Narrator: In January 2020, prince harry and meghan
Downloaded from YTS.MX
Released a shocking announcement
That they were stepping back from royal life.
There was a stunned moment of sort of paralysis.
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You saw the reaction from the queen--to say "what?"
Surely they're not leaving leaving.
What are they saying?
The couple wanted a more private life.
They left. They want to do their own thing.
But it was all worth it to them.
The move to america turned them from royalty to celebrity.
They sign with netflix. They're gonna do a reality show.
They sign a deal with spotify.
But even out of the spotlight, they faced controversy.
Out comes this tell-all book.
The intimate details were just oozing through the pages.
It'd be the first time we would see a senior royal
On a witness stand.
Their story is told
By journalists at "people" magazine.
"people" magazine has its finger on the royal pulse.
But what happened next shocked the world.
In a tell-all interview with oprah winfrey,
The truth was laid bare.
There were serious accusations of racism,
Heartbreaking revelations about being on the verge of suicide,
And insights into broken family relationships.
So what brought harry and meghan to a breaking point?
And how do they take back control
Of their lives in america?
♪♪♪
On may 19, 2018,
Prince harry and american actress meghan markle
Were married in st. George's chapel.
It was the merging of two worlds--
Royalty and celebrity.
It was so star-studded. It was bigger than the oscars.
You had the beckhams. You had george clooney.
You had oprah. It was so jam-packed with a-listers.
It was really some kind of spectacle.
This was exciting, and it was compelling
But also intriguing.
Because these two worlds don't necessarily marry very well.
Let's go back to basics.
Who are meghan and harry?
For most of his life,
Harry was raised as the so-called spare
To his older brother prince william the heir.
His other brother had a very clear path.
He was being groomed very specifically
For the role of future king, and harry didn't have that.
Harry was left to really figure out for himself
What his path would be.
And yet doing that in the shadow of william was a struggle.
At the age of 33,
Harry met american actress meghan markle
On a blind date in london,
And cupid's arrow shot straight through their hearts.
He's not. He's not gonna fall for an american.
He's not gonna give us an american princess, is he?
When she walked on the scene
And you saw the way he looked at her,
I mean, it just all made sense.
When he met meghan, he found a partner
Who wanted-- she famously said--
For him to thrive, not just survive.
The two struck up a whirlwind romance,
All kept top secret from the media
As they went back and forth between london and toronto
Where meghan was acting in her hit tv series "suits."
What about louis litt?
Let's continue with your tour.
After dating for over a year,
They made their relationship official,
And the palace announced their engagement to be married.
Of course everyone was happy, right? Wrong.
Once harry and meghan's relationship
Was revealed to the world,
Harry became very protective of meghan.
I think that meghan because she's an actress
And had been used to attention,
She thought that "I can handle this situation."
But the intensity of the attention
When you're a royal is very different.
The british press went on the attack.
Meghan was the target of racism
And nasty claims about her being a social climber.
When I first met my now husband,
My friends were really happy 'cause I was so happy,
But my british friends said to me,
"I'm sure he's great, but you shouldn't do it
'cause the british tabloids will destroy your life."
Two of harry's ex-girlfriends
Had actually ended the relationship
Because they couldn't handle this pressure.
Chelsy davy and cressida bonas had both not enjoyed
Being in the relationship because of that.
Harry, however, stood up for his bride-to-be.
He wanted everyone to know
He was not going to stand for intimidation and bullying.
Harry had lost his beloved mother
In a fatal accident in paris
When her vehicle was chased by the paparazzi.
And he was not going to let someone else he loved
Be destroyed by the press.
Especially now they were adding to their family.
Harry and meghan were about to become proud parents.
On the 6th of may 2019, their son archie was born.
But months later, their perfect life
Was starting to show cracks.
We had heard grumblings
That there were tensions increasing
As the months started to roll on for the newlyweds.
In 2019, meghan and harry were filmed
On a tour of south africa.
Meghan gave a candid interview
About her life in the royal family.
This was the first time
Since diana's infamous tell-all interview with martin bashir
That we'd seen a royal be that vulnerable.
Yeah. Well, I guess-- and also thank you for asking
'cause not many people have asked if I'm okay.
