sister, who I hadn't seen for over a decade, and that was only for a day and a half, suddenly, it felt like she was everywhere. I don't know your middle name. I don't know your birthday. You're telling these people you raised me, and you coined me Princess Pushy?

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] Tom's kids were a good 17 years older than her. And Meg and I left when she was two.

[Meghan Markle] I don't remember seeing her when I was a kid at my dad's house, if and when they would come around. And then the last time that I saw her, that I remember, is when I was in my early twenties. I hadn't had a fallout with her. We didn't have a closeness to be able to have that. And I wanted a sister!

[melancholic music playing]

[Samantha Markle maintains that she and Meghan had a close relationship until 2018 and that the media fabricated quotes that have been attributed to her.]

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] My name's Ashleigh Hale. I'm an immigration attorney. And I am Meg's niece.

[Interviewer] How are you and Meg related?

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] So Meg is my aunt on the maternal side of my family. So she is my biological mother's half-sister. My biological mother is Samantha Markle. And it was agreed by everyone, for myself and my brother, to be raised by our grandparents. So they got custody of us when I was probably around two years old. And ultimately, um, they did adopt us. So I was raised by my paternal grandparents. You know, and for me, they were my parents. My biological mother, I've not seen her since I was six years old. And then later in life, around 2007, we reconnected.

[Meghan Markle] I just remember my dad saying to me, "Samantha found her daughter." And I was like, "Oh! If you have her email address, I want to email her."

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] It started out with, you know, these long emails back and forth to each other. And then texts and calls. After a while, I think we were talking, on some level, several days a week.

[wistful music playing]

[Meghan Markle] And we just hit it off. And then she and I just started... You know, I was on Suits at the time. So I said, "Let's go on vacation."

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] She took me to New Orleans. We walked around. We listened to some good live music. Ate way too much food and had way too many drinks. It was just the two of us, which I think was really special. I think she takes on a lot of roles for me. There's, like, a sister element. There's something maternal. She's a best friend. She's, you know, kind of all the things.

20,081 likes
meghanmarkle Oh how I love my @ashleigh
APRIL 17, 2016

[Meghan Markle] I think we both craved the same thing. You know, I ... I wanted a sister, and she was like a little sister. Ash was put through quite a bit by the media, just by association. And I didn't want... I didn't want her life to be plagued with all that drama.

[DAILY MIRROR
PRINCE HARRY'S 'NEW GIRLFRIEND' SLAMMED BY OWN SISTER WHO CALLS HER 'SHALLOW NARCISSIST NOT FIT TO BE ROYAL']

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] After the news first broke, Samantha pretty quickly began expressing a lot of angry words about Meg towards me. What was communicated to me was maybe some resentment. And it felt like no matter what I said, you know, her perspective didn't change, and seemed to get angrier and bigger. And we stopped talking. Um ... You know, some people you just can't reason with.

[soft instrumental music]

[Christmas 2017
5 Months to Wedding]

[Interviewer] It's your future wife's first Christmas with the in-laws. All of us have to explain certain things about our family to the person we're marrying. Were there family traditions you had to explain to her?

[Prince Harry] Oh, plenty. I think we've got one of the biggest families I know of.

[crowd muttering indistinctly]

[camera shutters clicking]

[Prince Harry] And every family is complex as well so, she's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and, you know, it's... it's the family that I suppose she never had.

[intriguing music plays]

[Meghan Markle] I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham. Calling my mom, and she's like, "How's it going?" And I said, "Oh my gosh, it's amazing."

[Jazz piano music playing]

[Meghan Markle] It's just like a big family like I always wanted. And there was just this constant movement, and energy, and fun. And at dinner, I sat next to H's grandfather. And I just thought it was so wonderful. And I was like, "Oh, we chatted and it was so great." And I talked about this, and talked about this. He was like, "You had his bad ear. He couldn't hear anything you were saying." I was like, "Oh. Well, I thought it went really well."

[Male Presenter] Tonight, there is a new royal scandal. The wife of one of the queen's cousin's, Princess Michael of Kent, wore what's called a blackamoor brooch to the Queen's annual Christmas Lunch. The jewelry is widely viewed as racist. And the decision to wear it quickly drew criticism on social media.

[upbeat instrumental music playing]

Princess Michael has nothing to apologize for. It's a beautiful brooch.
7:23 PM Dec 23, 2017
***
It's beautiful not racist
3:23 PM Dec 22, 2017
***
Markle probably pulling the race card again. No one cares if she is black white or green. She's a cheap tart no matter her what
8:58 PM Dec 22, 2017
***
Media outlets keep saying that the Princess Michael brooch is depicting a BlackaMoor "servant". But there are artifacts and family crests throughout Europe showing the Moors wearing crowns. Servants usually dont wear crowns. moors were RULERS in Europe
11:57 AM Dec 24, 2017
***
Very sad that this is called a racist act... it's not, and the media needs to really think before calling people this and stirring up more hate in this world
3:52 PM Dec 24, 2017
***
Liberals read racist and politics into everything. Very lovely art piece depicting history not racism or hatred. A beautiful brooch honoring a woman of color.
11:57 AM Dec 24, 2017
***
She should not have apologised. There was no need. She should have told people to toughen the fuck up.
12:44 PM Dec 24, 2017
***
for the love of God! Does everything need to be offensive anymore? People need to worry about themselves a little more and way less about others. Get a life people, it's a brooch for Christ sakes
6:58 PM Dec 22, 2017
***
Has no one noticed the Blackamoore pin that Princess Michael of Kent is wearing? Really? #MeghanMarkle officially meets the family and is greeted by THIS?
4:06 PM Dec 20, 2017
***
Some people are looking for any excuse to bring out the racist card, by highlighting this brooch it's just made things worse, I despair of our world sometimes
11:34 PM Dec 23, 2017
***
We are sure you all have heard about the controversy #Princess of #Kent wearing a particular type of #brooch. This is what "Blackamoor #jewelry is really all about eredijovon.com/en/blog/the-ve...#ErdiJovon #MadeInItaly #BeInformed
3:52 PM Dec 24, 2017
***
#blackamoor Brooch racist?!? Its crazy how media spins things around to keep the original people from their history...smh. I'm just gonna leave this right here. Make your own judgement. #711ADuntil1492 #Moors
***
I see nothing wrong with it. It is a matter of embracing the negro and the blackamoor.
11:34 PM Dec 23, 2017
***
Princess Michael of Kent appears to have officially turned into a parody of herself as she attends The Queen's Christmas Party wearing a blackamoor brooch.
5:58 PM Dec 20, 2017
***
ah, the Princess who wears *racist jewelry* to lunch with Meghan Markle. RACIST. JEWELRY.
6:31 PM Dec 22, 2017

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] When I heard about Meghan at an event where a member of her soon-to-be family was wearing a blackamoor brooch, I wasn't hugely surprised, because one of the realities of life in Britain is that if you go into a palace, or a stately home, or anywhere that represents tradition, you are likely to be faced with racist imagery. There are murals on the wall, carvings on the ceiling that depict enslaved people in a way that glorifies the institution of slavery. You could say, "It's a small thing, a brooch. She probably didn't mean any harm by it." If you magnify that thousands of times, "It was just a painting, it was just a slave, it was just a plantation..." These are the skeletons in the closet that frequently make an unwelcome appearance in daily life.

[ eerie music playing]

[BBC News
Princess Michael of Kent sorry for wearing 'racist' brooch
23 December 2017
Princess Michael of Kent has apologised for wearing a brooch that critics have called "racist".

[Prince Harry] In this family, sometimes you know, you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution. And there is a huge level of unconscious bias.

[THINK
Opinion, Analysis, Essays
Prince Harry admits his unconscious bias.
Harry says that his wife, Meghan, helped him see the problem but that he now needs to take responsibility for his own education. It's a burden too often placed on people of color.
Oct. 30, 2020 1:30 AM PDT
By Tonya Russell, culture and wellness writer]

[The Guardian
Harry: life with Meghan made me aware of unconscious racial bias.
Prince blames royal upbringing for prior lack of insight and calls on others to educate themselves.]

[Prince Harry] The thing with unconscious bias is it's actually no one's fault. But once it's been pointed out or identified within yourself, you then need to make it right. It's education. It's awareness. And it's a constant work in progress for everybody, including me, you know.

[Prince Harry in swastika shock
By Andy Soltis
Britain's Prince Harry stunned more than 250 guests at a costume party by showing up dressed head-to-toe as a Nazi soldier, with a red armband emblazoned with a big swastika.
Harry (right), third in line to the throne behind dad Prince Charles (left) and brother William. Incredibly pulled the stupid stunt less than three weeks before his uncle Prince Edward ...]

[Reporter 1] British headline writers have been salivating today. Prince Harry's choice to wear a Nazi uniform earlier this month to a private party has caused outrage.

[THE TIMES
FRIDAY JANUARY 14, 2005
Prince's sorry mess

"He should have considered ist more before he did it. He is a prince after all."
"It's not anything to get upset about, it was no a state occasion."

]

[Reporter 2] Many are questioning the sensitivity of a 20-year old Prince who chooses to party in a Nazi uniform.

[Prince Harry] It was probably one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I felt so ashamed afterwards.

