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]