One of the things that we learned later
Is that that reference "not many people have asked"
Wasn't just a throwaway to the public
Or just something she said lately
But really was a comment
On what she felt was a lack of support
From the royal family she had married into.
This really wasn't royal protocol.
As a royal, you're supposed to not explain or complain,
And you just have to take the stress
And take the pressure.
But harry and meghan are young new royals.
They're millennials.
They're gonna explain their feelings.
By the end of 2019,
Meghan and harry had decided that this was untenable.
They couldn't go on like this anymore.
I had a tip something big was going on,
And the gist of the tip
Was keep your eyes on meghan and harry.
Breaking news: In video published
To his sussex royal instagram page,
Prince harry has just publicly addressed the decision
By him and his wife meghan to leave their royal life.
They had issued this statement, and they were stepping away.
And I think at first, there was almost disbelief.
Like, "wait.
Surely he's not-- they're not leaving leaving.
Like, what are they saying? They're moving to canada?"
There was a stunned moment of a sort of paralysis.
Like, what do we do now?
Because none of us really were prepared
To hear something that dramatic.
You saw the reaction from the palace,
From the queen-- to say, basically, "what?"
On January 8, 2020, an announcement was released
On meghan and harry's instagram page
That they were stepping back
As senior members of the royal family.
I think that the talk of blindsiding the queen
Originates from the way in which the news came out.
There was some talk in the media
That the queen definitely knew that the decision had been made
But wasn't fully aware
Of when that news would be hitting the press.
The palace decided the best thing to do
Would be to hold a summit for the senior royals.
So the queen, prince charles, william, and harry sat down
And decided to talk it through.
So the "sandringham summit,"
It was a massive sit-down
Where they had to hash out a lot of the dirty details.
The queen didn't just roll over
And adhere to everything that harry and meghan wanted.
She felt that you can't just leave the royal family
And expect to still receive all the benefits
Of being in the royal family.
The sandringham summit left meghan and harry
With a compromise that is not as much as they had hoped for.
And at the heart of that is the couple desired
To have one foot in and one foot out.
And, ultimately, that's not gonna work.
Meghan and harry went into the summit
Really wanting to be financially independent.
They would stop receiving an income
From the sovereign grant
Which is actually a part of public money
Allocated to the queen and to family members
Who represent her in official roles--
About $100 million.
This is a big move for harry. He had always been funded
By the state, by the british taxpayers.
For meghan, it's a little bit different.
She'd already earned her own money.
So this really was a big, new move for the couple.
The queen then said if you're gonna do that,
Then you're not going to be able
To also leverage the sussex royal brand.
The other thing is harry's military titles,
Which we know are just so important to him.
Losing his military titles
Really did seem a particularly harsh blow for harry.
He cares so much about the military,
And he served so honorably.
It was a blow for harry that he found hard to forgive.
They did retain their most prestigious title
Which is his and her royal highness.
And, of course, they remained the duke and duchess of sussex.
The official exit date was set for March 31, 2020.
No one could predict how this was going to turn out
For harry and meghan.
Coming up...
There was an incident that took place with paparazzi.
They sent up some drones
To take some pictures outside of the home
While archie was playing outside.
These pictures were just a huge issue for meghan and harry.
After the big exit, prince harry, meghan and archie
Settled in vancouver island, canada.
This seemed to make sense.
It seemed like a safe move
To move to the commonwealth for a while, to canada,
To work out what to do.
But I think meghan had always, in the back of her head,
Wanted to return home where she knew,
Where she felt safe and secure with her friends and family.
♪♪♪
If you've never been to l.A., it's really great.
Full of completely sane and chilled-out people.
Harry is the fish out of water--
Living in los angeles, surrounded by hollywood--
And it's gotta be a little bit confusing.
But he does have meghan, who knows what she's doing,
To guide him through.
They do already have roots in california.
Meghan grew up there. Her mom lives there.
So it really made sense.
Meghan was excited to show harry and archie her territory.
Just as they were settling in,
The world was thrown into turmoil.
In March 2020, the covid-19 pandemic hit the world.
Everything was shut down.
We were all navigating uncharted territory.
Harry and meghan's big american dream
Had to be put on hold.