[wistful music playing]

[Prince Harry] All I wanted to do was make it right. I sat down and spoke to the chief rabbi in London, um, 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.

[Misan Harriman, Chair, South¬bank Centre London, Photographer, and Friend] Harry, he was not too dissimilar to a lot of boys that I went to school with. You know, they were in an echo chamber of absolute privilege that afforded them to live a very particular life. And once you step out of that, you realize that there's a much bigger world.

[MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, NEW JERSEY
November 2021]

[Woman] Everyone, the Duke and Duchess. Hi, how are you?

[Meghan Markle] Okay, thank you. Hi. Hi there.

[Prince Harry] Hi, guys.

[Meghan Markle] Hello

[Prince Harry] How long have you guys been sitting in here for? In silence. Hello, hello, hellow. By the way, happy Veterans Day to you.

[Man] Yeah.

[Meghan Markle] Hi everybody. How are you doing?

[Prince Harry] I'm never gonna remember these names so...

[Woman] We don't know each other.

[Prince Harry] It feels like speed dating.

[Man] I know, it's so weird.

[Meghan Markle] Watching my husband over there, you could see how much joy it brings him to be back on a base. And so he immediately goes back into, like, military banter.

[Prince Harry] Everybody, it's amazing how long you all stay on. The pension's 20 years, right?

[Woman] Once you get to a certain point, it's like the point of no return. You're like, "Oh, 12 years-ish? Well, may as well stay now."

[Prince Harry] I signed up with the three. And then they kept dangling the carrot of different options in front of me. And I ended up serving ten years.

[Wistful music playing]

[Prince Harry] My ten years in the army, it gave me the lived experience that other members of my family wouldn't have had. Two tours in Afghanistan, flying Apache helicopters on a military base, means that you grow up pretty fast. Jeez, I went to war twice.

[gunshots]

[Prince Harry] The people that I met, and the lifelong friends made, that was my second family. Because that... at that point, there's still scars left open from my mum's awesomeness... [laughs] To put it mildly.

[Prince Harry] Well, hopefully, she'd be proud. William sent me a letter saying how proud that he reckons she would be. You know, it's one thing that I don't necessarily think about the whole time because I've got the guys to worry about.

[Soldier] We've been married ten years, and done five moves since we've been married so...

[Prince Harry] Three kids in ten years, and five moves?

[Soldier] Yeah, so we've been busy. [laughs]

[Others laughing]

[Soldier] Well, not that way! [laughing]

[Others laughing]

[Prince Harry] Well, in every way. That's good, that's cool. That's fine.

[All laughing]

[Prince Harry] I mean, working and living with normal people -- and I fully appreciate that my life is not normal -- certainly has an effect on you, right? The bubble within the bubble that I was brought up in got burst. Ultimately, I'm so grateful for it.

[somber music playing]

[Prince Harry] And that was all before I met Meghan.

[Male officer] What I'd like to say is, like, depression is a family secret that we all share. And sharing our story allows others to tell theirs in return. So on behalf of the Bulldogs, and uh, those that help generate the airplanes that deliver hope to others, I wanted to give this to you.

[Prince Harry] Thank you very much.

[Male officer] I appreciate it.

[Everyone clapping]

[Female officer] So this coin comes from the 108 maintenance squadron. I'm the commander of that squadron, the first female commander.

[Meghan Markle] [laughing]

[Female officer] But, uh, it means a lot to me to be able to give this to you, because of all the barriers that you've broken for the world. And that's very special.

[Meghan Markle] Thank you.

[Female officer] Sir, no offense, but this says, "Aircraft..."

[Prince Harry] If anyone that starts with that...

[Others laughing]

[Prince Harry]I'm prepared. I'm prepared.

[Meghan Markle] Our life was, "Okay, we're gonna do this job together," and um, that felt great 'cause I'd been doing that on my own for so long.

[Prince Harry] That was the thing. What she was already doing, what I was already doing, that sort of came together in this sort of beautiful matrimony.

[applause ]

[THE ROYAL FOUNDATION
Making a difference together
February 28, 2018
3 Months to Wedding]

[Moderator] Welcome to the very first Royal Foundation forum. Now, the principle of working together is in the foundation's DNA. This is the only charity...

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] The Royal Foundation was the charity that was originally set up for William and Harry to launch their charitable endeavors.

[inaudible conversation]

[Female presenter: Their Royal Foundation is a team effort, but we also seem to get an insight into how Meghan may want to do things her own way.

[Male Reporter] Most attention was on Meghan Markle and what sort of issues she will take on.

[Female Presenter] Meghan, it's well known, you've championed the empowerment of women and young girls, and promoting their self-worth. How do you hope to continue that work with the Royal Foundation?

[Meghan Markle] Um, women don't need to find a voice. They have a voice. They need to feel empowered to use it. And people need to be encouraged to listen. And I think right now, in the climate that we're seeing, with so many campaigns, I mean MeToo, there is no better time than to really continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people really helping to support them.

[WWW.DAILYUMAIL.CO.UK
Don't use monarchy as a MeToo soapbox, Meghan]

[Female reporter] This is the first time that we've heard anyone associated with the Royal Family talking about those campaigns. Kate, for example, didn't wear black to the BAFTAs. And Camilla, who also supports women's organizations, hasn't mentioned MeToo or or TimesUp. The Kensington Palace stressed...

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] It's important to remember the Royal Family in the UK, and the causes that they champion, are deliberately non-controversial. Meghan was more of an activist.

[Meghan Markle] I didn't know that that would be taboo to talk about. To me, it was just topical.

[Female Presenter] All the work you do together is great. but working together as family, do you ever have disagreements about things?

[Prince William] [laughing]

[Princess of Wales] [laughing]

[Prince William] Oh, yes!

[crowd laughing]

[Prince Harry] Healthy disagreements.

[Female Presenter] Okay, the last thing you disagreed on, how did you resolve it?

[Prince Harry] Uh, I can't remember. They come so thick and fast!

[crowd laughing]

[Prince Harry] [Gesturing to Prince William] But is it resolved?

[Prince William] We don't know.

[Female Presenter] Oh, we don't know! Well, you're putting on a great show if it's not.

[Male Reporter] The younger Royals held their first event as a foursome this morning. We were looking at the future of the British monarchy.

[Female Reporter] This is the woman who's turning Britain's most traditional brand on its head. Meghan Markle isn't British, she's been married before, she's mixed-race, and she doesn't shy away from politics. That will have to stop now, of course, in public at least.

[MEGHAN & HARRY
CHANGING THE ROYAL RULES!
The wedding that will break tradition]

[Meghan Markle] Joining this family, I knew that there was a protocol for how things were done. And, do you remember that old movie, Princess Diaries, with Anne Hathaway?

[classical film music plays]

[Anne Hathaway] Me? A princess? Shut up!

[Julie Andrews] I can teach you to walk, talk, sit, stand, eat, dress like a princess.

[Meghan Markle] There's no class and some person who goes, "Sit like this. Cross your legs like this. Use this fork. Don't do this. Curtsy then. Wear this kind of hat." It doesn't happen.

[lively classical music playing]

[Female Reporter] Some people on Twitter are suggesting it's a little bit like the Happy Poo emoji.

[poignant piano music playing]

[BET*
It's more to it than becoming a princess overnight.]

[Meghan Markle] So I needed to learn a lot. Including the National Anthem. [laughs]

[Interviewer] How did you learn it?

[Meghan Markle] Oh, I Googled it.

[Google
UK national anthem]

[British National anthem plays]

[TV woman] Well, girls, your last day at the Zermat school for young ladies. Your final and most important lesson.

[Meghan Markle] I Googled it, and I'd sit there and I'd practice and I'd practice.

[... Hug a Young Schoolgirl
... Royal Protocol to Hug
Schoolgirl in Birmingham]

[Female presenter 1] She broke Royal protocol by the...

[Female presenter 2] ... she and Harry are not yet married.

Oops! She did it again
7:26 AM Feb 15, 2018

[Prince Harry] And then on top of that, with the press, there were a lot of invented protocols.

[wear pantyhose
stockings underneath...
Markle didns't wear stockings
violated a major royal fashion rule.
Broke Royal Hair Protocol Yet Again
broken royal protocol SO many times...
Her Bun
She signed an autograph,
a huge royal no.]

[Meghan Markle] It was baptism by fire.

[crowd cheering]

[Woman 1] Meghan! We love you, Meghan!

[Woman 2]Give us a wave!

[Woman 3] Meghan!

[Interviewer] I have to ask, did anyone teach you how to do the wave?

[Megan Markle] That's not a thing. You just sort of watch and go, "Okay, I guess that's what..." I don't know. I guess you don't wanna wave like an American. Like, "Hey!" [laughing] Everything is just...

[jaunty music plays]

[Meghan Markle] ... smaller.

[NEW YORK CITY
November 2021]

[doorbell rings]

[Meghan] Hello?

[Man] Hello?

[Meghan Markle]Hi!

[Man] Hi, how are you?

[Meghan Markle] Come on in.

[Man] Should I take my shoes off?

[Meghan Markle] I think it's fine. It's fine. How are you? Oh my gosh. Look at this. You too. Come in.

