Harry & Meghan (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Episode #1.5 - full transcript
- [Harry] Find your way through.
- [Archie] Okay.
- [Meghan] We hear you! Where are you?!
- [man] Where are you?
- [Harry gasps]
- [man] I'm gonna find you!
[Harry] Dead end! This way.
Come this way. Go this way. This way.
[Meghan] You know, when I look back
at my own childhood, it was great.
But I just remember
feeling alone a lot.
[Harry] Which way are you gonna go?
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] Go, go, go! [chuckles]
I just wanted
all these cousins and these people.
I just wanted all of that.
And I didn't have that big family.
[Harry] Oh! He's down! [chuckles]
[Meghan] You got it!
[Meghan] So when I was
pregnant with Archie...
[chuckles]
...I was just so excited that we were
going to be able to create for him
that thing that I had always wanted
So I just did everything I could
to make them proud.
And to really be a part of the family.
And then the bubble burst.
- [woman] Duchess Difficult...
- [man] No official word from the palace...
It was already clear to the media
that the palace wasn't gonna protect her.
Once that happens, the floodgates open.
And I realized that I wasn't just...
being thrown to the wolves,
I was being fed to the wolves.
[emotive theme music playing]
[emotive theme music finishes]
[interviewer] So you and your father
were close most of your life.
- Is that right?
- [Meghan] Yeah.
I mean, you know, family.
So it's never easy, never perfect.
But of course, I talked to my dad
several times a week and, you know...
[interviewer] So when did things
start to go awry there?
When the media got involved.
[woman] Well, we are joined this morning
by Meghan Markle's father, Thomas.
Thank you so much
for being with us. I want to take you...
[Meghan] After the wedding,
my dad started doing interviews,
mostly saying things about me.
[man 1] Meghan Markle's dad.
[man 2] ...Thomas Markle yesterday.
He was really upset...
[man 3] ...does not stop apparently...
It was incredibly painful.
And the world
is watching this drama play out.
[tense music playing]
[Meghan] And then he started
criticizing the royal family.
But it was very embarrassing
for the family.
It was a problem that needed to be solved,
and they wanted me to make it stop.
And... 'Cause I'd reached out
to Her Majesty.
Like, "This is what's going on.
What do you want me to do?"
"I want to make..."
Like, "Whatever advice you have."
But ultimately,
it was suggested
by the Queen, the Prince of Wales,
that I write my dad a letter.
And I had gone to great lengths
to get that letter to my dad discreetly.
Because I can't
put this letter in the mail
with the return address
being Kensington Palace,
and send it to Tom Markle
and assume it's gonna get there.
So I send it to my business manager in LA.
I was like, "He'll recognize that name."
Then I get the picture of the signature
confirmation that it's been delivered,
and it's not his signature.
That's not my dad's handwriting.
It just says "Thomas."
[tense music continues]
[reporter 1] A private letter from the
Duchess to her dad has been made public.
[reporter 2] Thomas has, uh,
we think, now released this letter,
and it's pretty damaging.
[reporter 3] New private moments between
Duchess Meghan and her estranged father.
[reporter 4] ...now a very public
and painful description of their rift.
[Meghan] It was...
horrendous.
The Daily Mail said, "We have
the full and complete five-page letter."
I was like, "What would it look like
if you redacted the stuff
that they didn't put in?"
"What would it look like?"
So you could really see...
They're telling the public
"Here's this whole letter."
And when you're literally
taking sentences out of paragraphs
and words out of sentences.
You want to print my letter,
which you know you can't do legally.
But you want to print it
and paint a completely different picture
of who I am
and my relationship with my dad.
And take out every single thing I said
about how the media has manipulated you.
[melancholic music playing]
People are scratching their heads, going,
"How would the Mail have the,
either the stupidity or the,
whatever you want to call it,
to print a letter
between a daughter and a father?"
Well, the answer is simple.
They knew the family
would encourage us not to sue.
[Meghan] We sat down
with the lawyer for the institution
and senior members of the palace.
And it was in those meetings that
I reminded them that I wrote that letter
at the guidance
of senior members of the family.
You know this is unlawful.
"So we have to draw the line.
We have to take legal action."
They said "Yes, of course."
And I would follow up
for weeks and weeks and weeks.
"Hey what's going on with this?" Nothing.
After months of saying,
"She needs to do something about this,"
we took separate legal advice.
I knew from the first meeting
that this was really serious,
in that it was having
a horrid impact on Meghan.
There's the narrative
that the royal family adopt
a "never complain, never explain"
approach to the media.
And I think Meghan went along with that
for a long period.
But there was
a real kind of war against Meghan.
And I've certainly seen evidence
that there was negative briefing
from the palace against Harry and Meghan
to suit other people's agendas.
[Lucy] Meg became
this scapegoat for the palace.
And so they would feed stories on her
whether they were true or not
to avoid other, less favorable stories
being printed.
You would just see it play out.
Like a story about someone in the family
would pop up for a minute, and they'd go,
"We gotta make that go away."
But there's real estate
on a website homepage.
There is real estate there
on a newspaper front cover.
And something has to be filled in there
about someone royal.
[Jenny] This barrage of negative articles
about the breakdown
of the relationship with her father
was the final straw in a campaign
of negative, nasty coverage about her.
Looking back,
it was one of the first acts, um,
of them breaking away
from the institution.
[tense music playing]
[woman] Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
are suing the Mail on Sunday.
The lawsuit claims
the Mail violated the law
by publishing a personal letter
she wrote to her father.
This is a massive error.
If you're royal, keep schtum, keep quiet.
Everything changed after that.
That litigation was the catalyst
probably for all of the unraveling.
[Meghan] This is snow!
This is snow!
What is it?
The media coverage of the lawsuit
was negative, which we always knew.
You don't go into these things
expecting anything but that.
Um, so it was really
a good opportunity for us to get away.
What is it?
You know, with Archie,
just to clear our heads.
[lively music playing]
- [Archie laughing]
- [Meghan laughing]
[man] Bucking tradition,
the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
will not be spending Christmas
with the Queen.
[Meghan] Good girl, Pula! Come on.
I just loved being there.
It was just so peaceful.
[Meghan] Good girl, Pula.
[Meghan laughing]
You could breathe for a minute.
[Meghan] Hi!
[Meghan gasps]
[Harry] It was absolutely amazing.
[Meghan squeals]
Because the main thing
that we needed was some space.
Some space to think and just
work out what on earth we're doing.
- Are you filming?
- [Meghan] Yeah.
- [Harry yelps]
- [Meghan laughs]
[Meghan] It was so cold.
Was that right in the New Year?
[Harry] Yeah, that was,
um, on 1st January.
I came out refreshed.
- And I was like, "Here we go, 2020."
- [Meghan] Yeah.
"What you got?"
- [ominous music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
about the new home
that he and Meghan are currently renting.
[Harry] There wasn't a single paparazzi
that lives on Vancouver Island.
That was the reason we chose it.
It's an island.
[man] There's another one there.
A paparazzi vehicle.
[Harry] No one in their right mind
would have to deal with this endlessly.
The toll was visible.
The emotional toll
that it was having on both of us,
but especially, um, especially my wife.
What are we gonna do?
We're gonna have to change this,
for our own sake.
Like, let's really think this through.
How are we gonna do this?
How are we gonna change
our relationship with the institution,
but in a way that protects us and our
mental health and our wellbeing as well?
[melancholic music playing]
[Harry] So, at the end of December,
the beginning of January,
I've been on the phone
to my father, saying, "We've got a plan."
What if we move to Canada?
[Harry] It would be good
to give ourselves some breathing space,
but also we were really passionate about
continuing our work throughout
the Commonwealth, to support the Queen.
Well, and also, I think what's important
is the pack of the royal rota
is based there in London.
So if we're not there,
they can't cover what we're doing.
You guys can be
on the front pages of all the papers.
You can have it
exactly the way you want it.
And we can just go about doing the work
in the name of the Queen.
- [wistful music playing]
- [crowd cheering]
[Harry] If you want us to go and do things
on behalf of the Queen,
we'll go and do it.
And we'll pay for it ourselves.
We don't want to be dependent
on any taxpayer funding. Guess what?
You get us, but you get us for free.
And this was years in the making.
We really wanted to remove
the supposed public interest argument
that the press had
over every element of our lives.