They were in lockdown,
But it gave them time to think about their future.
It was paramount for the couple
That they were financially independent
From the royal family,
So they repaid the sovereign grant $3 million,
Which they'd used for the refurbishment
Of their uk home, frogmore cottage.
First things first. They had two major milestones
They were about to celebrate,
Starting with archie's first birthday.
Doting mom meghan posted a video for save the children
Which raises funds for children impacted by the pandemic.
The video showed a very relaxed meghan reading a book--
"duck! Rabbit!"--to her son.
Let's turn the page.
"here, ducky, ducky.
Here, you cute little rabbit."
Archie seems to be having a normal upbringing.
And when his parents post a video,
Often, you know, one of them is behind the camera,
And the other one is in front of it.
We're just trying to embrace all of the quality time
We get with our son right now
And do not miss a single moment of his growth and development
Which has been really special.
A few weeks later, harry and meghan celebrated
Their second wedding anniversary--
A very low-key affair with just the three of them at home.
♪♪♪
Soon after their anniversary,
The sussexes were on the move again,
This time to an $18 million beverly hills mansion
Owned by entertainment tycoon tyler perry.
Let's just say this.
Tyler perry has incredible taste.
Chandeliers in every room.
Greek columns. Elaborate fixtures.
It maybe made the transition
From palace life to regular life a little easier,
Because tyler perry is royalty
And does have a palace in his own right.
The one downside of staying in california
At tyler perry's mansion
Was an incident that took place with paparazzi,
Where they sent up some drones
To take some pictures outside of the home
While archie was playing outside.
And these pictures, of course,
Were just a huge issue for meghan and harry.
The couple took the news agency to court and won the case.
The photos were handed over, copies destroyed,
And they stopped distributing any images that were taken.
Now outside of the royal fold,
Meghan and harry took on the media,
Something we would see them do again and again.
They were sending a clear message to the world.
The royal family always says never complain, never explain,
But that's not something that meghan and even harry
Liked to subscribe to.
♪♪♪
Ultimately, harry and meghan were looking for a forever home,
And they looked around
And planted their roots in montecito.
This is the place
That the celebrities celebrity go to.
This is where the people with real money reside,
And you have oprah as your neighbor.
I mean, rob lowe.
Just numerous other really upper-crust celebrities.
The royalty of hollywood, you might say,
Reside in montecito.
This house is immaculate.
It is not a house. It is a mansion.
It has nine bedrooms,
16 bathrooms.
I mean, tennis courts.
Saunas--wet and dry.
It has a little baby cottage for archie to play in
And also a two-story guesthouse
Grandma doria can stay in when she's there.
It has everything you could possibly want.
Yeah, ellen degeneres sets up the neighborhood watch,
So needless to say,
No one's gonna be peeking in their windows
Trying to catch a glimpse.
So far, so good in l.A.
And it appears that harry and meghan
Are starting to settle into the post-royal life.
Roller skating and doing wheat grass shots,
Whatever it is people do out there.
However, what's about to come next
Will rock the boat in the royal family.
Coming up...
Right when things had calmed down,
Out comes this tell-all book.
The intimate details were just oozing through the pages.
Just the mere fact
That they didn't take the authors to court
Is kind of telling
In that there may be some truth here.
Harry and meghan had stepped back
As senior members of the royal family,
But there was more to learn
About their experience in "the firm."
Revealing new book about meghan, harry,
And the royal family that's out today.
"finding freedom" is believed to reveal
The reasons why harry and meghan
Left the uk for the united states.
Right when things had calmed down,
Out comes this tell-all book,
And it sort of stirred the pot all over again.
We had heard a lot of buzz surrounding this book.
The authors of the book, omid scobie and carolyn durand,
Are considered veteran royals reporters.
Very well regarded. Very well-connected.
And we heard that they were working on this book,
Exploring meghan and harry's break from the royal family.
They had spoken with many, many people
Within their inner circle,
Close sources who could really shed light
On what was going on behind the scenes
During that incredibly tumultuous time.
And the book did not disappoint.
The book was so delicious
Because the intimate details
Were just oozing through the pages.
I think one of the biggest things that I found out,
Which I did not realize before
Was that the duke and duchess were actually engaged
Prior to their big invictus debut.
