‘Harry & Meghan’ final episodes revealed: 5 biggest takeaways
The docuseries about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has already broken records as Netflix's highest rated documentary.
The final episodes of “Harry & Meghan” are here, and theGrio has the Top 5 moments from the new episodes from the highly publicized docuseries following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, their love story and their historic step back from the royal family.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s highly anticipated docuseries, “Harry & Meghan,” has been a smash hit for the streaming service. The in-depth look at the lives of the royal couple became Netflix’s biggest documentary ever — in just one week. On Thursday, the second part of the series kicked off with their royal wedding, fight against the British press and eventual move to the U.S.
Royal rockstars
Like the first episodes of the series, the final three strike a delicate balance of focusing on the hardships the couple faced during their time as full-time royals and their love story. From their star-studded wedding to their first official tour as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, it was clear that Harry — and mostly Meghan — had become sort of a royal rockstar.
The tour was a success for many reasons, the main one being that Markle — a woman of color — was able to connect with many citizens of the Commonwealth in a way that the white members of the family simply could not for over a century. This, Markle and Harry detail, became a bit of a threat to the family, thrusting Markle into the role of scapegoat in the symbiotic relationship between the family and the press.
Meghan’s struggle with depression
A truly chilling moment is when Markle reveals her intense mental health struggles to both Harry and her mother, Doria Ragland. “It was like, ‘All of this will stop if I’m not here’,” she says. “And that was the scariest thing about it: was it was such clear thinking.”
“That’s not an easy one for a mom to hear,” Ragland responds. “And I can’t protect her. H [Harry] can’t protect her.” Markle also wasn’t offered any help when she asked for it while living as a full-time royal, something she previously revealed in the interview with Oprah.
Episode 6 is particularly devastating because Markle and Harry break down the details of her miscarriage, something Markle wrote about in a 2020 oped in The New York Times. Harry opened up about the pain of that loss and the blame he puts on the media, particularly The Mail on Sunday for the legal battle that ensued after the newspaper published Markle’s letter to her estranged father.
“Now, do we absolutely know the miscarriage was created, caused by that? ‘Course we don’t,” Harry says. “But bearing in mind the stress that that caused, the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was. I can say from what I saw, that miscarriage was created by what they [the media] were trying to do to her.”
Last-straw letter
One of the most heartbreaking moments of the docuseries, as previously mentioned, was when The Mail on Sunday obtained and published Markle’s private letter to her father. This part of their story has been widely reported, but in this series audiences finally get to hear Markle’s side of the story, including the fact that the entire idea of the letter came from senior members of the royal family, including the late Queen Elizabeth II.
After the letter was published, both Markle and Harry agreed that it was time to take serious legal action, yet there was almost radio silence when they went to royal lawyers and other senior members of the family. “It was in those meetings that I reminded them, I wrote that letter at the guidance of senior members of the family,” she says. “You know this is unlawful, so we have to draw the line. We have to take legal action.”
After “months” of hearing nothing after they repeatedly followed up, the couple decided to take private legal advice, leading Markle to eventually sue The Mail on Sunday (She won her legal battle against the publication last December).
The final exit
The series follows, in specific detail, Meghan and Harry’s decision to take a step back from the royal family, one they say had been going on internally for “at minimum two years.” One of the biggest and most shocking claims made in the series is Harry detailing how he was prevented from even communicating with senior members of the royal family after he and Meghan announced their departure. The Duke was finally given a meeting to discuss his exit only after Meghan had left London to be with their son Archie.
Recalling his first meeting with family members at Sandringham, he says, “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that weren’t true and my grandmother quietly sit there and take it all in.”
Harry and Meghan knew they truly had to leave, however, shortly after the meeting when a story was published claiming that Prince William “bullied out” the Duke and Duchess. “Once I got in the car — after the meeting — I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother’s name squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family,” Harry recalls.
“I couldn’t believe it. No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that. And I rang [Meghan] and I told her and she burst into floods of tears … Because within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.”
Famous and important friends
The series also goes into detail about the various friends Harry and Meghan have made along the way, many of them famous and generous with their influence and support during a tough time. One of them, of course, is Tyler Perry, who provided them shelter and security in 2020 after they lost all royal privileges following their exit, theGrio previously reported.
Perry, who appears in the documentary, also recalls the moment the couple asked him to be their daughter Lilibet Diana’s godfather. “I go, ‘OK, what’s going on’,” Perry says, recalling the phonecall. “They said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be Lili’s godfather.’ I go, ‘Whoa’ … I had to take a minute to take that in. And I thought, ‘I’d be honored. I’d absolutely be honored’.”
Perry does reveal one small caveat. He didn’t want to travel to the U.K. with the royal family for a baptism, so he suggests that maybe they could have, “a little private ceremony here [U.S.] and let that be that.”
Another fun moment is when Meghan receives a text from Beyoncé who’d reached out just to “check in” on Markle. “She said she wants me to feel safe and protected,” Markle reveals, reading the text. “She admits and respects my bravery and vulnerability and thinks I was selected to break generational curses that need to be healed.”
All episodes of “Harry & Meghan” are currently streaming on Netflix.
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