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The 12 biggest revelations from Harry and Meghan's tell-all Netflix documentary

Private photos of Harry and Meghan are used in their documentary. (Netflix)
Private photos of Harry and Meghan are used in their documentary. (Netflix)

Netflix has released the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan, the six-part documentary series that gives a previously unseen, 'first-hand' account of their lives.

The controversial documentary has left the Royal Family, which apparently declined to comment on the contents of the show, bracing itself for unwelcome revelations.

Yahoo News UK looks at the biggest revelations released in the docuseries.

Harry and Meghan started recording their lives

The couple revealed that they started making their own video diaries at the suggestion of a friend, who thought it would be a good way to "combat" all the "misinformation" about them. Later, they struck a deal with Netflix, and some of that early footage they shot themselves around the time of their royal exit, is featured in the series, including shots of a tearful Meghan in Canada.

Harry seems to hint that his new Netflix documentary will expose his
Harry in one of the videos he shot himself just after their final royal engagements in 2020. (Netflix)

Harry reveals fears of Meghan leaving him

Harry said he was scared the media intrusion would be too much for Meghan and drive a wedge between them and drive her away as it had "past relationships".

When Meghan spoke to paparazzi for the first time as they followed her in Toronto, Harry told her the next day not to speak to them. "The UK media are saying you're loving it," Meghan recalled, even though she was just trying to be "pleasant" to the photographers.

Doria speaks for first time in public

Meghan's mother Doria takes part in the documentary, describing how she found out the couple were dating and when she first met Harry. The romance seemed "like a novelty" at first to Doria, but that she tried to tell Meghan the criticism she was receiving "was about race". While Meghan replied she didn't "want to hear that", Doria replied: "You may not want to hear it, but this is what is coming down the pike."

The series also gave insight into the mother daughter relationship with Doria recalling that Meghan said she "felt like her older, controlling sister", rather than a parent.

Viewers of the documentary are treated to intimate glimpses of their early romance. (Netflix)
Viewers of the documentary are treated to intimate glimpses of their early romance. (Netflix)

Harry and Meghan told to keep quiet

The couple reveal the "direction from the palace" was to say "no comment" to negative headlines. Harry describes the negative attention as being seen by the family as "almost like a rite of passage" and that his family didn't see why Meghan should be "treated any differently" and "be protected". He recalls he told them the "difference here was the race element".

The couple specifically mention the headline “almost straight out of Compton”

Harry opens up about Nazi costume

Harry described the Nazi costume he wore to a party in 2005 as “probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life", adding that he "felt so ashamed afterwards".

"All I wanted to do was make it right. I sat down and spoke to the chief rabbi in London, which had a profound impact on me. I went to Berlin and spoke to a Holocaust survivor. I could've just ignored it and gone on and probably made the same mistakes over and over again in my life, but I learned from that".

Meghan called her engagement interview an "orchestrated reality show"

When questioned by the filmmakers about their engagement interview, Meghan said: "It was, you know, rehearsed" and called it an "orchestrated reality show". She explained they did a photo-call with the press in Kensington Palace Gardens, went inside and did the interview "so it's all in that same moment".
She explained that the couple went through what the interview would entail beforehand, for example showing her engagement ring. "My point is", Meghan said, "we weren't allowed to tell our story, because they didn't want [us to]".

"We've never been allowed to tell our story", Harry agreed.

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 27:  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace on November 27, 2017 in London, England.  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been a couple officially since November 2016 and are due to marry in Spring 2018.  (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
The engagement photo call, which Meghan said felt like it was part of an "orchestrated reality show". (Getty Images)

Meghan couldn't invite niece to her wedding

Meghan claimed the palace told her that due to her well-publicised rift with her half-sister Samantha, she couldn't invite her niece Ashleigh to her wedding. Meghan said: "How do we explain that this half sister isn't invited to the wedding but that the half sister's daughter is"? Therefore, the "guidance" she received from the palace was "to not have her come to our wedding". Meghan also said Ashleigh is a "close friend" and "like a sister" to her.

At the time, Meghan was heavily criticised online by her sister for having so few family members present for the wedding.

Meghan and Harry on wedding terror attack fears

The duchess discussed received a white powder letter in the run-up to the wedding, which they feared could be anthrax but was later proven to be non-suspicious. "This was on the heels of those terrorist attacks, right?" she said. "There was so much concern about the wedding. It was just so scary and they were talking about getting snipers."

Meghan talks about her father staging paparazzi pictures

Meghan said she was warned that the infamous paparazzi photos her father staged before her wedding could be "really damaging". She said she offered to help her father leave his home before the story broke, after he denied to them he'd taken money from the tabloids. She said that, after the phone call, she told Harry: "I don't know why, but I don't believe him". The unravelling of Meghan's relationship with her father, she said, happened that week when he wouldn't pick up her call but was instead, she claims, "talking to TMZ". Meghan then says she only found out her father would not be attending her wedding through a tabloid .

Evening Standard headlines with news of Meghan Markle's father not attending the upcoming royal wedding between the American actor and prince Harry, at Bank underground station in the City of London, the capital's financial district aka the Square Mile, on 15th May 2018, in London, UK. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images Images)
Meghan says she found out her father would not be attending her wedding in the press. The news was widely reported at the time. (Getty Images)

Meghan revealed she believed her father's phone was compromised

After hearing through the tabloids that her father wasn't coming to her wedding and was in hospital, the duchess didn't hear from him for a long period. Finally, she claimed, she received a text from his phone, but she didn't believe it was from him. Meghan said the texting style was significantly different and he called her Meghan instead of the usual Meg. This led her to believe his phone had been "compromised".

Harry said he felt responsible for Meghan and Thomas' estrangement, saying "if Meg wasn't with me, then her dad would still be her dad".

Harry says friends in Africa "brought him up"

Harry talked about spending large chunks of time in Lesotho as a young man. He has enjoyed a long-term friendship with Prince Seeiso, whose mother died shortly before the two princes met and who went on to found the Sentebale charity with. Harry said spending time in Lesotho made him feel free and allowed him to grow as a person and that visiting Africa for large chunks of time allowed him to make a "second family out there, a group of friends that literally brought me up".

Meghan and Kate's first meeting

Meghan described her amusement at how little she knew about royal life at the start of her relationship, but that in hindsight her naivety allowed her to be herself, even when meeting the Windsors for the first time. She said she was dressed informally when she first met Kate and William when they came round for dinner, and immediately went to hug them, as was her normal instinct. However, she said she didn't know some British people find that "jarring".

Meghan claimed she quickly realised that the formal nature of life in the Royal Family carried over from public into their private lives, after that first meeting, saying: "the formality on the outside carried through on the inside".