The book has been criticized
For being a means to air their grievances
Against the palace and harry's relatives.
But this was just a taste of things to come.
There was an aura around "finding freedom,"
That it was essentially harry and meghan's chance
To set the record straight.
And that isn't what that book is.
And if anything,
It's almost less about harry and meghan
Than it is about the collapse
Of harry and william's relationship
And the many factors that played a role in that.
William was portrayed as someone who is really a snob
Who wouldn't accept meghan, this american actress.
Harry still held a grudge against his brother william
For not really welcoming meghan
And making him feel like she was the right one
When he came to him with his heart on his sleeve.
He felt that the relationship might be a little rushed.
He questioned his brother and asked him,
"are you sure this is what you wanna be doing?
Are you sure this is the girl?"
The last royal church service that harry and meghan attended,
Harry and william infamously barely said a word
To each other. They barely looked at each other.
And harry was actually overheard to have said to meghan,
"he literally just said hi."
Look, we're brothers. We'll always be brothers.
We're certainly on different paths at the moment,
But, you know, as brothers,
You know, you have good days, you have bad days.
The duel of the duchesses was also put in the spotlight.
A chapter talking about how meghan thought kate was cold
And didn't support her
And welcome her like she should have.
Kate hadn't done enough to reach out to meghan
And make her feel welcome, and all of that sort of added up
To this kind of, like, icky feeling,
Like, "why did we have to go there again?"
As family, do you ever have disagreements about things?
[laughs] oh, yes.
[audience laughs]
The big question on everyone's lips
Was whether harry and meghan were among the sources
In the account of their lives.
They were emphatic that they had no part
In consulting or the writing of the book.
It still raised questions even within the royal family
Of if they had involvement
And were some of the accusations true.
Was some of the drama that's pointed out in the book,
Was it actually true?
Just the mere fact that, you know,
That they didn't take the authors to court
Is kind of telling.
The spokesperson for the couple
Denied that they cooperated in any way with the book.
And the authors said
That they had never spoken to meghan or harry about it.
The palace is very tight-lipped when it comes to commenting
About things that are happening in the public eye,
Particularly when it comes to tabloidy-type stories.
So they haven't commented on what's been revealed,
Whether to deny or confirm anything in the book.
When I interviewed the "finding freedom" authors,
Omid scobie and carolyn durand, about the book,
I asked them if they felt any parallel
With andrew morton's famous princess diana book.
They both said
That andrew morton's book is considered, obviously,
One of the great royal biographies.
Now, the big difference is after princess diana's death,
We learned that the main source
Was shockingly princess diana herself
Who had secretly recorded audiotapes
That were then smuggled back and forth between the palace
On a bicycle of one of her friends.
And this was when we got the first glimpse
Into so much of her anguish,
Her eating disorder battles, her pained divorce,
And the affair between camilla and charles,
Her depression, throwing herself down the steps
When she was pregnant. All of that is in that book
That she could've opened up her heart and bared her soul
To share all of that with andrew morton.
Everyone I've spoken to,
People who are close to the princess of wales,
Have assured me that the portrait
Is a fair, sympathetic, and accurate one,
And I stand by every word.
Diana agreed to speak with journalist martin bashir
To set the record straight on the tabloid speculation
About her marriage to prince charles.
Do you think mrs. Parker bowles was a factor
In the breakdown of your marriage?
Well, there were three of us in this marriage,
So it was a bit crowded.
This was something charles admitted to
When questioned by journalist jonathan dimbleby
About their marriage.
Do you try to be faithful and honorable to your wife
When you took on the vow of marriage?
Yes. Absolutely.
And you were?
Yes.
Until it became irretrievably broken down.
Of course prince charles, who is the future king,
Knows that he is not leaving that institution or that role,
Whereas it was a really different situation for diana.
First of all, she had then really manipulated
Into sitting in that chair.
And secondly, she wasn't in the position charles was
To feel as though this was a forever attachment
To the monarchy.
And the queen watched the interview,
Like millions of people around the world,
And decreed, effectively,
That the couple needed to divorce.
25 years after the interview,
There's a current investigation accusing bashir
Of allegedly manipulating diana into speaking with him
By falsifying documents to gain her trust.
