Harry reveals he warned the palace Meghan would need special protections because of her background,but says other members of the family suggested the intrusion was part and parcel of their role in British public life.
Meghan says:“Unfortunately,in us standing for something,they are destroying us.”
The program,with slick production values as well as intimate mobile phone footage filmed on the day they were wrestling with their decision to quit their roles in early 2020,is unlikely to shift hearts and minds,only harden views. It is being viewed as a partisan and overly dramatic interpretation of real-life events.
For a couple who constantly say they crave privacy,it is a strange way to protect it. Much of the commentary in the early episode is an attack on the press and those within the royal family who have manipulated it in their favour,with Harry clearly still driven by his anger at the treatment. He mentions the “scars left open” since his mother’s death in 1997,when he was 12.
Race and the royals’ connection to British colonialism and slavery also casts a long shadow over the program,and Meghan speaks at length about how she had never thought twice about being a woman of mixed-race until she found fame in the UK. It is these claims that threaten to cause the most damage to the institution and where the palace is being urged by royal aides to push back.
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Constantly referring to each other as “H” and “M” throughout the program,the pair speak at length about how the breakdown of their parents’ marriages had affected their approach to raising son Archie,3,and daughter Lilibet,1.
Again putting him at odds with his brother,Harry said his late mother “spoke the truth” in her controversial BBCPanorama interview,conducted by Martin Bashir,that Prince William called a “false narrative” after it was revealed it was obtained using deception after Bashir faked documents.
“I think she had a lived experience of how she was struggling living that life. She felt compelled to talk about it,” Harry said. William has demanded the footage never be shown again.
It is easy to be cynical of the program,but there are a few heartwarming moments. Footage of their young son’s interaction with Harry is moving,especially when the young child is seen staring at a photograph of Diana on the wall of their home,with Meghan saying “here’s grandma”.
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They appear to have formed an unbreakable bond,even if their behaviour is a tad schmaltzy and far removed from the world of a stiff upper lip.
Many of Meghan’s personal staff and inner circle,many seemingly out of Hollywood central casting,appear in the show to add weight to their gripes with Britain and the way the pair were treated by the institution and the media.
The couple share intimate images – including text messages – of their life since they met in 2016,with Harry admitting he was first introduced to her on Instagram and revealed that his family were “incredibly impressed” when they learned of their romance.
“I think they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman,” he says. “But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning,‘oh she’s an American actress;this won’t last’.”
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