Their argument was, "If you have,
uh, even 1% of public funding,
any part of your life, then we can
basically claim public interest."
"We can invade your privacy on everything
because you have public funds
supporting you."
In 2018, we'd already talked
about perhaps moving to New Zealand.
And that never transpired.
And then beginning of 2019,
we discussed the whole concept
of us moving to South Africa,
supporting charities,
organizations in Africa.
[crowd cheering]
[Meghan] The job is
a lot of cause-driven work.
So I thought, "Well, this is great."
There's an asset
in having a woman of color
when you have 50 plus
Commonwealth countries,
the majority of which are people of color.
[Harry] And the palace signed off
on us moving to South Africa.
So my father's office knew about it,
my brother's office knew about it,
and my grandmother's office knew about it.
No one else knew.
It was very much an internal document.
Then it was leaked to The Times newspaper.
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] Then that whole plan
was then scrapped.
Because it's now become a public debate.
Once plans like that
become public debates,
nine times out of ten, it's gonna fail.
By the time I was speaking
to my father from Canada,
the family and their people knew
that we were trying
to find a different way of working
for a minimum of two years.
Minimum.
"Okay, Canada."
I was speaking to my father.
- "This is the plan."
- He says, "Can you put that in writing?"
And I said "I'd rather not.
He says, "I can't do anything
unless you put it in writing."
Sent him emails
on 1st, 2nd and 3rd January.
And in one of those,
I'd mentioned that, you know,
if this wasn't gonna work out,
then we would be willing to relinquish
our Sussex titles, if need be.
- So that was...
- [Meghan] That was the plan.
- That was the plan.
- Mm.
[Harry] Before we left,
I spoke to my grandmother as well,
and told her
that we're coming back on the 6th,
and I would love to come
and drive up and come and see you.
She knew that we were finding things hard.
I'd spoken to her many times about it.
She told me she had no plans for the week.
She said, "Well, why don't you come up?"
"You can have tea, but why don't you
stay the night, you and Meghan?"
[soft music playing]
[Meghan] So we were flying back
from Vancouver straight to Heathrow
and right as we're getting on the plane,
this urgent, urgent message
comes through to H saying,
"You are not allowed to see Her Majesty."
"Make sure that your principle is aware
he cannot go and see her."
"She's busy. She has plans all week."
I was like, "That's certainly
the opposite to what she had told me."
Once we were back in the UK, I rang her
and said, "I'm now told that you're busy."
She goes, "Yes, I didn't know I was busy.
I've been told that I'm busy."
"I've been told that I'm busy all week."
I was like, "Wow."
[Meghan] And I remember looking at H.
I mean, my gosh,
this is when a family
and a family business
are in direct conflict.
Because they're blocking you
from seeing the Queen.
But really what they're doing is blocking
a grandson from seeing his grandmother.
Later that afternoon, we found out
that this story was coming out.
Somehow, the tabloids
knew about this proposal.
[poignant music playing]
[reporter] I think we've known for a while
that the couple have been very unhappy
and have been struggling with
their public role in the royal family.
His dad said, "Put it in writing."
And he did,
and it was just five days later
it was on the front page of a newspaper.
[reporter] There's a lot of speculation
that perhaps Canada,
which is where Meghan lived
before marrying into the royal family.
It became clear that the institution
leaked the fact that we were
going to be moving back to Canada.
And the key piece of that story
that made me aware
that the contents of the letter
between me and my father had been leaked
was that we were willing
to relinquish our Sussex titles.
That was the giveaway.
And I was like, "Wow."
Our story, our life,
literally got taken from underneath us.
[Meghan] You could feel the ticking clock
at that point.
So with our team,
we decided we would put out a statement
that we were going to sadly
be stepping back.
Not stepping down,
but to just have a reduced role.
- [poignant music continues]
- [keyboard clicking]
[Harry] For my whole life,
the purse strings
had been controlled by my father.
Within the family,
it's normal to have that financial control
over other members of the family.
[Meghan] So the hope was that,
it's right there in black and white.
You can see, here's our intention.
Here's how we wish to continue
to support the Commonwealth.
Here's how we value our roles
as president and vice-president
of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.
[reporter 1] Big surprise
from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
[reporter 2] Reportedly
blindsiding the Queen...
[reporter 3] Prince Charles
and Prince William were only sent a copy
of Harry and Meghan's statement
ten minutes before it was released.
The Queen got surprised as...
Like all of us.
It was the fact that they announced it
officially on Instagram.
This idea that I supposedly
blindsided my grandmother.
This would never happen.
I have so much respect for her.
[Meghan] This has been ongoing
for months upon months.
I mean, I think in some people's minds,
it was like me going, "Post."
[scoffs] What?
I'd sent an email to the three most senior
private secretaries saying,
"Let's get together and have a meeting.
Let's talk about this."
Because what was happening,
what was playing out in public, was crazy.
That meeting was rejected.
[Meghan squeals]
[Meghan] After the announcement, I had
to get back, 'cause Archie was in Canada.
And it was only once Meg had left
and gone back to Canada
that it was then arranged
that there was going to be a meeting
at Sandringham on the following Monday.
[Meghan] Imagine a conversation,
a round-table discussion,
about the future of your life,
when the stakes are this high,
and you as the mom and the wife...
and the target in many regards,
aren't invited
to have a seat at the table.
It was clear to me that they'd planned it
so that you weren't in the room.
But you know, Sandringham...
I have such happy memories of Sandringham.
That was where we spent every Christmas.
And now I was back there
in very different circumstances.
[poignant music playing]
Well, it's an historic day
for the royal family.
The Queen has called this urgent meeting.
Prince Harry will be there,
of course, along with his brother,
Prince William, and Prince Charles.
- [man 1] Who was that?
- [man 2] The Duke.
[woman] They'll be trying to come up
with a blueprint for the way forward.
I went in with the same proposal
that we'd already,
you know, made publicly.
But once I got there,
I was given five options.
One being, all in, no change.
Five being, all out.
I chose option three in the meeting.
Half in, half out.
Have our own jobs,
but also work in support of the Queen.
It became very clear very quickly, that
goal was not up for discussion or debate.
It was terrifying to have my brother
scream and shout at me,
and my father say things
that just simply weren't true,
and my grandmother,
you know, quietly sit there,
and sort of take it all in.
But you have to understand that,
from the family's perspective,
especially from hers,
there are ways of doing things,
and her ultimate sort of mission, goal,
slash responsibility is the institution.
People around her are telling her,
"By the way, that proposal,
or these two doing X, Y, Z,
is going to be seen
as an attack on the institution."
Then she's gonna go
on the advice that she's given.
It was really hard.
That meeting finished
without any, like, solidified action plan.
I think, from their perspective,
they had to believe
that it was more about us,
and maybe the issues that we had,
as opposed to their partner,
the media, and themselves,
and that relationship
that was causing so much pain for us.
They saw what they wanted to see.
[bell tolls]
[young Harry] Fire! There's a fire!
[camera clicking]
[Harry] I mean, the saddest part of it
was this wedge created
between myself and my brother,
so that he's now on the institution's
side. And I get... Part of that, I get.
I understand, right?
That's... That's his inheritance.
So to some extent it's already ingrained
in him that part of his responsibility
is the survivability
and the continuation of this institution.
[wistful music playing]
[woman 1] An unbelievably sad
breakdown between the brothers.
[woman 2] They always used to be in step
and they're clearly out of step now.
[Harry] That day, a story came out
saying that part of the reason
why Meghan and I were leaving,
uh, was because
William had bullied us out.
And 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.
[reporter] A sign of public unity
from the brothers,
who issued a joint statement,
calling the report "false, offensive,
and potentially harmful."
[poignant music tempo rises]
I couldn't believe it.
No one had asked me.
No one had asked me permission
to put my name to a statement like that.
And I rang M 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.
[Meghan] Suddenly what clicked
in my head was, "It's never gonna stop."
Every rumor,
every negative thing, every lie,
everything that I knew wasn't true,
and that the palace knew wasn't true
and internally they knew wasn't true
that was just being allowed to fester.
[Harry] So there was no other option
at this point.
I said, "We need to get out of here."
[reporter 1] Breaking news,
this one out of London.
[reporter 2] Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle are officially moving on.
[reporter 3] Announcing they're taking
a step back from their royal duties.
Trying to do for Meghan
what he couldn't do for his mum.
Exactly.