If you flash forward to "finding freedom,"
There's not that level of soul-baring,
But for the authors of "finding freedom,"
The idea that you were hearing from people very close to them
Was, in their view, similar to the diana book
Because you're getting this--
The true-- the true meghan and harry.
Coming up...
So, meghan and harry have a hugely delicate situation
Because the next choices they make are critical.
Post-royal life, prince harry and meghan
Are now living their american dream.
They have the swanky pad, celebrity friends.
But what are they doing to earn money?
Everyone speculated wildly, "how would they do that?"
Would meghan go back into film? Would she be an actress again?
What would harry do when he's never had a job
In the way everyone else has had a job?
Harry and meghan were influenced
By the success of their friends george and amal clooney
And especially barack and michelle obama
In their post-white house life.
Following in the obamas' footsteps,
Harry and meghan signed
With new york-based harry walker public-speaking agency
As they started to build their new empire.
Their strategy was to reach a bigger audience,
So they had their eye on become serious players
In the media world.
They sign with netflix
For what is rumored to be a deal of $100 million.
There's still precious little information
About what specifically is going to go on.
So when you hear that there's a netflix deal
For harry and meghan,
It takes about 10 seconds before people were like,
"they're gonna do a reality show."
Don't expect those netflix productions
To be season 3 of "you," starring meghan markle.
They're really establishing
What they said from the start they wanted to establish
Which is their own voice carving out their own life
And allowing followers to see a side of them
That perhaps we would not have seen any other way
Had they stayed in the senior royal family.
Some people have also pointed out
That netflix is the same outlet that produces "the crown,"
And that's a series that has caused some consternation
Within the royal family.
They haven't all been pleased with their depiction
And feel that so much has been fictionalized
And that isn't clear to the public.
The sussexes were a hot property and getting the money to match.
They sign a deal with spotify
For a rumored price tag of $30 million
And, again, highlighting underserved voices
And telling the stories that they think
Are missing from the landscape.
Their first podcast is released in December.
It includes james corden, elton john.
And this will be a way for them to do storytelling
And highlight voices that they feel are not being heard.
Should we--should we start?
- No? Ladies first? - No. Say it,
'cause I think it sounds really nice with your accent.
- Well, I'll try audi-- - yeah.
I'll try audio.
It's a very short podcast.
It's about 30 minutes,
And it's generally well received.
I think what people are dying for is more.
This is still during a period when they sort of have to expect
That these deals and decisions will be under scrutiny
By the palace.
Harry and meghan really worked together
Because they have the same passions.
They're both very big on charity,
On talking about causes that are important to them.
That's really the backbone of their relationship
And what bonded them.
Even at the beginning of the pandemic,
The couple really wanted to make sure
That they are out there, they are doing good.
And on easter Sunday,
They joined the angel food project in l.A.,
Donned their masks and were out there giving food
To people who needed it.
Archewell is the new foundation they create
After they're forced to retire sussex royal.
At the core of archewell's mission
Is meghan and harry's desire to spread kindness,
Do good work, do it in a way that has real impact.
They were stifled, to say the least,
When they were within the royal realms.
Now they're able to kind of throw off those constraints
And be the heroes that, I think, they see themselves as being.
- [ chanting ] whose street? - Our street!
- Whose street? - Our street!
Of course this summer saw the black lives matter movement
Really come to the forefront in the united states,
And that was something
That meghan and harry were experiencing in los angeles.
And after the death of george floyd,
Meghan gave an incredibly personal heartfelt speech.
The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing,
Because...
George floyd's life mattered,
And breonna taylor's life mattered,
And philando castile's life married,
And tamir rice's life mattered.
Meghan is the first woman of color
To marry into the royal family in modern history.
And we now know, too,
That meghan had had personal experiences with racism
During her time as a senior royal,
And that, too, is something
That, I think, she felt compelled to speak up about.
So I'm sorry that in a way
We have not gotten the world to the place
That you deserve it to be.
So meghan and harry have a hugely delicate situation
Before them now,
Because the next choices they make are critical.
If the next causes they align themselves with
Or the next projects they take on
Seem cheesy or silly or self-serving
Or basically distasteful in any way,
They will be ripped apart for it.