[Meghan Markle] Wow. Look at this. I mean, we really went from dress to dress. Yes? Okay.

[Man] Dress to dress.

[poignant piano music playing]

[Woman: Does it feel tight?

[Meghan Markle] No. Not at all. It feels great. I step into this?

[Man] Have you ever had four people helping you into a dress?

[Meghan Markle] No! Never!

[Woman] The safety pins.

[Prince Harry] [Looking at camera] Please tell me you're getting that. [laughs] There are now three people under your dress.

[Meghan Markle] Do you have enough light? [laughing] Let's just call it a rhetorical question.

[all laughing]

[Meghan Markle] Good?

[Man] The color is amazing.

[camera shutters clicking]

[SALUTE TO FREEDOM GALA
Intrepid Museum, New York City]

[Meghan Markle] Most of the time that I was in the UK, I rarely wore color.

[instrumental music playing]

[ camera shutters clicking]

[Meghan Markle] There was thought in that. To my understanding, you can't ever wear the same color as Her Majesty, if there's a group event. But then you also shouldn't be wearing the same color as one of the other more senior members of the family. So I was like, "Well, what's a color that they'll probably never wear?" Camel? Beige? White? So I wore a lot of muted tones, but it also was so I could just blend in. Like, I'm not trying to stand out here. So there's no version of me joining this family and trying to not do everything I could to fit in. I don't want to embarrass the family.

[wistful music playing]

The Markle family is looking forward to our wedding invites. No one has one yet. Still waiting. I hope London is wheelchair friendly. Excited!
9:45 PM Apr 11, 2018

[Reporter] Some of the bride's family don't know yet if they'll be invited to Windsor Castle, including Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle, who's made plenty of her own headlines in the leadup to the Royal Wedding.

[Star
Sister's Bombshell New Book!
MEGHAN'S LIFE IS A LIE
Fame, Affairs & the Truth]

[Meghan's
SHOCK
PAST
Is Harry heading for trouble?]

[Female presenter] Her half-sister is also writing a tell-all disparaging book, and Kensington Palace is not commenting. But you guys, to be a fly on the wall when he gets to meet Harry and the Royal Family for the first time.

[Meghan Markle] We were playing whack-a-mole everyday. It was like, "Wait, another one popped up. Wait, stop. Another story popped." Constant. They were going through the woodwork and pulling out people to create and plant the most salacious stories that they could.

[HARRY ROCKED ON WEDDING EVE
MEGHAN & MATT'S DRESSING ROOM HOOK-UP!]

[THE SUN
"RELATED TO SERIAL KILLER"]

[ENQUIRER
"Porn Star Ex"]

[tense music playing]

[Evening Standard
Thursday 22 February 2018
MEGHAN'S ANTHRAX THREAT TERROR]

[Meghan Markle] And then it started to get scary.

[Female presenter] Police there say a white powder letter was sent to soon-to-be-Royal, Meghan Markle...

[Male presenter] ... inside that package, we've since learned, was some kind of white substance. That substance has been subjected to...

['You are going to die'
- New idea]

[Palace security tightened over menacing letters
- National Enquirer]

[Claimed a bomb would be set off at Windsor Castle
- Mirror]

[Male presenter]...Markle has been subjected to a wave of abuse and of harassment in National newspapers and...

[Megan Markle] This was on the heels of those terrorist attacks, right? So there was so much concern about the wedding. And it was just so scary, and they were talking about getting snipers and...

[Prince Harry] It was a public event, right?

[FOX NEWS
America Reports May 18, 2018
Cops get 'shoot to kill' order for royal wedding disrupters]

[Meghan Markle] Behind the scenes of all that, I was just turtling.

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] Communication with Meg became less and less frequent. My impression was that her relationships were being managed on some level.

[instrumental music playing]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] For every duke and duchess, there is also a communication team. Comms for the Royal Family is very similar to a press office, press spokesperson for politicians and businesses, celebrities.

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] There is a Communications team at Buckingham Palace, at Clarence House, at Kensington Palace, all of whom had a primary duty to their own principles. These communications teams allow the family to be one step removed from dealing with the media.

[THE TIMES
DAILY EXPRESS
THE SUN
DAILY MAIL
THE TELEGRAPH
DAILY MIRROR
EVENING STANDARD]

[Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo] Overall, there is an aspiration for a controlled narrative.

[Prince Harry: Our comms team at that time was joined with my brother's office. So in total, there was only one person really dedicated to us. So it really was a huge undertaking.

[tense music playing]

[Meghan Markle] I don't think anyone understands what that very small comms team was dealing with. They just couldn't wrap their heads around it. And I have compassion for it. How do we explain that this half-sister isn't invited to the wedding, but that the half-sister's daughter is? And so with Ashleigh, the guidance at the time was to not have her come to our wedding. I was in the car with H. And I called her and had her on speaker phone, and we talked her through what guidance we were being given, and why this assessment was made, and that's painful.

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece]I think I said I was hurt on some level, but I understood where it was coming from.

[melancholic music playing]

[Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's Niece] To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship that's so important to me was impacted in that way. To feel like because of her, it was taken away. It's been hard.

[Male presenter1] Across the pond tonight, a save-the-date notice of sorts, as the Palace has released new details...

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] In the run up to the wedding...

[poignant music playing]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] ... the sense of excitement for the country was incredible.

[Woman] It's wonderful. She's different. She's the 21st century. That's what we need right now.

[Man] Yeah man, it's just a good, happy feeling. You gotta like a good old wedding.

[Man 2] First and foremost, I was pretty surprised Harry could actually bag a girl like that.

[crowd clamoring]

[Nicky, Harry's Childhood Friend] They were just so evidently really, really in love. And I think it radiated out.

[Misan Harriman, Chair, South¬bank Centre London, Photographer, and Friend] Everyone's happy.

[Prince Harry] Nice. [laughing]

[Serena Williams, Friend] I'm looking at it through the lens of my friend, not a princess. They as a couple are so tight, and rely on each other so much, and are each other's best, best, best friends.

[PLEASE JOIN US FOR DINNER AND DANCING TO CELEBRATE OUR WEDDING
SATURDAY, 19TH MAY 2018
7:30 O'CLOCK
FROGMORE HOUSE,
WINDSOR HOME PARK
LOVE HAZ & MEG
R.S.V.P.
ON ENCLOSED CARD]

[Serena Williams, Friend] I was just super excited.

[March 12, 2018
2 Months to Wedding]

[Female presenter] This is a big day for Meghan Markle. Just minutes ago, the Royal Family arrived at Westminster Abbey in central London for a service marking Commonwealth Day.

[Male presenter] The many-colored flags were carried by young nationals of the countries joining in the celebrations.

[Queen Elizabeth] It remains a great pleasure and honor to serve you as Head of the Commonwealth. Here at Buckingham Palace, in 1949, my father met the Heads of Government when they ratified the London Declaration, which created the Commonwealth as we know it today. a

[Man] God save the King.

[crowd cheering]

[instrumental music playing]

[admin]

Part 2 of 2

Episode 3

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] When you study the transition from colonialism to independence in those countries, you see that Britain played a very strategic role. Britain calculated that it needed to grant these countries independence in a way that protected its commercial and capitalist interest. So it creates this privileged club of formally colonized nations called the Commonwealth.

[Reporter] Excitement in Accra, capital of the Gold Coast, reached its first climax with the preparations for welcoming the royal visitor.

[Robert Hazell, Author, The Role of Monarchy in Modern Democracy] The British Monarchy is different from the other monarchies in Western Europe in being an international monarchy, with the Queen being Head of State of over a dozen other countries around the world.

[Queen Elizabeth] On my 21st birthday, I am 6000 miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not 6,000 miles from home.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] At the center of the argument for the monarchy in this country, is the Commonwealth. The Queen made it her life mission to fight for this institution. She's famous for it. She's deeply respected for having kept this institution together.

[Queen Elizabeth] I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to the service of our great Imperial family, to which we all belong. If we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations.

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] The Commonwealth is still described as that. A club of friends who share common values. I find that language really problematic. I sometimes call the Commonwealth "Empire 2.0," because that is what it is.

[Kehinde Andrews, Author, The New Age of Empire] Well, it's not changed a thing, they've just got better PR. If you look at the Black people in the Commonwealth, their conditions are almost just as bad as they were 50 years ago or 100 years ago.

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] And the roots of that poverty are based on the extraction of their wealth elsewhere. Those in Britain who extracted that wealth continue to be inter-generationally wealthy. Those from whom it was extracted continue to be inter-generationally poor. It's a very clear economic relationship.

[laughter]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] And yet, the current narrative in Britain is that it's old history, there's no point looking back. It's incredibly painful for the very many millions of British people who have a different memory of empire in their personal background.

[indistinct clamoring]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] And yet, here was a woman who just looked like most of the people in the Commonwealth. Meghan represented something. There was a hope, "Well, maybe this is a way of having these difficult conversations that had been pushed away so many times.

[April 23, 2018
26 Days to Wedding]

[Reporter] Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend a small special memorial later to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence.

[1993]

[Reporter] An 18-year-old boy has been stabbed to death as he waited for a bus with a friend in Southeast London.

[Reporter 2] Not far away, he and a friend were approached by a gang of up to half a dozen...

