Although Harry did not blame the Queen—“you have to understand that from the family’s perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things and her ultimate mission/goal/responsibility is the institution”—it was hard for him to watch his relatives choose their relationship with the media over him. “They saw what they wanted to see,” he continues.
“The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother, so that he’s now on the institution side. Part of that I get, I understand—that’s his inheritance, so to some extent it’s ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.” But when no one asked Harry for sign off on a media statement quashing rumours that William had bullied his brother out, Harry knew he had “no other option at this point”. He and Meghan had to leave London and step back as senior royals.
The couple’s last week in London was bittersweet
The farewell schedule was a contrast between meetings with the public—“The people were so embracing, they were sad we were leaving—we were sad we were leaving,” says Meghan—and the royal family—which “looked cold and felt cold.” Meghan’s last form of armor against the press? Mood-boosting brights, from electric-blue Victoria Beckham to emerald Emilia Wickstead. “Until that last week back in the UK, I rarely wore colour,” she shares. “I never wanted to upstage or ruffle any feathers, so I just tried to blend in. But I wore a lot of colour that week. I just felt like, ‘Well, let’s look like a rainbow.’” Harry agrees: “It was our opportunity to go out with a bang.”
Beyoncé texted Meghan after the Oprah interview
The couple got a flurry of supportive messages from friends after their Oprah interview (which they watched at the same time as the rest of the world) aired—including from a very famous one: Beyoncé. “Shut up,” Harry says when his wife tells him the megastar has texted her. “I still can’t believe she knows who I am,” Meghan adds. “She says she wants me to feel safe and protected. She admires and respects my bravery and vulnerability and thinks I was selected to break generational curses that need to be healed.”
The couple open up about Meghan’s miscarriage
During episode six, the couple speak openly about Meghan’s miscarriage, which Harry links to the stress of their lengthy legal battle with Associated Newspapers. The Duchess also reveals why she decided to write a powerful essay in the New York Times detailing her experience, saying: “I could make the choice to never talk about those things, or I could make the choice to say with all the bad that comes with this, the good is being able to help other people. That’s the point of life, right—connection and community like that.”
Who the Sussex children take after
When talking about their children, Harry says: “I see a lot of my wife in Archie, and I see a lot of my mum in Lili. She’s very Spencer-like. She’s got the same blue eyes.” The royal also notes how he discovered that they announced that Meghan was pregnant with Lilibet on Valentine’s Day in 2021—the same day that it was on the front pages back in 1984 that Diana was pregnant with Harry. “We had no idea; it was just a coincidence. Or maybe not a coincidence,” he says, alluding to the hand of fate.
Meghan shares a sweet excerpt from her wedding speech
Describing how things have come “full circle” following their move to LA, Meghan reads an excerpt from her wedding speech. “Onto the crux of why I wanted to speak tonight. First of all it’s been a while,” she says. ”But mostly I wanted to share a story. A story that I wrote about the man that I love and the way that we met. Let’s call this a modern fairytale.” She concludes: “I ask you to raise a glass to the astounding assurance that now life begins and the everlasting knowing that above all love wins.”