Coming up...
She had already suffered so much anguish as a royal
That she was in a much more vulnerable place
Than any of us realized.
The duke and duchess of sussex
May have been living their american dream
Since leaving the royal family,
But it's also been a year
Where they have faced some very personal challenges.
In July 2020, prince harry and meghan
Went through a deeply personal and heartbreaking experience.
Meghan markle, the duchess of sussex,
Has revealed she went through a miscarriage.
This is, of course, a horrific event in any woman's life.
Then in late November 2020,
Meghan wrote an op-ed for "the new york times,"
Revealing the intimate details of the tragedy.
She really brought us into the moment
When she realized that she was losing her pregnancy.
Too often, women and their partners grieve all alone.
Harry as being part of that experience
Which is also a topic that doesn't get a lot of attention.
And when people do talk about miscarriage,
It's often the mother's experience,
And we don't necessarily get to hear about
That it's a real loss for the dad, too.
At the point that she disclosed her miscarriage,
She had already suffered so much anguish
In her life as a royal
That she was in a much more vulnerable place
Than any of us realized.
While contending with personal loss,
Meghan also had a legal dispute against "the mail on Sunday."
The royal family's protocol really
Is to stay out of court in legal disputes,
But meghan and harry had been very proactive.
Meghan sued the newspaper for publishing extracts
Of a private and confidential letter
Sent to her father, thomas markle, in August 2018,
Three months after her wedding to prince harry.
Meghan was seeking damages
From associated newspapers limited
For alleged misuse of private information,
Copyright infringement,
And the breach of the data protection act.
Lawyers for the paper are arguing
Parts of the duchess' lawsuit should be thrown out.
We first learned about the existence of the letter
When I interviewed five of meghan's closest friends.
However, a hard copy of the letter
Was not given to "people" at the time of writing the article.
They needed to speak out
So that they could set the record straight on the woman
Who they considered one of their dearest girlfriends,
And they felt that she was not being portrayed accurately
In the media, specifically in the british tabloids,
And that's what they came to us to speak about.
One of her friends referenced a letter
That meghan had written her father, thomas,
In which she had said,
"I really want us to be able to make peace."
One of her friends said
That there was a kind of retort from thomas
Which he replied and said,
"well, how about if we take a picture together?"
And her friend told me
That's just not what meghan would have wanted,
Asking for a photo op when the whole point of the letter
Was saying let's leave the media out of this.
I'll ever apologize 100 times for that.
Well, after our "people" magazine story came out,
Thomas markle felt
That he hadn't had a chance to make his side known,
And he felt that the spirit of the letter
Has not been captured by her friends,
Sort of paraphrasing it.
So to correct the record,
He released the letter,
And "the daily mail" published it.
So "the daily mail" then now claims
That they have the right to share it
Because thomas markle had the right.
He needed to defend himself
Against what her friends had told me.
Now, they were believing it and thinking I'm saying
A lot of things that I'm not saying.
[camera clicks]
The legal arguments that are being put about
Are that meghan obviously wrote this,
Saying that this is her copyright
That has been taken away from her,
But the newspaper group are arguing
That she got help from aides
And whether the copyright isn't, in fact, owned by meghan.
Once you're involved in a lawsuit,
You can potentially be called as a witness on the stand,
And that is something that the royals
Have assiduously avoided through the years.
Maybe she would be called to the stand.
It'd be the first time in anyone's recent memory
We would see a senior royal on a witness stand.
And on February 11, 2021, meghan won her privacy case.
However, there are still open issues to be decided
With regard to the copyright claim,
And there will still be a hearing
To decide whether they would have to go to trial.
Harry and meghan were approaching
Their one-year anniversary in america
When things took a turn.
A valentine's day surprise.
Prince harry and meghan markle announcing their baby news
With this black-and-white snap.
This is just a huge moment for them in their union,
And it kind of solidifies their love, their marriage,
And their family.
I think, one, she wanted to have her second child in california
And kind of give her child that life.
That's very different from the birth of archie.
Go, meghan and harry.
I am so rooting for them and their love.
Like, go. Go, go, go. Gogitty-go.
Coming up...