[Reporter 3] ...stabbed by a group of white thugs in an unprovoked attack.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] This was a story of two tragedies. The murder of Stephen Lawrence, and then the inability of the legal system and of the police to provide justice.

[Reporter 1] No one has ever been convicted over the death of Stephen.

[Reporter 2] Local feeling about racist attacks in this area has been running high for over two years now.

[Woman] I'm absolutely shocked. I didn't expect this to happen again. How much is it? How much is a Black life worth?

[Reporter 3] Pandemonium outside the Stephen Lawrence inquiry as the five suspects...

[Reporter 4] Fighting broke out outside the Stephen Lawrence inquiry this afternoon as the five young white men fought with an angry crowd.

[crowd clamoring]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] It was such an egregious, such an appalling, such a disturbing case that it became too difficult to ignore. And it made the complaints, the observations, the experiences of Black people difficult to deny.

[Male presenter] Hanging over this memorial, the terrible fact that only two of Stephen's killers have been brought to justice.

[melancholic music playing]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] I think that it was really significant when Meghan and Harry visited this memorial because it represented a direct attempt to speak to the pain that many people still feel as a result of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

[Prince Harry] A quarter of a century later, we can only imagine the man who Stephen would have become.

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] And that was really welcomed by many Black communities in Britain.

[applause]

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] I always perceived Prince Harry as just another senior royal who's a little bit racist, very ignorant. But I have watched him on this journey and seen that he has really embraced the education that is required for someone like him, to transform themselves into an anti-racist.

[parade music playing]

[May 7, 2018
12 Days to Wedding]

[Female Presenter] The excitement here in Windsor...

[crowd cheering]

[Female Presenter] ... it's building.

[lively instrumental music playing]

[Reporter 1]The final 12 days.

[Reporter 2] I can't believe it's this close.

[Reporter 3] 100,000 people will be trying to squeeze onto these pavements on Saturday...

[Man in Crowd] She's going to make history on the 19th of May. And we're ever so proud of Meghan.

[Reporter] Is it going to be a wild one?

[Woman] Oh, definitely!

[Reporter] Meghan Markle's route to the chapel on the morning of 19th May will start off unconventionally because it will be her mother who will be in the car with her as she drives here along the long walk up to the castle. Meghan will meet her father, Thomas Markle, at the west steps to St. George's Chapel before he walks her down the aisle. But when Meghan's father flies in on the week before the wedding, he will be meeting his daughter's soon- to-be husband for the very first time.

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] There was excitement leading up to the wedding but she also had to contend with everybody else.

[The New York Times
Tabloid Hired Gun Tells of Shady Hunt for Meghan Markle Scoops
The private investigator says the British tabloid The Sun paid him $2,055 in 2016 for private information about the couple, their family and friends that had been taken from a restricted database....

The Sun jumped into high gear, producing a stream of gossipy, thinly sourced "exclusives" over the next week.
By Sarah Lyall and Mark Landler
Published March 18, 2021 Updated May 22, 2021]

[tense music playing]

[Prince Harry] It's amazing what people will do when offered a huge amount of money. Fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, to hand over photographs, to create a story.

[Entertainment
Simon Rex says he refused U.K. tabloids' $70k offer to claim he slept with costar Meghan Markle
By Andrea Towers
March 18, 2022]

[Prince Harry] And thank God most of them said no.

[tense music continues]

[Meghan Markle] The week before our wedding, we get a call from our joint communications secretary. He said, "This story is going to come out tomorrow saying that your father has been staging pictures and taking money from the press." And I was like, "What kind of pictures?"

[camera shutters click]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] They were relatively innocuous enough. You know, there was one of him looking at a book of the UK. I remember I naively went into the office and I said, "Isn't that sweet?" Because I genuinely was in this, sort of, matrimony love-fest bubble. And a colleague sort of brought me down to earth fairly quickly and said, "That's a setup."

[Meghan Markle] That was the first I was hearing of it.

[soft music playing]

[Meghan Markle] And I remember Jason said, "You just need to call him and find out if this is true or not because it could be really damaging." H and I called my dad. I said, "Look, they're saying you're taking money from the tabloids to stage photos. Is this true?" He says, "No." And on that call, I'd said to him, "Look, if this story ... if they can't stop it, then it's gonna come out tomorrow, so why don't we send someone right now to your house to get you out of there now, because if that's the case, your house'll be swarmed by media. We'll get you out of there now." I was like, "We'll just come and get you a day early. Let's get you out of Mexico." And he said, "No, no. I have things I need to do." And it felt really cagey. I was like, "It doesn't make any sense, doesn't make sense." And when we hung up, I looked at H. I was like, "I don't know why, but I don't believe him."

[Female presenter] The buzz, this morning, centers around Meghan Markle's father.

[May 14, 2018
5 Days to Wedding]

[tense music plays]

[The Daily Mail
May 13, 2018
MEGHAN'S DAD STAGED PHOTOS WITH THE PAPARAZZI]

[Male presenter] Mr. Markle allegedly staged photos of himself for the paparazzi, selling them for a reported $100,000.

[Female Reporter] This is tabloid fodder. They are going crazy with this story this morning.

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Everyone was so frantic with preparing for the wedding itself. And then all of a sudden, it just exploded.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] I was absolutely stunned that Tom would become part of this circus.

[Inside Edition Reporter] As the photo scandal swirls around...

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] I felt sad that the media would run with this.

[Reporter] Do you have any reaction to your ex-husband apparently staging photos for the paparazzi?

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] That he would capitalize... Certainly as a parent -- that's not what you do. That's not parenting.

[Meghan Markle] Paps and journalists immediately were following him all day everyday. The unraveling happened that week when he wouldn't pick up my call. And instead you're talking to TMZ.

[Tense music continues]

[TMZ Live Reporter] We just broke a big fat story on our website. Meghan Markle was supposed to be walked down the aisle by her father, and we found out from her father, not only will he not do that, he's not gonna attend the wedding at all.

[Meghan Markle] And I'm finding out that you're not coming to our wedding through a tabloid!

[May 14, 2018
4 Days to Wedding]

[STAR
TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018
NEW ROYAL SHOCKER
HEART-SCARE MEGHAN DAD 'TO MISS BIG WEDDING'
He 'pulls out after suffering attack'

[Male presenter] Meghan's father, 73-year-old Thomas Markle, reportedly suffering a heart attack, after igniting a scandal these past three days with staged paparazzi photos that went viral.

EXCERPT FROM PUBLIC LEGAL DOCUMENT
Thomas' Phone
I'm back in the hospital needle angiogram
May 15, 2018

Meghan's Phone
I've been reaching out to you all weekend but you're not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts... Do you need help... What hospital are you at?

[Meghan Markle] And then suddenly they were saying he was in the hospital.

[Tense music continues]

[Meghan Markle] I said, "What's going on? Please just pick up the phone. Like, "what's going on? We're not mad. Just please pick up the phone."

[TMZ Live Reporter] He told me he had a heart attack six days ago and checked...

[Meghan Markle] Calling, calling, calling, calling, calling.

[Male presenter1] This is not him saying, "No, I don't wanna be there."

[Male presenter 2] No, I get it. I'm not saying...

[Meghan Markle] And the world is watching this drama play out.

[Male presenter] He feels so bad for everybody, Free Thomas Markle.

[PALACE 'WON'T AID MEGHAN DAD'
ALONE, ILL AND AFRAID]

[DAILY BEAST
Desperate Pleas?
No, Thomas Markle Still Hasn't Heard From Meghan
By Tom Sykes
Published May 15, 2018]

[Man 1] Free Thomas Markle.

[Man 2] Yeah, Tommy Marks, baby.

[Evening Standard
lMY WEDDING AGONY BY MEGHAN'S FATHER]

[Woman] Mr. Markle, he didn't ask for any of this.

[Meghan Markle] I just kept calling.

Please call us as soon as you can... all of this is incredibly concerning but your health is most important.

Please can you send hospital details as soon as possible so we know where you are.

[Meghan Markle] "We need to know what's going on. I don't understand what's going on. Are you okay? What hospital are you at?" I mean, all of us, we were just trying to understand what was going on.

[DAILY MIRROR
ROYAL WEDDING ROW
DAD'S SORRY HE HURT MEGHAN
Brother says his father will apologise for picture stunt embarrassment.]

[Male presenter] How you don't have your daddy at your wedding?

[May 17, 2018
2 Days to Wedding]

EXCERPT FROM PUBLIC LEGAL DOCUMENT
Meghan's Phone
Please can I ask that you stop talking to any press... You haven't returned any of our 20+ calls since we all spoke on Saturday morning; which only adds to the hurt you've been causing. We aren't angry but we do really need to speak to u. Love M and H
May 17, 2018

[soft music playing]

EXCERPT FROM PUBLIC LEGAL DOCUMENT
Thomas' Phone
I've done nothing to hurt you Meghan or anyone else I know nothing about 20 phone calls I'm sorry my heart attack is there any inconvenience for you
May 17, 2018

If only I had died then you guys then you guys could pretend to be sad
May 17, 2018

[Meghan Markle] And then, someone texted back on his phone. It was really weird. You know how people text, right? Like, you know, my dad used a lot of emojis and a lot of like, ellipses and dot-dot-dot and... And this was just the opposite. And it called me "Meghan." I was like, "He's never called me Meghan in my, any day that I've lived on this planet. "Meg." All my friends call me "Meg." And my parents call me "Meg." And I was like, "That's not my dad."