Nobody could take the attacking
and the trolling that she has taken.
I know she has felt strongly. This is like
getting back some control of her life.
She feels she has no control.
[David] This was Harry's decision
to move away
from what he'd obviously imagined
was gonna be his future and his destiny.
There was always a sense
that Meghan had to prove herself.
Prove herself worthy of Britain,
prove herself worthy of her husband.
Prove herself worthy
of her position in the royal family.
It's a lot to ask of any individual.
[reporter] The British public opinion
is that it's all Meghan's fault.
[Harry] I've seen little cartoons
of me on all fours with her,
um, holding a dog lead
and me wearing the dog collar.
How predictable that, you know,
the woman is to be blamed
for the decision of a couple.
In fact, it was my decision.
She never asked to leave.
I was the one
that had to see it for myself.
But it's misogyny at its best.
[female reporter] Some of the tabloids
are calling the two "the Rogue Royals"
and describing the move as "Megxit."
I felt the term "Megxit" was
just indicative of the frivolousness,
the unseriousness,
the flippant nature of the tabloid press.
It's what happens when you have
a press that is devoid of journalism,
that lives on outrage and monetizes anger.
[reporter 1] She thought
it would be tiaras and tea parties.
[reporter 2] You can see the manipulation.
All the way along the relationship...
[reporter 3] Turning their backs
on the royal family.
They've received the wrath,
the full wrath of the media establishment.
[reporter 4] Almost like teenagers
stamping their foot and saying...
[reporter 5] Meghan suddenly realized she
wasn't going to be the star of the show.
[reporter 6] She won't compromise.
Everything's got to be her way.
It took what felt like everything from me.
Your sense of self, your confidence.
[overlapping reporters' voices]
And the truth didn't matter.
The clickbait did.
[tense music playing]
[male voice] We're about two minutes
out from the top of the show, so...
Good afternoon.
I want to welcome Renée DiResta,
Rashad Robinson,
and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Well, Harry, maybe you could
help humanize this for us.
Just a month ago,
a report by Bot Sentinel,
a company that analyzes tweets,
uh, found that a very small number
of anti-Meghan and Harry accounts
were responsible for a huge percentage
of the hateful content
about you on Twitter.
Misinformation is
a global humanitarian crisis.
Um, as you quite rightly pointed out,
I've felt it personally over the years.
We know that a small group of accounts
are allowed to create
a huge amount of chaos online,
and without any consequence whatsoever.
[man] Bot Sentinel has looked
at everything from QAnon to MAGA,
to COVID disinformation,
to climate change disinformation.
We've never seen anything quite like this.
What was interesting to me
about that report
is that it showed
that there were a handful of accounts,
that weren't just bots,
but they were people who were highly
coordinated and deeply networked
and responsible for the vast majority
of hate propaganda against the couple.
[Christopher] We looked at 114,000 tweets,
and we were able to then determine
that 70% of the hateful content
came from just 83 accounts.
And they had a reach of 17 million people.
So this is not your everyday trolling.
They were coordinating and talking about
what they would discuss
for that particular day or week,
what pictures they should disseminate.
They were actively recruiting people,
telling people
how to create multiple accounts.
How to use VPNs, you know,
virtual private networks,
to hide the IP,
so they don't get suspended.
It's insane.
What is it about Meghan Markle
that has driven Prince Harry to not only...
In every scenario, who's the victim?
...because she separated him...
[Christopher] And it was done by people
who were just not
the typical quote-unquote trolls.
These are housewives.
These are middle-aged Caucasian women
creating just constant attacks,
from "Go back to America," to basically,
you know, "Why don't you die?"
- [tense music]
- [tweet sound]
Samantha Markle was part of the group
that was putting out
a lot of this disinformation.
Samantha had her account suspended.
And then we actually sent Twitter a list
because she had,
like, 11 additional accounts.
And yeah, we were baffled by this.
How can the half-sister of Meghan
be part of a hate group?
[tense music continues]
Perhaps the most troubling part of this
is the number of British journalists
interacting with and amplifying
the hate and the lies.
When a lie spreads on social media,
it's dangerous. Of course it is.
But when that same lie is given, uh,
credibility by journalists or publishers,
it's unethical, and as far
as I'm concerned, an abuse of power.
[somber music playing]
[Christopher] For the main hate accounts,
their primary motive
is monetizing this stuff.
But the secondary accounts,
it's about hatred.
It's about, you know... You know, race.
And the focus was predominantly on Meghan.
Comparing her to,
for example, you know, a monkey.
So then also,
there would be derogatory terms
where they would use the N-word on tweets.
[Harry] The seriousness of what has
happened to her and what happened,
what happened to us,
and what continues to happen to her,
that needs to be acknowledged.
Also I think for people
to really understand,
you know when you plant
a seed that is so hateful,
what it can grow into.
I mean, just a couple of days ago,
I was going through the manual
for our security team at home,
and on one of the pages
that I happened to flip to,
it was about online monitoring,
and they're like,
"If you see a tweet like this,
please report it
to the head of security immediately."
It just said, "Meghan just needs to die."
"Someone needs to kill her.
Maybe it should be me."
And I was just like...
"Okay." That's, like,
what's actually out in the world
because of people creating hate.
And I'm a mom.
That's my real life.
You know? And that's the piece
when you see it and you go...
[voice breaking]
"You are making people want to kill me."
It's not just a tabloid.
It's not just some story.
You are making me scared.
Right? And like that night, to be
up and down in the middle of the night,
looking down my hallway, like,
"Are we safe? Are the doors locked?"
"Is security on?
Is everything..." That's real.
"Are my babies safe?"
And you've created it for what?
Because you're bored,
or because it sells your papers?
It makes you feel better
about your own life?
It's real what you're doing.
And that's the piece
I don't think people fully understand.
[Meghan] "It's wonderfully good of you,
snake, but no, I'm having a feast with a..."
[Archie] Gruffalo!
[Meghan] "A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"
[drumbeat]
[Archie] Was that a good song?
[Meghan] That was such a good song.
It was awesome.
Do you want me to play it again, Mama?
[Meghan] Yes, please, thank you. Okay.
[Safiya] Let's be clear
about what's actually at stake here.
It's like symbolic annihilation.
If you can destroy people
who are symbols of social justice,
then you can scare people
to not want to be public.
It is a way to signal
to the rest of us to stand down.
[soft music playing]
[Vicky] When you whip up enough people
into a fervent of hate,
it's not one of those cases
of sticks and stones may break my bones
but words can never hurt me.
They can kill you. The threat is real.
[melancholic music playing]
- [woman] Exhale.
- [loud exhaling]
[woman] Remember that what is transpiring
in the media,
what's being created, is an illusion.
When you try to prove that you're good
and that you're not the person
they say you are,
you're taking the bait,
you're feeding the beast.
It is an illusion.
Your work is not to prove your goodness.
You know who you are. Both of you.
And whenever you're ready,
you can open your eyes.
[Harry] As sad as it is,
in order for change to happen,
sometimes a lot of pain
has to come to the surface.
In order for us
to be able to move to the next chapter,
you've got to finish the first chapter.
We both came back in March from Canada.
[tranquil music playing]
And that was our sort of farewell week.
[Meghan] We were going
through so many boxes,
literally looking at everything going,
"Oh my gosh, this blanket I missed."
"That hat was so funny."
Just taking it all in.
And it really gave us a chance to just...
To look back at our whole love story.
♪ I just wanted you to know
That I loved you better ♪
♪ Than your own kin did... ♪
[Harry] We always saw Archie running
around the garden at Frogmore Cottage,
and maybe jumping in the Queen's Pond.
That was all part of our future, and
everything changed really, really quickly.
We knew we were gonna get
some breathing space from this...
This very painful experience
that we'd been stuck in.
But also, at the same time,
it was really sad.
I often think about,
in any relationship, oftentimes,
when a guy falls in love with a girl,
his buddies are like,
"Oh my God, he changed."
"I don't see him anymore.
He's always with her."
And you blame the girl.
They're angry with her because
she's the thing that took him away.
And that's whether you're in a small town
or a big city or in the royal family.
He wouldn't have ever
been attracted to or interested in me
if he hadn't already been on his own path.
♪ Come on back... ♪
Most people need to find someone to blame.
♪ Now... ♪
To try to, like, reconcile how you're
feeling, 'cause something's changed,
and you don't like it,
and what's the thing that's different?
