According to Mirror Online, the couple have clinched a deal reportedly worth up to $100 million with Netflix to share their side of a story that has arguably been one of the most frustrating expressions of a battle for privacy, not to mention schadenfreude fuelled inability to heal family dysfunction.
And within a family worth an estimated $28 billion in assets, the press and general public - with social media at their fingertips - have been less than forgiving; making a mockery not only of Harry and Meghan’s relationship but the alleged bullying the Duchess of Sussex has faced inside palace walls.
It is clear, however, the publicly perceived generational curses the Royals purposefully - or unwittingly - continue to foster do more harm than good but perhaps it is with Harry and Meghan that change can finally begin, starting with this tell-all documentary which, even in its first episode, spills the tea in ways many could not have imagined.
Giving global audiences a never-before-seen look into the lives of The Royals, including text message exchanges between a smitten Harry and Meghan after he glimpsed her on a friend’s social media post, the docuseries opens with a disclaimer: “Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series.”
While that may not be a surprise, what did come as a treat is the candid manner in which the story of their first meeting and courtship is told. Sitting together, smiling and giddy on the sofa, both Harry and Meghan share their truths for the camera. Meghan, newly single and on a break from work, was hell bent on living her best life with a “Single Girl Summer” to remember. She had embarked on a European travel tour with girlfriends. Harry, just like the rest of us do, was scrolling through his Instagram feed when he came across a friend’s post with a pretty girl - or woman, he corrects quickly - using the Snapchat dog filter, and liked what he saw.
Now, finally, the mystery of whether Meghan was lying when she claims she never Googled him is solved: “I asked if I could see his [Instagram] feed. You’re like ‘Hmm, let me see what they’re about in their [own] feed’, not what someone else says about them but what they are putting out about themselves. That, to me, was the best barometer.”
Learning that Harry was late to their first date and Meghan was unimpressed, as she waited for him to arrive at Soho House on 76 Dean Street, is oddly satisfying. “I couldn’t understand why he would be late,” she said. “Then, I didn’t know him. So I was like, ‘Oh is this what he does?’ Got it. Like, this I’m not doing.” When Harry walked in - a “hot, sweaty, red ball of mess” - he was forgiven. Meghan thought him sweet and everyone else might be thinking the condition that afflicted Prince Andrew, it would seem, is not widely hereditary.
While the content of the docuseries quickly veers into the darker side of what the couple have experienced, it is only today the wider public is given the full context of what has occurred behind the scenes, through their own words. This context had been missing - even in Harry and Meghan’s March 2021 Oprah interview - and had not helped mitigate the media scrutiny that continued to plague them.
As Harry begins to relay the role the media has played in his life so far, he is determined to set the record straight about its impact on his life as a boy, following the tragedy of his mother, Lady Diana’s, death, until present-day, when the safety of his family is constantly at stake, not helped by the dynamics within The Institution itself.
While we have yet to witness how things will unfold for the couple following the docuseries, it has been lovely indeed to see that Harry and Meghan are very much in love and overcome with purpose to protect their young family.
All episodes of Harry & Meghan can be streamed on Netflix.
