Harry, Meghan Rail Against Monarchy in Final Netflix Episodes
Disclosures include Prince William shouting at Harry and Meghan wanting to end her life as she struggled to cope with hostile press coverage.
LONDON â Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, vent their grievances against the British monarchy in the second half of their Netflix documentary series released Thursday, which includes Harry describing how his older brother shouted at him during a meeting and Meghan talking about wanting to end her life as she struggled to cope with toxic press coverage.
The couple have detailed their experiences leading to their decision to step away from royal duties and make a new start in the United States in âHarry & Meghan,â a six-part series. The first three installments, released last week, focused on the British mediaâs coverage of the couple and the way it was influenced by racism.
The final three episodes see Harry, 38, directing more of his ire at Prince William, now heir to the throne, and speaking in more detail about how his relationship with the royal household broke down.
He recounted how William lashed out at him during a royal summit at Sandringham Castle in January 2020 to talk about Harry and Meghanâs plan to step down as senior royals and move away.
âIt was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply werenât true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in,â Harry said.
The royal said the plan he and Meghan proposed to stay âhalf in, half outâ of royal life was swiftly rejected.
Elsewhere in the series, Meghan, 41, says she thought about killing herself before she and Harry decided to move to America. âIt was like âAll of this will stop if I am not here,ââ she said.
Harry added that he believed the Mail on Sundayâs publication of a letter Meghan wrote her estranged father, Thomas Markle, contributed to her having a miscarriage. Meghan later sued the Mailâs publisher and won.
âI believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the Mail did,â Harry said. âBearing in mind the stress that caused, the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy ⊠that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her.â
Harry stressed it was ultimately his decision, not Meghanâs, to leave the U.K. âI said that we need to get out of here,â he said.
Palace officials have not commented on the series.
The production is Harry and Meghanâs latest effort to tell their own story after the couple stepped back from royal life in early 2020 and moved to the wealthy Southern California enclave of Montecito. Lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify have helped finance their life on an estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The Netflix series has come out at a crucial moment for Britainâs monarchy. King Charles III, Harryâs father, is trying to show that the institution remains relevant after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose personal popularity damped criticism of the crown during her 70-year reign.
Harryâs 2018 marriage to the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress, was once seen as a public relations coup for the royal family, boosting the monarchyâs effort to move into the 21st century by making it more representative of a multicultural nation.
But the fairytale, punctuated with a horse-drawn carriage ride and lavish wedding at Windsor Castle, soon unraveled amid relentless media attention, including allegations that Meghan was self-centered and bullied her staff.
A look at some other allegations Harry and Meghan make in the second half of their series:
ON THE ROYAL PRESS MACHINE:
Describing royal press operations as a âdirty game,â Harry said there was âleakingâ and âplanting of stories,â and that the palace âcomms teamâ would seek to deflect negative coverage of one royal by issuing a story about another royal.
He talks about being sidelined, citing the example of a joint statement palace officials issued on behalf of him and William to âsquashâ a story about William bullying the couple out of the family. He said it was issued without his consent.
âI couldnât believe it. No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that,â Harry said. âThey were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.â
âI mean, the saddest part of it was this wedge created between me and my brother so that heâs now on the institutionâs side,â he added.
Meghanâs lawyer, Jenny Afia, claimed in the series that she saw evidence of ânegative briefing from the palaceâ against the couple âto suit other peopleâs agendas.â She did not elaborate on the evidence.
ON BEING BLOCKED FROM SEEING THE QUEEN:
The couple said they planned to see Harryâs grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, during a visit to the U.K. in early 2020, but palace officials blocked it.
Meghan said Harry received an urgent message saying, âYou are not allowed to go and see Her Majesty.â Harry said he rang the queen, who told him that âI didnât know that I was busy. Iâve now been told Iâm busy all week.â
âThis is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict because theyâre blocking you from seeing the queen, but what theyâre really doing is blocking a grandson from seeing his grandmother,â Meghan told the documentary makers.