"This all changed when you got here.
So it's your fault."
But you need to blame me.
Also if you can blame me,
then you have no fault.
So that last week was...
It was bittersweet.
♪ And see me when you can ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
[reporter] Meghan and Harry,
all smiles tonight.
The royal farewell tour in high gear.
Meghan back in the UK for the first time
since the couple's dramatic decision
to step down as senior working royals.
[Harry] That farewell week, we did
all these engagements back-to-back.
It was just like... It was a real whirlwind.
[female reporter] Five engagements
in five days.
[Meghan] Until that last week in the UK,
I rarely wore color.
I never wanted to upstage
or ruffle any feathers.
So I just tried to blend in.
- But I wore a lot of color that week.
- Yeah.
I just felt like,
"Let's just look like a rainbow."
["She's A Rainbow"
by The Rolling Stones playing]
♪ She comes in colors everywhere ♪
♪ She combs her hair ♪
♪ She's like a rainbow ♪
♪ Coming, colors in the air ♪
♪ Oh, everywhere ♪
♪ She comes in colors... ♪
We weren't with the family. It was
our opportunity to go out with a bang.
A lot of you tonight
have told me you have my back.
Well, I'm also here to tell you,
I've always got yours.
- [soft music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
[Harry] It never needed to be this way.
We talked about this over and over again.
Sitting up late in the kitchen after
these late night engagements, saying,
"We would have carried on doing this
for the rest of our lives."
♪ She's like a rainbow... ♪
[Meghan] I thought, "The public,
if they've been fed these lies
for two years,
what do they think of me?"
"They must hate us."
No.
[Meghan] The people
were just so embracing.
They were sad that we were leaving.
And we were sad that we were leaving.
I'm gonna miss the British public.
Not going to miss the British press, uh,
and their followers
and their trolls that they create.
I'm gonna miss this country. So is Meghan.
[bells ringing]
[regal music playing]
[male reporter] It's one of the great
royal family showpieces of the year.
A Westminster Abbey service featuring
the Queen along with Charles and Camilla,
William and Kate, even Edward and Sophie.
And last, Harry and Meghan,
in their last official role
before returning to North America.
[wistful music playing]
The first time that we saw
the other members of the family
was in public at Westminster Abbey.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter] This is the last time
we'll see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
with the Queen and the royal family
on an engagement. And it's significant.
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] We were nervous seeing the family,
because all the TV cameras
and everybody watching at home
and everybody watching in the audience,
it's like living through a soap opera,
where you... everybody else
views you as entertainment.
[reporter] You really do have to wonder
what was going through their minds
as they were going
through the motions of this,
given what's going on in the background.
[Harry] I felt really distant
from my family,
which was interesting,
because so much of how they operate
is about what it looks like,
rather than what it feels like.
And it looked cold.
But it also felt cold.
[reporter 1] In the services we saw today,
they weren't even in the procession.
That also sort of showing where
things are automatically changing.
[reporter 2] When you see
how successful they have been
at their public engagements,
you see what an incredible loss this is
to the royal family.
But also, you really have
to wonder how it was possible
that something could not be worked out
to keep them within the fold.
We had left Westminster Abbey,
and then that was it.
I had to go to the airport.
We were racing to catch my flight.
We were cutting it so close,
but I wanted to get back home to Archie.
Yeah. Back to Buckingham Palace, changed.
Unpinned the hat.
Quickly took this green dress off.
Threw on some clothes for the plane.
I was saying goodbye.
[wistful music continues]
[Meghan] Of course it was emotional.
We get on the plane.
And it's not the pilot, but whoever
is sort of overseeing the crew,
and he came and he knelt next to my seat
and he took his hat off,
and I just remember looking at him,
and he goes,
"We appreciate everything
you did for our country."
And it was the first time
that I felt like someone
saw the sacrifice.
Not for my own country.
For this country, that's not mine.
We landed in Canada
and one of our security guards,
who had been with H for so long,
and these guys were so wonderful,
I just collapsed in his arms, crying.
I was like, "I tried so hard."
He goes, "I know you did.
I know you did, ma'am, I know you did."
Like, I tried so hard.
And that's the piece
that's so triggering, 'cause you go,
"And it still wasn't good enough.
And you still don't fit in."
[wistful music continues]
[David] It was impossible
not to feel emotional investment
as a Black British person
watching Meghan enter this institution,
uh, and become this icon,
this figure that we all had
these high hopes for.
Part of what made the inability
of the palace to defend Meghan
an even bigger disaster
is at the center
of the argument for the monarchy
in this country is the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth is 2.5 billion,
mainly Black and brown people.
Here was a woman who just looked like
most of the people in the Commonwealth,
and they somehow, for some reason,
couldn't find the capacity to protect her,
to represent her, to stand by her,
to take on vested power in her name,
to fight for her.
[Afua] One of the big questions
facing modern Britain is
"What do we choose
our symbols and institutions to be?
And are they inclusive? Or are they
continuing that history of exclusion?"
And when a member of the royal family
visits one of these countries,
it creates an awkward
moment for the British government.
[man] Sending a shout out
to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and the entire royal family
that reparation time comes now.
[suspenseful music playing]
There's a tipping point,
a generational change,
and a moment in which
events are sort of coalescing.
[Dame Sandra Mason]
...from this day and forever,
declare Barbados a parliamentary republic.
[David] In 2021,
Barbados made the decision
to replace the Queen as the head of state.
That makes it more likely
that other nations will follow.
[woman] There are renewed calls
this evening for Jamaica to take steps
to remove the Queen as head of state.
Anyone inside that system,
whether it's my family,
whether it's staff,
whether it's PR, whoever it is,
have already missed
an enormous opportunity with my wife,
and how far that would go globally.
[crowd cheering]
[Afua] Their relationship presented
the idea that Britain can change,
that the most intractable, traditional
parts of Britain can reform and evolve.
Their departure felt
like the death of a dream.
Um, hi. So we're here on,
uh, Tues... Wednesday.
Wednesday, the something of March.
These next few months is when
we're gonna be at our most vulnerable.
Uh, when the press will no doubt
create some sort of feeding frenzy.
[crowd indistinct clamoring]
[reporter 1] The Duke of Sussex stepping
off his plane as you can see there.
Clearly a number of questions
still to be answered.
[reporter 2] Will they still get
royal protection when they live overseas?
[Harry] By the time that I got back
from the UK after that March trip,
the whole place was completely surrounded.
Boats in the water, cars on the drive,
individuals trying to jump over the fence
and take photographs over the wall.
It was... Yeah, it was...
I'd never experienced that before.
[man] I've just been,
I've just seen this bloke.
He looked at me as I drove in.
[Harry] M asked me,
"Would they remove our security?"
I said, "They'll never do that."
Meghan's background, her heritage,
the well-documented
hate campaigns against us,
suspicious packages
being sent to the palaces,
specifically with her name on
or my name on.
She said, "Do you think they'll do it?"
I said, "No, they would never do that."
And they did it.
- [tense music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
They've decided our security
will be removed on 31st March,
thereby leaving me less than three weeks,
um, to find security for my family.
And I'm worried. I am genuinely concerned,
um, for the safety of my family.
And then, just like that,
this thing called COVID.
[reporter] Officials now say
more than 400 people have been sickened...
And at that moment,
our location was exposed.
We knew our security was being pulled.
Everyone in the world knew where we were,
so we weren't gonna be safe there.
[reporter] The AP is now reporting
Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie,
has tested positive for Coronavirus.
[Meghan] They're gonna close the border.
Without question,
they're gonna close the border in no time.
[Harry] Stay, stay.
There comes a point
when you're worried about what,
what could happen next,
and therefore, you've got to do what
I guess any husband and father would do,
which is get the hell out of there.
["Everybody's Talking"
by Harry Nilsson playing]
♪ Everybody's talking at me ♪
♪ I don't hear a word they're saying ♪
♪ Only the echoes of my mind ♪
♪ People stopping, staring ♪
♪ I can't see their faces ♪
♪ Only the shadows of their eyes ♪
♪ I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Through the pouring rain ♪
♪ Going where the weather
Suits my clothes ♪
♪ Banking off of the northeast winds ♪
♪ Sailing on a summer breeze ♪
♪ And skipping over the ocean
Like a stone ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ I'm going where the sun keeps shining ♪
- [Archie] Okay.