Meghan and harry sat down with oprah winfrey
For an explosive interview.
This was the first time you really encountered
This level of
"the royal family is imploding before our very eyes."
Meghan and harry's first year in america
Had been a test for them in every way.
They knew that they had to start
A new life away from the royal family
To find their truth and happiness.
Both harry and meghan felt a bit stifled
As part of the royal family.
They couldn't say what they want.
They couldn't do what they want.
So in moving to america and starting their new life,
They did take their voices back.
The couple will now share their story publicly,
Giving oprah winfrey their first interview
Since they stepped away from royal roles in the uk
And moved to california last year.
She was one of the special guests at their wedding,
And now oprah has secured the interview
That everybody wanted.
Oprah winfrey is a good friend of the couple,
And this is a relationship
That we know harry and meghan turn to often
And a friendship that they rely upon.
Meghan decided to open up
About stepping into life as a royal,
Her marriage, motherhood,
And how she handled life under intense public pressure.
This is all forbidden,
But those limits don't exist for harry and meghan anymore,
And they've become much clearer
In what their personal values are
And that they're willing to draw a line in the sand about it
And say, "this is what we're going to fight for.
This is what matters to us."
According to reports,
Buckingham palace was caught off guard.
They'd not been informed what was happening
Which broke with royal protocol.
The palace had really no control
Over what was going to take place
Between meghan, harry, and oprah.
On February 19, 2021, the world stopped again
For breaking news on harry and meghan.
A month earlier than planned, it is official.
The queen confirms the two
Are no longer working members of the royal family.
One of the real blows for prince harry in all of this
Will be losing his military responsibilities.
The queen ultimately decreed
That the so-called "one foot in, one foot out" arrangement
Was not going to work.
In her view,
If you're going to make deals with spotify or netflix,
That then means that you cannot also represent the crown
In an official capacity.
With the eyes of the world watching,
Meghan and harry sat down with oprah winfrey
For an explosive interview.
Watching two members of the royal family speak
With the kind of raw candor and emotional vulnerability
That we saw in this interview was really arresting.
I think one of the moments that was really sad
Was hearing prince harry say that his father, charles,
Who also happens to be the future king of England,
Stopped taking his phone calls.
Charles had stopped communicating with harry
Once he made the decision to step back as a senior royal.
For people who have followed this family for decades,
It was stunning.
There were shocking revelations about meghan's mental health
And that she had contemplated suicide
Due to the pressure of life in the royal family.
"I was suffering great emotional distress.
I reached out for help from the institution.
It wasn't supplied for me."
And harry sort of, you know, watched all that
And said, "I'm not risking.
This could go the way things went for my mom."
Hearing that meghan had been on the verge of suicide--
She speaks of being out at royal albert hall,
Holding prince harry's hand, pregnant with her son archie,
Looking stunningly beautiful,
But we now know that the story behind those photos
Is that meghan was afraid to be home alone that night
Because she was afraid she might self-harm.
There were serious allegations of racism
Against the royal family.
The moment in the interview
That I think was the most jaw-dropping
Was when meghan revealed
That when she was pregnant with her son archie,
A member of the royal family had commented with concern
About how dark their baby's skin would be.
This was the first time you really encounter
This level of
"the royal family is imploding before our very eyes."
Would there be a response from the palace?
So one full day went by. No response.
Another day went by. No response.
And then on Tuesday, two days later,
The queen broke her silence.
And in this statement,
The queen says that she recognizes
That there were concerning issues
Raised in the interview.
But she says that those issues
Are going to be handled privately.
So what kind of future will harry and meghan have now?
Meghan said we're on the other side of this now.
And she said having come through it,
It really feels like it's just the beginning for them.
It's the beginning of their growing family
With the addition of a baby girl and a sister for archie.
So did harry and meghan achieve their american dream?
Despite the challenges of the past year,
And there have been many,
They have no regrets about their decision to leave.
They have really flourished.
It was all worth it to them,
And it was worth it for their family,
And it was worth it for their son archie--
To be able to raise him
And to know that he is protected and safe.
They are living the lives that they always dreamed of.
They're the happiest they've ever been,
And I think that they're just-- they're on cloud nine.
♪♪♪