Tom, it's Harry, please answer your phone. I need to know this is actually you because it doesn't sound like u at all

[Meghan Markle] So then we knew that his phone had been compromised. And we said, like, "Pick up the phone. We need to know it's you." Never spoke to him.

[Prince Harry] Of course, it's incredibly sad what happened. She had a father before this. And now she doesn't have a father. And I shouldered that. Because if Meg wasn't with me, then her dad would still be her dad.

[Young Meghan Markle] Hi, Daddy. I got the English award.

[Thomas Markle] I know.

[PM 12:03
May 29, 1993]

[Young Meghan Markle] Okay. All right. Am I there? I wonder. Okay. See you later. Bye-bye. Where's the little button? Whoa, I gotta zoom back on you.

[Thomas Markle] Gotta push that button in the back.

[[May 18, 2018]
1 Day to Wedding]

[Reporter 1] We're about 24 hours away from the royal wedding and...

[Reporter 2] More than two billion people worldwide are expected to watch the wedding on TV.

[Reporter] [speaking Romanian]

[Reporter] [speaking French]

[Woman] There is so much excitement in the air.

[Man] In so many ways, this is a royal wedding unlike any other. The big reveal in just 24 hours.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Music] "Stand By Me" by Otis Redding playing
♪ When the night has come
♪ ♪ And the land is dark and the moon
♪ ♪ Is the only, only light we see
♪ ♪ No, I won't be afraid
♪ ♪ No no no no no I won't be afraid
♪ ♪ Just as long, just as long Just as long as you stand by me
♪ ♪ Now darling, darling
♪ ♪ Whenever I'm in trouble darling, won't you stand
♪ ♪ I need just a little helping hand right now now
♪ ♪ And darling, darling won't you stand by me
♪ ♪ If the sky we look upon now, now
♪ ♪ Should tumble and fall All of the mountains
♪ ♪ May crumble, may crumble to the sea
♪ ♪ I won't cry, I won't cry... ♪

[admin]

EPISODE 4

["Wedding March" by Mendelssohn playing]

[Male presenter] Elizabeth and Philip take their places on history's pages. To the stirring strains of Mendelssohn, they march as man and wife toward the west door amidst nearly 3,000 invited spectators.

[crowd cheering, clamoring]

[poignant music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Meghan Markle] There was this moment where our private secretary, she had worked for the queen for almost, I think 20 years, and what she said to me was, "it's like this fish. It's like, swimming perfectly. Powerful, it's on the right current.

[crowd cheering]

[Meghan Markle] And one day this little organism comes in.

[Woman 1] She's independent, she's quite feisty.

[ENEWS
Taming Prince [Prince Harry] How Meghan Markle Got the Royal -- and the Ring -- Wrapped Around Her Finger]

[DailyMail
Meghan's seed will taint our Royal Family: UKIP chief's glamour model lover, 25, is suspended from the party over racist texts about Prince Harry's wife-to-be.]

[Woman 2] She's a controlling woman.

[Woman 1] Ooh!

[Meghan Markle] This foreign organism. And the entire thing goes... [squeals] "What is that? What is it doing here? It doesn't look like us. It doesn't move like us. We don't like it. Get it off of us."

[Vox
Why Meghan Markle's engagement to Prince Harry is controversial
December 15, 2017]

[calm music plays]

[Woman 1] There's polarized opinions...

[The Guardian
November 29, 2017
Media focusing on Markle's 'otherness'

[Woman 2] I say it's doomed.

[Daily Mail
January 10, 2018
Angry backlash as Widdecombe says: I'm uneasy about her background]

[Woman 3] People are so cynical before the people are even married. Give the couple a chance for goodness sake. They're obviously in love.

[Woman 4] I agree.

[Meghan Markle] And she just explained that, you know, they'll soon see that it's stronger, faster, even better, with this organism as part of it. It will be hard at the beginning for them to adjust to this new thing ... but then it'll be amazing.

[Woman 5] Times are changing. She's the first ever global princess.

[Woman 6] I think what she and Harry are going to be capable of is going to be quite impressive.

[Woman 7] This couple is the one that is gonna change the face of the royal family for me.

[Meghan Markle] And I was really hopeful that that was true.

[emotive theme music playing]

[emotive theme music finishes]

[Windsor, England
May 19, 2018]

[Meghan Markle] On the day of our wedding, it's like I went into a really calm space. I don't know how I was so calm. I look back and, "How was I so calm?" And all I wanted was a mimosa, a croissant and, uh, to play the song, "Going to the Chapel." And that's what I did. And it was great.

♪ Going to the chapel
♪ ♪ And we're gonna get married
♪ ♪ Going to the chapel of love...
[bell jingling]

[Court Announcer] Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! It's Harry and Meghan's big day. God save the Queen.

[bell jingling]

[Female presenter 1] We can take you now to Windsor town center where the streets are packed.

[Man] Everybody's going crazy. Yeah, everybody's wedding mad.

[crowd cheering]

[Clare Waight Keller, Stylist and Fashion Designer] The crowd! It was just literally like you were in the biggest football stadium. This massive, massive roar.

[crowd cheering]

[Paul Davies, The Long Walk, Windsor, itv NEWS] It's estimated that 115,000 people will be here in Windsor.

[Femaler Reporter] [speaking Korean]

[Maria Antonieta Collins, Windsor, Inglaterra] [speaking Spanish]

[Male Reporter] [speaking Arabic]

[Heather Dorak, Friend] Everything was big and spectacular. I mean it was just, like, hard to even comprehend that I'm actually a part of this event.

♪ Going to the chapel... ♪

[Heather Dorak, Friend] It's like... this is crazy, like absolutely crazy.

["Going to the Chapel" continues]

♪ Bells will ring
♪ ♪ Ah ah ah, sun will shine
♪ ♪ Whoa oh oh, I'll be his... ♪

[Meghan Markle] So I knew that when I got to the actual castle ... How funny is that to say?, "When I got to the castle for my wedding," um, that there'd be tons of people. What I didn't know is people would be lining both sides of the street. I mean, this was a 15-minute drive. Me and my mom were like, "What is going on? Look at all these people!"

[Male presenter] Everyone's got their phones out. There we go. Wow! Look at that.

♪ Married
♪ ♪ Going to the chapel...

[Prince Harry] There was an expectation, right? Diana's boy. There was an expectation to have a public wedding. It was like, "Mission complete with William. Now, let's see if this goes the distance with Harry, and then we can actually go, [rubs hands together] 'Job done.'"

[Female presenter] Here she comes.

[Male presenter] Here comes the bride.

♪ Going to the chapel of love
♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[Male presenter] This is when you finally get to see that dress.

[crowd cheering]

[Clare Waight Keller, Stylist and Fashion Designer] Looking at the design of the dress ... there were many conversations we had over how you want to present yourself to the world. I mean, most of us have a wedding with, you know, 70 to 200 people. This was billions of people watching this wedding. [laughing] It has to be flawless, it has to be perfect.

[stately intro music plays]

[Meghan Markle] I just remember thinking, "Just take a deep breath and keep going."

[female voice vocalizing]

[Meghan Markle] And you chose the song I walked down the aisle to.

[Prince Harry] Yep.

[Meghan Markle] Which was stunning. That was so beautiful.

[Prince Harry] My father helped us choose an orchestra, which made all the difference.

[vocalizing]

[Meghan Markle] Harry's dad is very charming. And ... I said to him, like, "I've lost my dad in this." So, him as my father-in-law was really important to me. So I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said yes. The whole thing, the whole thing was surreal. It was at that moment, I could also see H.

[Interviewer] What was going through your head when you saw her coming?

[Prince Harry] Look at ... look at me, look what I got.

[Meghan Markle [laughing] Oh my gosh.

[Prince Harry] Look what I... look what I found.

[inaudible]

[Prince Harry] The world was watching us, but when we were actually at the altar, as far as I was concerned, it was just the two of us.

[inaudible conversation]

[Meghan Markle] H and I are really, really good at finding each other in the chaos. When we find each other, we reconnect to, like, "Oh it's you. It's you." It's not that the rest of it doesn't matter, but ... the rest of it feels temporary.

[Vicky Tsai, Friend] It felt like a moment where the world paused and celebrated love. I remember watching him look at her, and I almost started to cry, and I was like, "No Vicky, don't cry!"

♪ I won't cry, I won't cry
♪ ♪ No, I won't shed a tear... ♪

[Clare Waight Keller] The whole ceremony was something quite unique. A gospel choir. That had never been part of a royal wedding before.

♪ So darling, darling stand...

[Prince Harry] There wasn't too much pushback on that.

[Meghan Markle] No.

[Prince Harry] Everyone was like, "Gospel choir. Wonderful idea. That's great." And again, more help from, from, uh, from my dad on that one.

[Meghan Markle] Yeah, said that they could just take the best people from certain gospel choirs and put them together. And that's how Kingdom Choir came to be, and they're great.