- [Meghan] We hear you! Where are you?!
- [man] Where are you?
- [Harry gasps]
- [man] I'm gonna find you!
[Harry] Dead end! This way.
Come this way. Go this way. This way.
[Meghan] You know, when I look back
at my own childhood, it was great.
But I just remember
feeling alone a lot.
[Harry] Which way are you gonna go?
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] Go, go, go! [chuckles]
I just wanted
all these cousins and these people.
I just wanted all of that.
And I didn't have that big family.
[Harry] Oh! He's down! [chuckles]
[Meghan] You got it!
[Meghan] So when I was
pregnant with Archie...
[chuckles]
...I was just so excited that we were
going to be able to create for him
that thing that I had always wanted
So I just did everything I could
to make them proud.
And to really be a part of the family.
And then the bubble burst.
- [woman] Duchess Difficult...
- [man] No official word from the palace...
It was already clear to the media
that the palace wasn't gonna protect her.
Once that happens, the floodgates open.
And I realized that I wasn't just...
being thrown to the wolves,
I was being fed to the wolves.
[emotive theme music playing]
[emotive theme music finishes]
[interviewer] So you and your father
were close most of your life.
- Is that right?
- [Meghan] Yeah.
I mean, you know, family.
So it's never easy, never perfect.
But of course, I talked to my dad
several times a week and, you know...
[interviewer] So when did things
start to go awry there?
When the media got involved.
[woman] Well, we are joined this morning
by Meghan Markle's father, Thomas.
Thank you so much
for being with us. I want to take you...
[Meghan] After the wedding,
my dad started doing interviews,
mostly saying things about me.
[man 1] Meghan Markle's dad.
[man 2] ...Thomas Markle yesterday.
He was really upset...
[man 3] ...does not stop apparently...
It was incredibly painful.
And the world
is watching this drama play out.
[tense music playing]
[Meghan] And then he started
criticizing the royal family.
But it was very embarrassing
for the family.
It was a problem that needed to be solved,
and they wanted me to make it stop.
And... 'Cause I'd reached out
to Her Majesty.
Like, "This is what's going on.
What do you want me to do?"
"I want to make..."
Like, "Whatever advice you have."
But ultimately,
it was suggested
by the Queen, the Prince of Wales,
that I write my dad a letter.
And I had gone to great lengths
to get that letter to my dad discreetly.
Because I can't
put this letter in the mail
with the return address
being Kensington Palace,
and send it to Tom Markle
and assume it's gonna get there.
So I send it to my business manager in LA.
I was like, "He'll recognize that name."
Then I get the picture of the signature
confirmation that it's been delivered,
and it's not his signature.
That's not my dad's handwriting.
It just says "Thomas."
[tense music continues]
[reporter 1] A private letter from the
Duchess to her dad has been made public.
[reporter 2] Thomas has, uh,
we think, now released this letter,
and it's pretty damaging.
[reporter 3] New private moments between
Duchess Meghan and her estranged father.
[reporter 4] ...now a very public
and painful description of their rift.
[Meghan] It was...
horrendous.
The Daily Mail said, "We have
the full and complete five-page letter."
I was like, "What would it look like
if you redacted the stuff
that they didn't put in?"
"What would it look like?"
So you could really see...
They're telling the public
"Here's this whole letter."
And when you're literally
taking sentences out of paragraphs
and words out of sentences.
You want to print my letter,
which you know you can't do legally.
But you want to print it
and paint a completely different picture
of who I am
and my relationship with my dad.
And take out every single thing I said
about how the media has manipulated you.
[melancholic music playing]
People are scratching their heads, going,
"How would the Mail have the,
either the stupidity or the,
whatever you want to call it,
to print a letter
between a daughter and a father?"
Well, the answer is simple.
They knew the family
would encourage us not to sue.
[Meghan] We sat down
with the lawyer for the institution
and senior members of the palace.
And it was in those meetings that
I reminded them that I wrote that letter
at the guidance
of senior members of the family.
You know this is unlawful.
"So we have to draw the line.
We have to take legal action."
They said "Yes, of course."
And I would follow up
for weeks and weeks and weeks.
"Hey what's going on with this?" Nothing.
After months of saying,
"She needs to do something about this,"
we took separate legal advice.
I knew from the first meeting
that this was really serious,
in that it was having
a horrid impact on Meghan.
There's the narrative
that the royal family adopt
a "never complain, never explain"
approach to the media.
And I think Meghan went along with that
for a long period.
But there was
a real kind of war against Meghan.
And I've certainly seen evidence
that there was negative briefing
from the palace against Harry and Meghan
to suit other people's agendas.
[Lucy] Meg became
this scapegoat for the palace.
And so they would feed stories on her
whether they were true or not
to avoid other, less favorable stories
being printed.
You would just see it play out.
Like a story about someone in the family
would pop up for a minute, and they'd go,
"We gotta make that go away."
But there's real estate
on a website homepage.
There is real estate there
on a newspaper front cover.
And something has to be filled in there
about someone royal.
[Jenny] This barrage of negative articles
about the breakdown
of the relationship with her father
was the final straw in a campaign
of negative, nasty coverage about her.
Looking back,
it was one of the first acts, um,
of them breaking away
from the institution.
[tense music playing]
[woman] Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
are suing the Mail on Sunday.
The lawsuit claims
the Mail violated the law
by publishing a personal letter
she wrote to her father.
This is a massive error.
If you're royal, keep schtum, keep quiet.
Everything changed after that.
That litigation was the catalyst
probably for all of the unraveling.
[Meghan] This is snow!
This is snow!
What is it?
The media coverage of the lawsuit
was negative, which we always knew.
You don't go into these things
expecting anything but that.
Um, so it was really
a good opportunity for us to get away.
What is it?
You know, with Archie,
just to clear our heads.
[lively music playing]
- [Archie laughing]
- [Meghan laughing]
[man] Bucking tradition,
the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
will not be spending Christmas
with the Queen.
[Meghan] Good girl, Pula! Come on.
I just loved being there.
It was just so peaceful.
[Meghan] Good girl, Pula.
[Meghan laughing]
You could breathe for a minute.
[Meghan] Hi!
[Meghan gasps]
[Harry] It was absolutely amazing.
[Meghan squeals]
Because the main thing
that we needed was some space.
Some space to think and just
work out what on earth we're doing.
- Are you filming?
- [Meghan] Yeah.
- [Harry yelps]
- [Meghan laughs]
[Meghan] It was so cold.
Was that right in the New Year?
[Harry] Yeah, that was,
um, on 1st January.
I came out refreshed.
- And I was like, "Here we go, 2020."
- [Meghan] Yeah.
"What you got?"
- [ominous music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
about the new home
that he and Meghan are currently renting.
[Harry] There wasn't a single paparazzi
that lives on Vancouver Island.
That was the reason we chose it.
It's an island.
[man] There's another one there.
A paparazzi vehicle.
[Harry] No one in their right mind
would have to deal with this endlessly.
The toll was visible.
The emotional toll
that it was having on both of us,
but especially, um, especially my wife.
What are we gonna do?
We're gonna have to change this,
for our own sake.
Like, let's really think this through.
How are we gonna do this?
How are we gonna change
our relationship with the institution,
but in a way that protects us and our
mental health and our wellbeing as well?
[melancholic music playing]
[Harry] So, at the end of December,
the beginning of January,
I've been on the phone
to my father, saying, "We've got a plan."
What if we move to Canada?
[Harry] It would be good
to give ourselves some breathing space,
but also we were really passionate about
continuing our work throughout
the Commonwealth, to support the Queen.
Well, and also, I think what's important
is the pack of the royal rota
is based there in London.
So if we're not there,
they can't cover what we're doing.
You guys can be
on the front pages of all the papers.
You can have it
exactly the way you want it.
And we can just go about doing the work
in the name of the Queen.
- [wistful music playing]
- [crowd cheering]
[Harry] If you want us to go and do things
on behalf of the Queen,
we'll go and do it.
And we'll pay for it ourselves.
We don't want to be dependent
on any taxpayer funding. Guess what?
You get us, but you get us for free.
And this was years in the making.
We really wanted to remove
the supposed public interest argument
that the press had
over every element of our lives.
Their argument was, "If you have,
uh, even 1% of public funding,
any part of your life, then we can
basically claim public interest."
