Meghan Markle has claimed ‘salacious’ stories were ‘planted’ in the press in the lead-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
During the third episode of their Netflix series, the Duchess of Sussex says: ‘We were playing whack-a-mole. Every day it was like “Wait, another one popped up – wait, stop, another story”. Constant.’
As excerpts from headlines appeared reading ‘related to serial killer’ along with references to a ‘porn star ex’ and ‘snorts cocaine’, she adds: ‘They were going through the woodwork and pulling out people to create and plant the most salacious stories that they could.
‘And then it started to get scary.’
The documentary then features headlines from Australia’s New Idea, the US’s National Enquirer and the UK’s Mirror about their tightened security after a letter was sent holding white powder, sparking an anthrax scare.
Meghan adds: ‘It was on the heels of those terrorist attacks, so there is so much concern at the wedding. It was so scary. They were talking about getting snipers.’
She said that ‘behind the scenes’ she was ‘just turtling’.
Harry said he was ‘terrified’ that Meghan would be ‘driven away by the media’.
Speaking in the first episode, he said: ‘The same media that had driven so many different people away from me.’
He added: ‘I knew that the only way that this could possibly work was by keeping it quiet for as long as possible.’
Meghan said: ‘At the beginning, our relationship was this guarded little… guarded treasure.’
Harry and Meghan signed lucrative deals, thought to be worth well over £100 million, with the streaming giant and Spotify after quitting as senior working royals in 2020 following family rifts and struggles with royal life.
The ‘unprecedented and in-depth’ docuseries, directed by Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus, is billed as a Netflix global event, with Harry and Meghan sharing ‘the other side of their high-profile love story’.
Harry & Meghan: Key points and revelations from Netflix show
Details about the royal family and alleged racism and harassment from the British press were revealed in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s six-part docuseries on Netflix.
In the first three episodes, which dropped at 8am on Thursday, Meghan told of finding the formality of royal life ‘surprising’, while Harry said his family’s view of his wife were ‘clouded’ by her being an American actress.
Here are the key points and revelations from Harry & Meghan:
Episode one
– Harry said a friend told the couple they should document a period of their lives, which they agreed to due to the ‘misinformation’ about them.
– Harry said he first spotted Meghan on a friend’s Instagram.
– Harry and Meghan said they had their first date at 76 Dean Street – and the Duke was late.
– Meghan’s friend Silver Tree said the Duchess was ‘crazy’ about Harry after meeting him.
– Harry said there is a temptation in the royal family to marry someone who ‘fits the mould’.
– The Duke recalled his childhood was ‘filled with’ laughter, happiness, and adventure, and that he remembers his mother’s ‘cheeky laugh’.
– Harry said: ‘The majority of my memories are of being swarmed by paparazzi.’
– The Duke praised his mother, Diana, for her efforts to ‘protect’ him and his brother from the media.
– Harry said his mother was ‘compelled’ to talk about her life.
Episode two
– The Duke said members of the royal family asked why Meghan should be ‘protected’ or given ‘special treatment’ when they questioned newspaper headlines about her.
– Harry said negative press coverage about Meghan had a ‘race element’.
– Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland told of paparazzi taking pictures of deprived neighbourhoods in Los Angeles and saying that was where she was from.
– The Duke said articles in the press had ‘racist undertones’ as well as ‘outright racism’.
– Harry went on to talk about his children, saying he is ‘really proud’ they are mixed race.
– The Duke said he and the Duchess of Sussex were keen ‘not to make the same mistakes our parents did’ while bringing up their children.
– The King’s second son said the early stages of dating were ‘car chases, anti-surveillance driving and disguises’.
– Meghan found the ‘formality’ of being in the royal family ‘surprising’, saying she realised people in the UK found hugging ‘really jarring’.
– The Duke of Sussex described how Meghan meeting the Queen for the first time was a ‘shock to the system’, saying it was ‘weird’ telling her to curtsy to his grandmother.
– Harry said his wife being an American actress ‘clouded’ his family’s view of her.
– The Duchess of Sussex said the media would find a way to ‘destroy’ her ‘no matter how good’ she was.
Episode three
– Harry believes there is a ‘huge level of unconscious bias’ in the royal family.
– Meghan claimed stories were ‘planted’ in the lead up to their wedding, with the couple ‘playing whack-a-mole’ with the press.
– Meghan described the time around their engagement as an ‘orchestrated reality show’, adding their interview after the announcement was ‘rehearsed’.
– Harry said he ‘shoulders’ the responsibility for the breakdown of Meghan’s relationship with her father.
– Harry said his time in the Army helped ‘burst’ the bubble of life in the royal family.
– Meghan claimed her elder half-sister Samantha Markle exaggerated the extent of their relationship.
– Meghan revealed her son Archie’s favourite song is Bennie And The Jets by Sir Elton John.
– Meghan discovered her father was going to attend her wedding ‘through a tabloid’.
Following the end of the third episode, in a clip listed as a Next On Teaser: Harry & Meghan, seeming to reference snippets coming up in the final instalments, a voice can he heard referencing the couple’s decision to ‘take a step back from their royal duties’.
Meghan follows on saying to the camera: ‘This is when a family and a family business are in direct conflict…’
Harry says: ‘Everything that’s happened to us was always going to happen to us…’, with Meghan saying: ‘Suddenly what clicked in my head was it’s never going to stop…’
The teaser ends with Harry saying: ‘There was no other option at this point… I said “we need to get out of here…”.’
The first three episodes are steaming now, with the second volume of three set to be released on Netflix December 15.
Neither Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace nor any member of the family were approached for comment on the content of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix series, it is understood.
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