♪ Trouble, won't you stand by me...

[Serena Williams, Friend] To have her culture represented in that wedding, amazing. I loved it. And I thought it was really courageous and breaking boundaries, but not trying to.

♪ Stand by me
♪ ♪ So darling, darling

[Dhru Purohit, Friend] We had this massive moment where myself, Oprah, Idris Elba and his partner, we all looked at each other for a brief moment and had a little bit of a chuckle. And nobody needed to say anything, because everybody knew exactly the layers of symbolism that were taking place that day.

[Gospel music playing]

♪ This little light of mine
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ Oh, this little light of mine
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ I say, this little light of mine
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ Let it shine Let it shine, let it shine
♪ ♪ Oh, in my home
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ You know, oh, in my home
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ I say, oh, in my home
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ Let it shine Let it shine, let it shine

[crowd cheering]

♪ This little light of mine
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ Oh, this little light of mine
♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine
♪ ♪ I said, this little light of mine

[crowd cheering]

[bell jingling]

[Meghan Markle] And then we had the reception at St. George's Hall.

[stately music playing]

[Prince Harry] We cut cake.

[Meghan Markle] With a sword. [laughing] With a sword. It was great. It was all so over the top. I think most people were just like, "What is happening?" Elton John's performing. I couldn't find my mom because she had beelined to the stage to watch Elton sing. I just really wanted the music to be fun. Even our first dance. Song of a thousand, uh, dances? A thousand ... I always get it wrong.

["Land of a Thousand Dances" by Wilson Pickett playing]

♪ One two three
♪ ♪ Ow, uh, all right, uh!

[Meghan Markle] [Singing] ♪ ♪ Got to know how to pony

♪ ♪ Like Bony Maronie

[Meghan Markle] [Singing] ♪ ♪ Mash potato

[Prince Harry] There you go.

[Meghan Markle] [Singing] ♪ Do the alligator ♪ That was our first dance. It was so fun. I was just spinning like a whirlwind. It was so great.

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] It was just brilliant. It was how every wedding should be.

[Silver Tree, Friend] Meg was madly in love.

♪ Na na na na na na na na na na...

[Silver Tree, Friend] Meg and I would always sign off on our texts, "Love wins."

♪ Na na na na na na na na na na ♪

[Silver Tree, Friend] Love won.

[soft music playing]

[People
THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX
Meghan's New Life!]

[US
MEGHAN'S TRIUMPH
THE NEW PEOPLE'S PRINCESS
Harry's bride tackles her biggest challenge -- continuing Diana's legacy. How she's channelling his late mom]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Someone said to me, "If you were writing the royal family story as a novel, it's almost at this point in its history that you would want to be writing in a new character like Meghan." It needed a boost of energy. A modernization that would speak to a new generation of people.

[indistinct conversation]

[NOTTINGHAM COTTAGE
Kensington Palace]

[Prince Harry] Oh my God. It's my favorite video. Thursday afternoon. Someone's happy. As far as people were concerned, we were living in a palace. And we were. In a cottage.

[Meghan Markle and Prince Harry] [Simultaneously] We were living on palace grounds.

[Meghan Markle] Yeah. Kensington Palace sounds very regal. Of course it does. It says "palace" in the name. But Nottingham Cottage was so small.

[Prince Harry] The whole thing's on a slight lean. Really low ceilings. I don't know who it was for. They must have been very short.

[Meghan Markle] He would just hit his head constantly in that place 'cause he's so tall. Me with a hoe, and H varnishing. It was just a chapter in our lives where I don't think anyone could believe what it was actually like behind the scenes. \

[Prince Harry] Well, Oprah came over for tea, didn't she?

[Meghan Markle] She did.

[Prince Harry] And when she came in, she sat down, she goes, "No one would ever believe it!"

[Meghan Markle] [Mimics] "No one would ever believe it!" [laughing]

[Prince Harry] [laughing]

[CHESHIRE, ENGLAND
June 14, 2018]

[Meghan Markle] My first official engagement with Her Majesty was very early on after we got married. We took the royal train together and we had breakfast that morning.

[Man] Your Majesty, thank you so much for coming back to Cheshire.

[Meghan Markle] And, um... I had a really great time with her.

[soft classical music playing]

[Interviewer] What do you talk about with the Queen of England?

[Meghan Markle] I treated her as my husband's grandma. And knowing that, of course, there has to be a completely different sense of propriety and whatnot in public. When you're sitting and having breakfast, to just be able to talk. I mean, when we got into the car in-between engagements, she had a blanket and she put it over my knees and we're sitting in the car with this blanket and I thought, "I recognize and respect and see that you are the queen, but in this moment, I'm so grateful that there's a grandmother figure. Because that feels like family." And because I was so, so close with my grandmother, and I took care of her in her final years. Yeah. It was really ... It was such a good day. We laughed.

[Female presenter] Meghan had the Queen in stitches of laughter. You don't often see the Queen in giggles.

[Meghan Markle] That day happened to also be the one-year anniversary of the Grenfell fire.

[Male presenter] The Queen and the Duchess of Sussex remembering Grenfell in Chester.

[Female presenter] Seventy-two seconds of silence. One for every life lost.

[Meghan Markle] It was really important to me because I had become so close with so many of the women who had survived that, even though no one knew that at the time.

[melancholic music playing]

[June 14, 2017
One Year Earlier]

[Female presenter] Beneath a still moon, a blaze of such ferocity it is almost filmic.

[Meghan Markle] The Grenfell fire was horrendous. We were watching it on the news at Nottingham Cottage.

[Female reporter 1] Residents have complained for years that their concerns about safety at the flats were simply being ignored.

[Female reporter 2] One key question was whether council budget cuts were in any way to blame.

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Grenfell has a very high immigrant population and is a deprived area of London. And it is a direct neighbor to Kensington, one of the richest boroughs in the UK.

[Meghan Markle] The Grenfell fire left so many families displaced, outside of how many deaths it caused. And, I remember saying, "Well, can we do something? We need to go down there and do something." And so, I connected with the women at Al-Manaar, which is a mosque in Grenfell. They were living in these hotels and just given meal vouchers for fast food.

[Munira Mahmud, Grenfell Fire Survivor] I started cooking at age of seven, for at least 30 to 50 every day. But after the fire happened, we stayed in the hotel for 19 months eating takeaway, like day and night. So I walked into the local mosque and I asked if I could use the kitchen to cook.

[indistinct conversation]

[Munira Mahmud, Grenfell Fire Survivor] The whole idea was just to try and feel normal again. For a few hours, forget that something happened. The first few months, it was twice a week, up until the Duchess came.

[soft music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[Munira Mahmud, Grenfell Fire Survivor] When the Duchess came in, you know, we like to kiss. Three kisses on the cheek. And there's about 50 of us there. She couldn't finish. She was like, "Oh my God, oh my God." [laughing] She asked if she could help. I was like, "Really?" She goes, "Yeah." Sleeves up, I gave her apron, and she washed, like, five kilos basmati rice. Uh, okay. Mmm.

[Meghan Markle] Over the course of eight or nine months, I just kept going back and visiting them, and I loved these women so much. When I watched these women laughing together and grieving together, I said, "Why can't you do this every day of the week?" And they said, "Well, we don't have the funds for it." I just looked around, I said, "We should make a cookbook."

[KENSINGTON PALACE
September 20, 2018]

[applause]

[Meghan Markle] Thank you for coming for the launch of Together, to celebrate this and the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen.

[Meghan Markle] Actually, the first speech I made as a member of the royal family, was launching this cookbook.

[Meghan Markle] Working on this project for the past nine months has been a tremendous labor of love.

[Meghan Markle] We did it on the grounds of Kensington Palace.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] And did your mom make these, um...

[Meghan Markle] I feel so proud to live in a city that can have so much diversity. It's 12 countries represented in this one group of women. It's pretty outstanding. Thank you.

[audience applause]

[Natalie Campbell, Former Director, Sussex Royal Foundation] Sales, we're doing brilliantly. We've knocked JK Rowling off the top spot, and the book's not even out yet. [laughing]

[Meghan Markle] It just... just kept growing.

[indistinct conversation]

[Woman 1] On behalf of all the ladies, thank you.

[Woman 2] Thank you!

[Reporter] If you needed an image of how the Duchess of Sussex is changing the way the royal family is perceived, this one would probably do it.

[Woman] Thank you! Thank you!

[Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish)] She talked about wanting to bring new life to the institution of the monarchy, and more honesty and humanity to those spaces. What's not to like?

[Woman] Oi, royalty.

[October 15, 2018
5 Months After Wedding]

[Man] There they are. Prince Harry and Meghan on the first day of their Australian tour.

[crowd cheering]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] They seem to speak so effortlessly for a different generation.

[crowd cheering]

[Female presenter] She and Harry are the superstars of the British family.

[Woman] Yeah, I shook her hand too.

[Women squeal]

[Prince Harry] I mean, looking back on it now, I'm amazed we managed to do what we did.

[Meghan Markle] Well, also even harder when I was pregnant. One of the things that we connected on really early is you always had wanted to be a dad.

[Prince Harry] Mm.