"We can invade your privacy on everything
because you have public funds
supporting you."
In 2018, we'd already talked
about perhaps moving to New Zealand.
And that never transpired.
And then beginning of 2019,
we discussed the whole concept
of us moving to South Africa,
supporting charities,
organizations in Africa.
[crowd cheering]
[Meghan] The job is
a lot of cause-driven work.
So I thought, "Well, this is great."
There's an asset
in having a woman of color
when you have 50 plus
Commonwealth countries,
the majority of which are people of color.
[Harry] And the palace signed off
on us moving to South Africa.
So my father's office knew about it,
my brother's office knew about it,
and my grandmother's office knew about it.
No one else knew.
It was very much an internal document.
Then it was leaked to The Times newspaper.
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] Then that whole plan
was then scrapped.
Because it's now become a public debate.
Once plans like that
become public debates,
nine times out of ten, it's gonna fail.
By the time I was speaking
to my father from Canada,
the family and their people knew
that we were trying
to find a different way of working
for a minimum of two years.
Minimum.
"Okay, Canada."
I was speaking to my father.
- "This is the plan."
- He says, "Can you put that in writing?"
And I said "I'd rather not.
He says, "I can't do anything
unless you put it in writing."
Sent him emails
on 1st, 2nd and 3rd January.
And in one of those,
I'd mentioned that, you know,
if this wasn't gonna work out,
then we would be willing to relinquish
our Sussex titles, if need be.
- So that was...
- [Meghan] That was the plan.
- That was the plan.
- Mm.
[Harry] Before we left,
I spoke to my grandmother as well,
and told her
that we're coming back on the 6th,
and I would love to come
and drive up and come and see you.
She knew that we were finding things hard.
I'd spoken to her many times about it.
She told me she had no plans for the week.
She said, "Well, why don't you come up?"
"You can have tea, but why don't you
stay the night, you and Meghan?"
[soft music playing]
[Meghan] So we were flying back
from Vancouver straight to Heathrow
and right as we're getting on the plane,
this urgent, urgent message
comes through to H saying,
"You are not allowed to see Her Majesty."
"Make sure that your principle is aware
he cannot go and see her."
"She's busy. She has plans all week."
I was like, "That's certainly
the opposite to what she had told me."
Once we were back in the UK, I rang her
and said, "I'm now told that you're busy."
She goes, "Yes, I didn't know I was busy.
I've been told that I'm busy."
"I've been told that I'm busy all week."
I was like, "Wow."
[Meghan] And I remember looking at H.
I mean, my gosh,
this is when a family
and a family business
are in direct conflict.
Because they're blocking you
from seeing the Queen.
But really what they're doing is blocking
a grandson from seeing his grandmother.
Later that afternoon, we found out
that this story was coming out.
Somehow, the tabloids
knew about this proposal.
[poignant music playing]
[reporter] I think we've known for a while
that the couple have been very unhappy
and have been struggling with
their public role in the royal family.
His dad said, "Put it in writing."
And he did,
and it was just five days later
it was on the front page of a newspaper.
[reporter] There's a lot of speculation
that perhaps Canada,
which is where Meghan lived
before marrying into the royal family.
It became clear that the institution
leaked the fact that we were
going to be moving back to Canada.
And the key piece of that story
that made me aware
that the contents of the letter
between me and my father had been leaked
was that we were willing
to relinquish our Sussex titles.
That was the giveaway.
And I was like, "Wow."
Our story, our life,
literally got taken from underneath us.
[Meghan] You could feel the ticking clock
at that point.
So with our team,
we decided we would put out a statement
that we were going to sadly
be stepping back.
Not stepping down,
but to just have a reduced role.
- [poignant music continues]
- [keyboard clicking]
[Harry] For my whole life,
the purse strings
had been controlled by my father.
Within the family,
it's normal to have that financial control
over other members of the family.
[Meghan] So the hope was that,
it's right there in black and white.
You can see, here's our intention.
Here's how we wish to continue
to support the Commonwealth.
Here's how we value our roles
as president and vice-president
of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.
[reporter 1] Big surprise
from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
[reporter 2] Reportedly
blindsiding the Queen...
[reporter 3] Prince Charles
and Prince William were only sent a copy
of Harry and Meghan's statement
ten minutes before it was released.
The Queen got surprised as...
Like all of us.
It was the fact that they announced it
officially on Instagram.
This idea that I supposedly
blindsided my grandmother.
This would never happen.
I have so much respect for her.
[Meghan] This has been ongoing
for months upon months.
I mean, I think in some people's minds,
it was like me going, "Post."
[scoffs] What?
I'd sent an email to the three most senior
private secretaries saying,
"Let's get together and have a meeting.
Let's talk about this."
Because what was happening,
what was playing out in public, was crazy.
That meeting was rejected.
[Meghan squeals]
[Meghan] After the announcement, I had
to get back, 'cause Archie was in Canada.
And it was only once Meg had left
and gone back to Canada
that it was then arranged
that there was going to be a meeting
at Sandringham on the following Monday.
[Meghan] Imagine a conversation,
a round-table discussion,
about the future of your life,
when the stakes are this high,
and you as the mom and the wife...
and the target in many regards,
aren't invited
to have a seat at the table.
It was clear to me that they'd planned it
so that you weren't in the room.
But you know, Sandringham...
I have such happy memories of Sandringham.
That was where we spent every Christmas.
And now I was back there
in very different circumstances.
[poignant music playing]
Well, it's an historic day
for the royal family.
The Queen has called this urgent meeting.
Prince Harry will be there,
of course, along with his brother,
Prince William, and Prince Charles.
- [man 1] Who was that?
- [man 2] The Duke.
[woman] They'll be trying to come up
with a blueprint for the way forward.
I went in with the same proposal
that we'd already,
you know, made publicly.
But once I got there,
I was given five options.
One being, all in, no change.
Five being, all out.
I chose option three in the meeting.
Half in, half out.
Have our own jobs,
but also work in support of the Queen.
It became very clear very quickly, that
goal was not up for discussion or debate.
It was terrifying to have my brother
scream and shout at me,
and my father say things
that just simply weren't true,
and my grandmother,
you know, quietly sit there,
and sort of take it all in.
But you have to understand that,
from the family's perspective,
especially from hers,
there are ways of doing things,
and her ultimate sort of mission, goal,
slash responsibility is the institution.
People around her are telling her,
"By the way, that proposal,
or these two doing X, Y, Z,
is going to be seen
as an attack on the institution."
Then she's gonna go
on the advice that she's given.
It was really hard.
That meeting finished
without any, like, solidified action plan.
I think, from their perspective,
they had to believe
that it was more about us,
and maybe the issues that we had,
as opposed to their partner,
the media, and themselves,
and that relationship
that was causing so much pain for us.
They saw what they wanted to see.
[bell tolls]
[young Harry] Fire! There's a fire!
[camera clicking]
[Harry] I mean, the saddest part of it
was this wedge created
between myself and my brother,
so that he's now on the institution's
side. And I get... Part of that, I get.
I understand, right?
That's... That's his inheritance.
So to some extent it's already ingrained
in him that part of his responsibility
is the survivability
and the continuation of this institution.
[wistful music playing]
[woman 1] An unbelievably sad
breakdown between the brothers.
[woman 2] They always used to be in step
and they're clearly out of step now.
[Harry] That day, a story came out
saying that part of the reason
why Meghan and I were leaving,
uh, was because
William had bullied us out.
And 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.
[reporter] A sign of public unity
from the brothers,
who issued a joint statement,
calling the report "false, offensive,
and potentially harmful."
[poignant music tempo rises]
I couldn't believe it.
No one had asked me.
No one had asked me permission
to put my name to a statement like that.
And I rang M 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.
[Meghan] Suddenly what clicked
in my head was, "It's never gonna stop."
Every rumor,
every negative thing, every lie,
everything that I knew wasn't true,
and that the palace knew wasn't true
and internally they knew wasn't true
that was just being allowed to fester.
[Harry] So there was no other option
at this point.
I said, "We need to get out of here."
[reporter 1] Breaking news,
this one out of London.
[reporter 2] Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle are officially moving on.
[reporter 3] Announcing they're taking
a step back from their royal duties.
Trying to do for Meghan
what he couldn't do for his mum.
Exactly.
Nobody could take the attacking
and the trolling that she has taken.
I know she has felt strongly. This is like
getting back some control of her life.
She feels she has no control.
[David] This was Harry's decision
to move away
from what he'd obviously imagined
was gonna be his future and his destiny.
There was always a sense
that Meghan had to prove herself.
Prove herself worthy of Britain,
prove herself worthy of her husband.
Prove herself worthy
of her position in the royal family.
It's a lot to ask of any individual.
[reporter] The British public opinion
is that it's all Meghan's fault.
[Harry] I've seen little cartoons
of me on all fours with her,
um, holding a dog lead
and me wearing the dog collar.
How predictable that, you know,
the woman is to be blamed
for the decision of a couple.
In fact, it was my decision.
She never asked to leave.
I was the one
that had to see it for myself.
But it's misogyny at its best.
[female reporter] Some of the tabloids
are calling the two "the Rogue Royals"
and describing the move as "Megxit."
I felt the term "Megxit" was
just indicative of the frivolousness,
the unseriousness,
the flippant nature of the tabloid press.
It's what happens when you have
a press that is devoid of journalism,
that lives on outrage and monetizes anger.
[reporter 1] She thought
it would be tiaras and tea parties.
[reporter 2] You can see the manipulation.
All the way along the relationship...
[reporter 3] Turning their backs
on the royal family.
They've received the wrath,
the full wrath of the media establishment.
[reporter 4] Almost like teenagers
stamping their foot and saying...
[reporter 5] Meghan suddenly realized she
wasn't going to be the star of the show.
[reporter 6] She won't compromise.
Everything's got to be her way.
It took what felt like everything from me.
Your sense of self, your confidence.
[overlapping reporters' voices]
And the truth didn't matter.
The clickbait did.
[tense music playing]
[male voice] We're about two minutes
out from the top of the show, so...
Good afternoon.
I want to welcome Renée DiResta,
Rashad Robinson,
and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Well, Harry, maybe you could
help humanize this for us.
Just a month ago,
a report by Bot Sentinel,
a company that analyzes tweets,
uh, found that a very small number
of anti-Meghan and Harry accounts
were responsible for a huge percentage
of the hateful content
about you on Twitter.
Misinformation is
a global humanitarian crisis.
Um, as you quite rightly pointed out,
I've felt it personally over the years.
We know that a small group of accounts
are allowed to create
a huge amount of chaos online,
and without any consequence whatsoever.
[man] Bot Sentinel has looked
at everything from QAnon to MAGA,
to COVID disinformation,
to climate change disinformation.
We've never seen anything quite like this.
What was interesting to me
about that report
is that it showed
that there were a handful of accounts,
that weren't just bots,
but they were people who were highly
coordinated and deeply networked
and responsible for the vast majority
of hate propaganda against the couple.
[Christopher] We looked at 114,000 tweets,
and we were able to then determine
that 70% of the hateful content
came from just 83 accounts.
And they had a reach of 17 million people.
So this is not your everyday trolling.
They were coordinating and talking about
what they would discuss
for that particular day or week,
what pictures they should disseminate.
They were actively recruiting people,
telling people
how to create multiple accounts.
How to use VPNs, you know,
virtual private networks,
to hide the IP,
so they don't get suspended.
It's insane.
What is it about Meghan Markle
that has driven Prince Harry to not only...
In every scenario, who's the victim?
...because she separated him...
[Christopher] And it was done by people
who were just not
the typical quote-unquote trolls.
These are housewives.
These are middle-aged Caucasian women
creating just constant attacks,
from "Go back to America," to basically,
you know, "Why don't you die?"
- [tense music]
- [tweet sound]
Samantha Markle was part of the group
that was putting out
a lot of this disinformation.
Samantha had her account suspended.
And then we actually sent Twitter a list
because she had,
like, 11 additional accounts.
And yeah, we were baffled by this.
How can the half-sister of Meghan
be part of a hate group?
[tense music continues]
Perhaps the most troubling part of this
is the number of British journalists
interacting with and amplifying
the hate and the lies.
When a lie spreads on social media,
it's dangerous. Of course it is.
But when that same lie is given, uh,
credibility by journalists or publishers,
it's unethical, and as far
as I'm concerned, an abuse of power.
[somber music playing]
[Christopher] For the main hate accounts,
their primary motive
is monetizing this stuff.
But the secondary accounts,
it's about hatred.
It's about, you know... You know, race.
And the focus was predominantly on Meghan.
Comparing her to,
for example, you know, a monkey.
So then also,
there would be derogatory terms
where they would use the N-word on tweets.
[Harry] The seriousness of what has
happened to her and what happened,
what happened to us,
and what continues to happen to her,
that needs to be acknowledged.
Also I think for people
to really understand,
you know when you plant
a seed that is so hateful,
what it can grow into.
I mean, just a couple of days ago,
I was going through the manual
for our security team at home,
and on one of the pages
that I happened to flip to,
it was about online monitoring,
and they're like,
"If you see a tweet like this,
please report it
to the head of security immediately."
It just said, "Meghan just needs to die."
"Someone needs to kill her.
Maybe it should be me."
And I was just like...
"Okay." That's, like,
what's actually out in the world
because of people creating hate.
And I'm a mom.
That's my real life.
You know? And that's the piece
when you see it and you go...
[voice breaking]
"You are making people want to kill me."
It's not just a tabloid.
It's not just some story.
You are making me scared.
Right? And like that night, to be
up and down in the middle of the night,
looking down my hallway, like,
"Are we safe? Are the doors locked?"
"Is security on?
Is everything..." That's real.
"Are my babies safe?"
And you've created it for what?
Because you're bored,
or because it sells your papers?
It makes you feel better
about your own life?
It's real what you're doing.
And that's the piece
I don't think people fully understand.
[Meghan] "It's wonderfully good of you,
snake, but no, I'm having a feast with a..."
[Archie] Gruffalo!
[Meghan] "A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"
[drumbeat]
[Archie] Was that a good song?
[Meghan] That was such a good song.
It was awesome.
Do you want me to play it again, Mama?
[Meghan] Yes, please, thank you. Okay.
[Safiya] Let's be clear
about what's actually at stake here.
It's like symbolic annihilation.
If you can destroy people
who are symbols of social justice,
then you can scare people
to not want to be public.
It is a way to signal
to the rest of us to stand down.
[soft music playing]
[Vicky] When you whip up enough people
into a fervent of hate,
it's not one of those cases
of sticks and stones may break my bones
but words can never hurt me.
They can kill you. The threat is real.
[melancholic music playing]
- [woman] Exhale.
- [loud exhaling]
[woman] Remember that what is transpiring
in the media,
what's being created, is an illusion.
When you try to prove that you're good
and that you're not the person
they say you are,
you're taking the bait,
you're feeding the beast.
It is an illusion.
Your work is not to prove your goodness.
You know who you are. Both of you.
And whenever you're ready,
you can open your eyes.
[Harry] As sad as it is,
in order for change to happen,
sometimes a lot of pain
has to come to the surface.
In order for us
to be able to move to the next chapter,
you've got to finish the first chapter.
We both came back in March from Canada.
[tranquil music playing]
And that was our sort of farewell week.
[Meghan] We were going
through so many boxes,
literally looking at everything going,
"Oh my gosh, this blanket I missed."
"That hat was so funny."
Just taking it all in.
And it really gave us a chance to just...
To look back at our whole love story.
♪ I just wanted you to know
That I loved you better ♪
♪ Than your own kin did... ♪
[Harry] We always saw Archie running
around the garden at Frogmore Cottage,
and maybe jumping in the Queen's Pond.
That was all part of our future, and
everything changed really, really quickly.
We knew we were gonna get
some breathing space from this...
This very painful experience
that we'd been stuck in.
But also, at the same time,
it was really sad.
I often think about,
in any relationship, oftentimes,
when a guy falls in love with a girl,
his buddies are like,
"Oh my God, he changed."
"I don't see him anymore.
He's always with her."
And you blame the girl.
They're angry with her because
she's the thing that took him away.
And that's whether you're in a small town
or a big city or in the royal family.
He wouldn't have ever
been attracted to or interested in me
if he hadn't already been on his own path.
♪ Come on back... ♪
Most people need to find someone to blame.
♪ Now... ♪
To try to, like, reconcile how you're
feeling, 'cause something's changed,
and you don't like it,
and what's the thing that's different?
"This all changed when you got here.