[Meghan Markle] And I'd always wanted to be a mom. We started journaling right when we found out we were pregnant. It was just, "Dear baby, we're so excited to meet you one day." And take little snapshots and stick them in the journal. "Here's an announcement that went out about you today."

[The New York Times
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Announce She's Pregnant]

[Female presenter] Breaking baby news. The Duchess of Sussex is pregnant and we now know officially.

[keyboard clicking] Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019.
3:39 AM Oct 15, 2018

[Meghan Markle] We announced we were pregnant in Australia.

[Prince Harry] Because we had to. You were starting to show already.

[Meghan Markle] Yeah.

[Prince Harry] And then New Zealand started referring to it as the bump.

[Meghan Markle] As the bump.

[Prince Harry] Le bump.

[Meghan Markle] Yeah. Le bump.

[Prince Harry] Yeah.

[Female presenter] They'll be busy, which is not easy early in a pregnancy. They have 76 engagements scheduled.

[Meghan Markle] That was a really rigorous tour to do, pregnant.

[Female presenter] A 16-day trip. Australia and New Zealand and Fiji. Let's hope she hasn't got bad morning sickness.

[Australian Aborigine Girl] She's so lovely and just so engaged. Really all about women's empowerment.

[poignant music playing]

[Prince Harry] Giving 100%, every single person that you meet...

[Meghan Markle] That's their moment.

[Prince Harry] That's their moment.

[Male presenter] The Duchess of Sussex arrived hand-in-hand with her husband.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] It went so well.

[Meghan Markle] Because when girls are given the right tools to succeed, they can create incredible futures.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] The work that they were doing, the speeches, the people they were meeting, like, it seemed to be amazing. And then I don't understand what happened after that.

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] I think Australia was a real turning point because they were so popular. So popular with the public.

[crowd chanting] Meghan! Meghan! Meghan! Meghan!

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] The internals at the palace were incredibly threatened by that.

[women squeal in crowd]

[DAILY BEAST
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are Wildly Popular. That Could Be a Problem]

[THE SUN
ROYAL RIVALS 'Forward thinking' Meghan Markle and Prince Harry top Time's most influential list but Kate Middleton and Prince William are snubbed]

[Male presenter] Putting aside what I think about it, right?, she's becoming a royal rock star. Bigger, I would argue, as a couple, than William and Kate. That's probably not a good thing in the long term.

[soft music playing]

[EXPRESS
Prince Harry now more popular than QUEEN, shock poll shows Meghan's husband top royal
PRINCE Harry has topped a list of the most popular royals in a new survey, with the Queen coming in second place -- but Meghan Markle did not even make the top five.
Tue, Nov 13, 2018]

[Prince Harry] The issue is when someone who's marrying in, who should be a supporting, a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight, or is doing the job better than the person who is born to do this. That upsets people. It shifts the balance. Because you've been led to believe that the only way that your charities can succeed, and the only way that your reputation can be grown or improved, is if you're on the front page of those newspapers.

[Woman's Day
ROYAL TOUR
Tour of aroha!
QUEEN OF HEARTS
HOW MEGHAN'S MANA MOVED US ALL]

[People
Meghan's GRACE UNDER PRESSURE]

[Prince Harry] But the media are the ones who choose who to put on the front page. First time that the penny dropped for her, M and I spent the night in a room in Buckingham Palace and after an event where every single member of the family, senior members of the family, had been, including the queen.

[Meghan Markle] The next morning, they'd set up breakfast for Harry and I.

[Prince Harry] And on the front page of The Telegraph, Meghan.

[The Sunday Telegraph
United in Remembrance
Meghan's tribute to the fallen
MAJESTIC MEGHAN Duchess is all smiles in black trock]

[Meghan Markle] I went, "Oh my God."

[melancholic music playing]

[Prince Harry] She was like, "But it's not my fault." And I said, "I know. And my mum felt the same way."

[Princess Diana] We'd be going round Australia for instance and you ... All you could hear was, "Oh, she's on the other side."

[Male Interviewer] When you say, "She's on the other side," what do you mean?

[Princess Diana] Well, they weren't on the right side to wave at me or to touch me.

[Male Interviewer] So they were expressing a preference, even then, for you, rather than your husband.

[Princess Diana] Yes. Now if you're a man, or my husband, a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for weeks. And you feel low about it.

[Male Interviewer] But were you flattered by the media attention particularly?

[Princess Diana] No, not particularly. Because with the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of ... complicated situations arose because of that.

[tense music playing]

[NATIONAL ENQUIRER
ENQUIRER EXCLUSIVE!
Queen Elizabeth Blasts Meghan Over Diva Behavior]

[closer WEEKLY
Meghan Markle's 'Diva Demands' Are 'Wreaking Havoc' At The Palace]

[THE MODERN ROYALS
by AFUA HERSCH]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] When some people in the institution around the family started to see that this new couple could destabilize the power dynamics, whether actively talked about or not, the aim was to put them in a box or make them irrelevant.

[Showbiz CheatSheet
Meghan Markle Is 'Not Popular" In Royal Circles, Her Diva Behavior To Blame?]

[Abigail Spencer, Friend and "Suits" Co-Star] It was almost like, from the wedding and everything, I saw that they were building her up, and then there was a shift and they started to tear her down.

[THE SUN
SUN ROYAL EXCLUSIVE
MEGHAN MADE KATE CRY
Bride's strict demands over Charlotte dress]

[Male presenter] The Duchess of Sussex is at war with her sister-in-law.

[DailyMail.com
Why can't Meghan Markle keep her hands off her bump? Experts tackle the question that has got the nation talking: Is it pride, vanity, acting -- or a new age bonding technique?
PUBLISHED: 18:58 EDT, 26 January 2019]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] All of a sudden, these tabloid stories started to appear, criticizing Meghan for every little thing.

[DailyMail.com
Not long to go! Pregnant Kate tenderly cradles her baby bump while wrapping up her royal duties ahead of maternity leave -- and William confirms she's due 'any minute now'
PUBLISHED: 06:40 EDT, 21 March 2018.]

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] What's interesting is that you could see, side by side, two articles. One in which Kate was praised, and Meghan was condemned.

[Prince Harry] You had the bump.

[Meghan Markle] The bump.

[EXPRESS
Kate's morning sickness cure? Prince William gifted with an avocado for pregnant Duchess
17:52, Thu, Sep 14, 2017]

[EXPRESS
Meghan Markle's beloved avocado linked to human rights abuse and drought, millennial shame
13:42, Wed, Jun 23, 2019]

[Prince Harry] The avocados.

[DailyMail.com
Kicking up a stink: 'Dictatorial' bride Meghan wanted air fresheners for 'musty' 15th-century St George's Chapel ... but the Palace said no]

[InStyle
NEWS
Kate Middleton Just Proved That These Are the Most Versatile Shoes of the Summer
Two (very different) looks, one trusty pair of wedges
Jun 25, 2019 @ 11:00 am]

[InStyle
NEWS
Meghan Markle Broke Royal Shoe Protocol at Bondi Beach
Oct 18, 2018 @ 9:00 pm]

[EXPRESS
Kate Middleton dazzles on BAFTA red carpet in elegant white gown with Prince William
06:32, Mon, Feb 11, 2019]

[BAZAAR
Meghan Markle Broke Royal Protocol by Wearing an Off-the-Shoulder Dress to Trooping the Colour 2018
PUBLISHED Jun 9, 2018]

[Prince Harry] It's bizarre. And there were maybe like 25 examples. It's literally the same thing. It's the off-the-shoulder dress. It's the same fruit. If avocado is a fruit?

[Meghan Markle] Mm-hmm, it is, yeah.

[Prince Harry] This is how it's covered for her. This is how it's covered for her. If you don't see the difference and understand why it's being reported that way, why ... then, I can't help you. [Laughs] I can't. I'm sorry. I just can't.

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] At the time, I mean we laughed about it, because it's so ridiculous. But an attack can be preposterous, but it's still an attack. And that drip feed of constant attack on someone who is an individual, a real person, has an impact.

[Man] The fairy tale has fractured, and one person is copping all the blame.

[DailyMail.com
Getting up at 5am, bombarding aides with texts and her eyebrow-raising fashion: Palace insidirs reveal how Hurricane Meghan is shaking up the Royals six months after the wedding]

[Male presenter] Meghan seems to be a version of the Antichrist.

[Female Presenter 1] Is Meghan Markle "Duchess Difficult"?

[Female Presenter 2] "Duchess Difficult. Monster Markle."

[EXPRESS
DUCHESS DIFFICULT]

[BirminghamLive
DUCHESS DIFFICULT]

[NATIONAL ENQUIRER
Monster Meghan Rips Royals Apart
Prince Harry can't stop pregnant wife taking over palace!]

[THE SUN
'DUCHESS DIFFICULT']

[THE TIMES
'DUCHESS DIFFICULT']

[KATE & MEGHAN AT WAR?
PRINCESS UNDER PRESSURE
Her cruel nickname: 'Duchess Difficult'
Staff Walkouts & Kate's tears
A shocking new family betrayal]

[THE SUN
Harry to marry into gangster royalty? New love 'from crime-ridden neighbourhood']

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] A lot of the stories had a connotation and a tone that were incredibly demeaning.