So it's your fault."
But you need to blame me.
Also if you can blame me,
then you have no fault.
So that last week was...
It was bittersweet.
♪ And see me when you can ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
[reporter] Meghan and Harry,
all smiles tonight.
The royal farewell tour in high gear.
Meghan back in the UK for the first time
since the couple's dramatic decision
to step down as senior working royals.
[Harry] That farewell week, we did
all these engagements back-to-back.
It was just like... It was a real whirlwind.
[female reporter] Five engagements
in five days.
[Meghan] Until that last week in the UK,
I rarely wore color.
I never wanted to upstage
or ruffle any feathers.
So I just tried to blend in.
- But I wore a lot of color that week.
- Yeah.
I just felt like,
"Let's just look like a rainbow."
["She's A Rainbow"
by The Rolling Stones playing]
♪ She comes in colors everywhere ♪
♪ She combs her hair ♪
♪ She's like a rainbow ♪
♪ Coming, colors in the air ♪
♪ Oh, everywhere ♪
♪ She comes in colors... ♪
We weren't with the family. It was
our opportunity to go out with a bang.
A lot of you tonight
have told me you have my back.
Well, I'm also here to tell you,
I've always got yours.
- [soft music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
[Harry] It never needed to be this way.
We talked about this over and over again.
Sitting up late in the kitchen after
these late night engagements, saying,
"We would have carried on doing this
for the rest of our lives."
♪ She's like a rainbow... ♪
[Meghan] I thought, "The public,
if they've been fed these lies
for two years,
what do they think of me?"
"They must hate us."
No.
[Meghan] The people
were just so embracing.
They were sad that we were leaving.
And we were sad that we were leaving.
I'm gonna miss the British public.
Not going to miss the British press, uh,
and their followers
and their trolls that they create.
I'm gonna miss this country. So is Meghan.
[bells ringing]
[regal music playing]
[male reporter] It's one of the great
royal family showpieces of the year.
A Westminster Abbey service featuring
the Queen along with Charles and Camilla,
William and Kate, even Edward and Sophie.
And last, Harry and Meghan,
in their last official role
before returning to North America.
[wistful music playing]
The first time that we saw
the other members of the family
was in public at Westminster Abbey.
[crowd cheering]
[reporter] This is the last time
we'll see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
with the Queen and the royal family
on an engagement. And it's significant.
[wistful music playing]
[Harry] We were nervous seeing the family,
because all the TV cameras
and everybody watching at home
and everybody watching in the audience,
it's like living through a soap opera,
where you... everybody else
views you as entertainment.
[reporter] You really do have to wonder
what was going through their minds
as they were going
through the motions of this,
given what's going on in the background.
[Harry] I felt really distant
from my family,
which was interesting,
because so much of how they operate
is about what it looks like,
rather than what it feels like.
And it looked cold.
But it also felt cold.
[reporter 1] In the services we saw today,
they weren't even in the procession.
That also sort of showing where
things are automatically changing.
[reporter 2] When you see
how successful they have been
at their public engagements,
you see what an incredible loss this is
to the royal family.
But also, you really have
to wonder how it was possible
that something could not be worked out
to keep them within the fold.
We had left Westminster Abbey,
and then that was it.
I had to go to the airport.
We were racing to catch my flight.
We were cutting it so close,
but I wanted to get back home to Archie.
Yeah. Back to Buckingham Palace, changed.
Unpinned the hat.
Quickly took this green dress off.
Threw on some clothes for the plane.
I was saying goodbye.
[wistful music continues]
[Meghan] Of course it was emotional.
We get on the plane.
And it's not the pilot, but whoever
is sort of overseeing the crew,
and he came and he knelt next to my seat
and he took his hat off,
and I just remember looking at him,
and he goes,
"We appreciate everything
you did for our country."
And it was the first time
that I felt like someone
saw the sacrifice.
Not for my own country.
For this country, that's not mine.
We landed in Canada
and one of our security guards,
who had been with H for so long,
and these guys were so wonderful,
I just collapsed in his arms, crying.
I was like, "I tried so hard."
He goes, "I know you did.
I know you did, ma'am, I know you did."
Like, I tried so hard.
And that's the piece
that's so triggering, 'cause you go,
"And it still wasn't good enough.
And you still don't fit in."
[wistful music continues]
[David] It was impossible
not to feel emotional investment
as a Black British person
watching Meghan enter this institution,
uh, and become this icon,
this figure that we all had
these high hopes for.
Part of what made the inability
of the palace to defend Meghan
an even bigger disaster
is at the center
of the argument for the monarchy
in this country is the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth is 2.5 billion,
mainly Black and brown people.
Here was a woman who just looked like
most of the people in the Commonwealth,
and they somehow, for some reason,
couldn't find the capacity to protect her,
to represent her, to stand by her,
to take on vested power in her name,
to fight for her.
[Afua] One of the big questions
facing modern Britain is
"What do we choose
our symbols and institutions to be?
And are they inclusive? Or are they
continuing that history of exclusion?"
And when a member of the royal family
visits one of these countries,
it creates an awkward
moment for the British government.
[man] Sending a shout out
to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and the entire royal family
that reparation time comes now.
[suspenseful music playing]
There's a tipping point,
a generational change,
and a moment in which
events are sort of coalescing.
[Dame Sandra Mason]
...from this day and forever,
declare Barbados a parliamentary republic.
[David] In 2021,
Barbados made the decision
to replace the Queen as the head of state.
That makes it more likely
that other nations will follow.
[woman] There are renewed calls
this evening for Jamaica to take steps
to remove the Queen as head of state.
Anyone inside that system,
whether it's my family,
whether it's staff,
whether it's PR, whoever it is,
have already missed
an enormous opportunity with my wife,
and how far that would go globally.
[crowd cheering]
[Afua] Their relationship presented
the idea that Britain can change,
that the most intractable, traditional
parts of Britain can reform and evolve.
Their departure felt
like the death of a dream.
Um, hi. So we're here on,
uh, Tues... Wednesday.
Wednesday, the something of March.
These next few months is when
we're gonna be at our most vulnerable.
Uh, when the press will no doubt
create some sort of feeding frenzy.
[crowd indistinct clamoring]
[reporter 1] The Duke of Sussex stepping
off his plane as you can see there.
Clearly a number of questions
still to be answered.
[reporter 2] Will they still get
royal protection when they live overseas?
[Harry] By the time that I got back
from the UK after that March trip,
the whole place was completely surrounded.
Boats in the water, cars on the drive,
individuals trying to jump over the fence
and take photographs over the wall.
It was... Yeah, it was...
I'd never experienced that before.
[man] I've just been,
I've just seen this bloke.
He looked at me as I drove in.
[Harry] M asked me,
"Would they remove our security?"
I said, "They'll never do that."
Meghan's background, her heritage,
the well-documented
hate campaigns against us,
suspicious packages
being sent to the palaces,
specifically with her name on
or my name on.
She said, "Do you think they'll do it?"
I said, "No, they would never do that."
And they did it.
- [tense music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]
They've decided our security
will be removed on 31st March,
thereby leaving me less than three weeks,
um, to find security for my family.
And I'm worried. I am genuinely concerned,
um, for the safety of my family.
And then, just like that,
this thing called COVID.
[reporter] Officials now say
more than 400 people have been sickened...
And at that moment,
our location was exposed.
We knew our security was being pulled.
Everyone in the world knew where we were,
so we weren't gonna be safe there.
[reporter] The AP is now reporting
Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie,
has tested positive for Coronavirus.
[Meghan] They're gonna close the border.
Without question,
they're gonna close the border in no time.
[Harry] Stay, stay.
There comes a point
when you're worried about what,
what could happen next,
and therefore, you've got to do what
I guess any husband and father would do,
which is get the hell out of there.
["Everybody's Talking"
by Harry Nilsson playing]
♪ Everybody's talking at me ♪
♪ I don't hear a word they're saying ♪
♪ Only the echoes of my mind ♪
♪ People stopping, staring ♪
♪ I can't see their faces ♪
♪ Only the shadows of their eyes ♪
♪ I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Through the pouring rain ♪
♪ Going where the weather
Suits my clothes ♪
♪ Banking off of the northeast winds ♪
♪ Sailing on a summer breeze ♪
♪ And skipping over the ocean
Like a stone ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ I'm going where the sun keeps shining ♪