[tense music playing]

[Prince Harry] So many people expect racism really just to be the N-word. "Oh, none of that's racist." It's like, "You don't understand."

[The Telegraph
It's time Meghan was taught a well-known British phrase: 'Get over yourself, love'

[Male presenter] Where is that racism? I haven't seen it.

[Kehinde Andrews, Author, The New Age of Empire] So the UK's perfect at doing this, right? Nobody wants to be openly racist. Oh, that wouldn't be civilized. And that wouldn't be British. Uh, but it's perfectly fine to kind of dog whistle. Give a nod to it.

[IS MEGHAN MARKLE'S "DIVA ANTICS" TOO MUCH FOR PALACE STAFF?]

[DailyMail
Meghan Markle's personal assistant handed in her notice after the royal 'left her in tears with her demands', it is claimed]

[Kehinde Andrews, Author, The New Age of Empire] "She's a diva." "She's making people cry." This kind of angry black woman trope. It just really came to the fore, uh, really quite suddenly.

[Prince Harry] Like even the stereotyping and the association to drսgs or terrorism...

[THREE SCANDALS ROCK PALACE
MEGHAN'S DRUG SECRET EXPOSED!
BOMBSHELL about 'sister' she's hiding from Harry]

[THE SUN
MEGHAN COOKBOOK MOSQUE LINKED TO 19 TERROR SUSPECTS INCLUDING 'JIHANDI JOHN' IN GROUP'S INVESTIGATION]

[The Telegraph
A COMMUNITY BACKED KITCHEN BACKED BY MEGHAN MARKLE HAS BEEN LINKED TO 19 EXTREMISTS CONNECTED TO 'TERRORIST ACTS'.]

[THE SUN
Meghan Markle's cookbook mosque 'linked to 19 jihadis including ISIS Beatles executioners']

[Mirror
Kitchen backed by Meghan Markle's cookbook is in mosque 'linked to 19 terror suspects']

[Munira Mahmud, Grenfell Fire Survivor] There's a time they put my picture and Meghan's picture, saying that the mosque is related to ISIS. Why?

[David Olusoga, Author, Black and British] Anger sells. That hysteria elicits clicks, which elicits engagement, which elicits money. I call it the outrage industrial complex. And racialized anger is just another step down the same pathway.

[Meghan Markle] I had still been under the delusion that if it was in a tabloid, no one believed it. Like, it's a tabloid. And then we had a walkabout in Liverpool and there was a group of women, and one of them said to me, "What you're doing to your father's not right." It was the first time that I went, "Oh my God. People actually believe this stuff." And then my entire center was rocked to its core.

[melancholic music playing]

[indistinct conversation]

[camera shutters clicking]

[Prince Harry] The lies, that's one thing. You kind of get used to that when you live within this family. But what they were doing to her and the effect that it was having on her ... like, enough. Enough of the pain. Enough of the... the suffering.

[melancholic music continues]

[Prince Harry] You know, no one sees what's happening behind closed doors. Back in the day, my mum was in the back of the car, going to engagements in floods of tears. And then my dad saying, "We're almost there." And 30 seconds to wipe the tears away, slap on some makeup, and then the door opens and smile, everything's fine. And flash, flash, flash, flash, flash, flash.

[melancholic music resumes]

[Lucy Fraser, Friend] It was just gloomy. Like she was just kind of disappearing inside herself.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend and "Suits" Co-Star] I'd never seen her like that. It was hard. It's very hard to talk about. [chuckles] Um, I was really scared.

[Meghan Markle] It was like, all of this will stop if I'm not here. And that was the scariest thing about it. Because it was such clear thinking.

[Doria Loyce Ragland, Meghan's mother] I remember her telling me that... That she had wanted to take her own life. And, um... and that really broke my heart. Because I knew ... well, I knew that it was bad. But to just constantly be, um, picked at by these vultures ... Uh, just picking away at her spirit. That she would actually think of not wanting to be here. That, uh ... It's ... That's not an easy one for a mom to hear. You know, uh ... and, uh ... [sniffling] And I can't protect her. H can't protect her. She's ... [sniffling]

[melancholic music resumes]

[Prince Harry] I was devastated. I knew that she was struggling. We were both struggling. But I never thought that it would get to that stage. And the fact that it got to that stage, I felt ... angry and ashamed. I didn't deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional Harry, as opposed to husband Harry. And what took over my feelings was my royal role. I had been trained to worry more about, "what are people gonna think if we don't go to this event? We're gonna be late." And looking back on it now, I ... I hate myself for it. [scoffs] What she needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.

[Meghan Markle] I wanted to go somewhere to get help, but I wasn't allowed to. They were concerned about how that would look for the institution.

[Prince Harry] They knew how bad it was.

[camera shutters clicking]

[Prince Harry] They thought, "Why couldn't she deal with it?" As if to say, "Well, you know, everybody else has dealt with it, why can't she deal with it?" But this was different. It was really different. But actually, if you strip all that away and say, "Okay fine, it was exactly the same," so do we still believe that she should have just sucked it up like other members of the family? Or does one think that maybe it's about time that we stop? But no one would have private conversations with the editors saying, "Enough." My dad said to me, "Darling boy, you can't take on the media. The media will always be the media." And I said, "I disagree." I have 30 years' experience of looking behind the curtain and seeing how this system works and how it runs. I mean, just constant briefings about other members of the family, about favors, inviting the press in. It's a dirty game. You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories. So if the comms team want to be able to remove a negative story about their principle, they will trade and give you something about someone else's principle. So the offices end up working against each other. It's a kind of a, this weird understanding or acceptance that happens. And you can always say, "I didn't know about this," or, "Don't be ridiculous! This would never happen. Are you suggesting that I condone this?" It's like, "No. But what I am asking is have you done anything to stop it?" And the answer is no.

[Reporter] Pretend like you know each other, come on. [all laughing]

[Prince Harry] William and I both saw what happened in our dad's office ... and we made an agreement that we would never let that happen to our office.

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] Every year, Kensington Palace hosts a Christmas party for the principles and the staff. And so we were gearing up for one big party. And very shortly ... very shortly before the party, it became two parties.

[poignant music playing]

[James Holt, Executive Director, Archewell Foundation, Former Palace Spokesman (2017-2019)] It was actually, that was the point that you realized that these offices are separating.

[COSMOPOLITAN
15 Mar 2019
Harry and Meghan are officially splitting households with William and Kate]

[Daily Mail
20 Jun 2019
Farewell to the Fab Four: Harry and Meghan formally SPLIT from joint charity with Kate and William -- less than 18 months after the two couples appeared together for the first time to set it up

[Female presenter 1] It could be the end of an era for the "Royal Fab Four."

[Female presenter 2] The "Fabulous Four" no more? Meghan and Harry officially cutting ties with William and Kate.

[A CASTLE DIVIDED?
HARRY AND MEGHAN GETTING THEIR OWN SPACE]

[Newsweek
Prince William 'Threw Harry Out' of Kensington Palace Over Meghan Markle: Book]

[Female presenter 3] The split fueling speculation of further strains in the once-close relationship between Harry and William, and growing tensions between their wives.

[wistful music playing]

[Daily Mail
"UNEASE BETWEEN THEIR WIVES"]

[Prince Harry] I would far rather get destroyed in the Press than play along with this game or this business of trading.

[camera shutters click]

[Prince Harry] And to see my brother's office copy the very same thing that we promised the two of us would never ever do, that was heartbreaking.

[Meghan Markle] Ready. [Turns Xmas lights on tree]

[Prince Harry] Yay!

[Meghan Markle] Yay! Merry Christmas!

[NOTTINGHAM COTTAGE
Christmas 2018]

[Meghan Markle] We were in this bubble where everything is controlled by them. I couldn't even text my friends a photo. "You can't do this, you can't..." Okay. And you do as you're told, but your world just becomes more and more like this.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] That was a really dark ... that was really a dark time. And I didn't know what to do. Like, that's the thing is, like, they are in this complex organism that I don't know anything about, or how to help, or what to do, and I'm not allowed to say anything. Like, I was not allowed to say anything. [sniffling] Anything that anybody was printing wasn't coming from anybody that knew her. There's all this untruth. There's all these lies. And it just seemed to be getting worse.

[Silver Tree, Friend] Abby came to me and said we should do something.

[People
Exclusive!
HER BEST FRIENDS BREAK THEIR SILENCE
The Truth About Meghan
AFTER STAYING QUIET FOR NEARLY 2 YEARS, THOSE WHO KNOW MEGHAN BEST ARE SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: 'WE WANT TO STAND UP AGAINST THE GLOBAL BULLYING WE ARE SEEING AND SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR FRIEND'
'She has the loudest and best laugh. She makes everywhere she goes feel like a holiday. She can make a five-star meal out of ...]

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] I called one of my closest friends, who just so happened at the time to be the editor of People magazine.

[wistful music playing]

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] I said, "We have to turn this narrative around." You know, it will just be her closest friends coming together to talk about the person, who she really is, in the middle of this shit storm.

[Silver Tree, Friend] It was born out of just wanting to remind the world that she's a person and not a headline and ... that she is loved and stick up for her.

[Abigail Spencer, Friend] The story comes out. Like, "Okay." Like, there was a little bit of an exhale.

[poignant music playing]