Prince Harry: Royals 'Didn't Understand Need To Protect Meghan'

 

The Duke of Sussex has described how he sacrificed "everything that I know" to join Meghan "in her world", in his and the duchess's new Netflix documentary.

Prince Harry said Meghan "sacrificed everything she ever knew, the freedom that she had, to join me in my world" - and then he did the same for her.

The first three episodes of the six-part bombshell series titled "Harry & Meghan" were released on Thursday.

The couple talk about life in the Royal Family, the media and racism.

Buckingham Palace has not yet responded to the claims in the documentary, and Netflix says members of the Royal Family declined to comment within the series.

During the first hour-long episode - which includes a sit-down interview with the couple as well as clips from a video diary - Harry is heard saying: "This is about duty and service, and I feel as though being part of this family, it is my duty to uncover this exploitation and bribery that happens within our media.

"My job is to keep my family safe. But the nature of being born into this position... and the level of hate that is being stirred up in the last three years especially against my wife and my son, I'm generally concerned for the safety of my family."

Harry describes his and Meghan's relationship as a great love story, adding: "I think for so many people in the family, especially obviously the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit in the mould, as opposed to somebody who you are perhaps destined to be with.

"The difference between making decisions with your head, or your heart."

He adds: "She sacrificed everything she ever knew, the freedom that she had, to join me in my world. And then pretty soon after that I ended up sacrificing everything that I know to join her in her world."

The episodes released on Thursday cover a range of topics - including racism and the couple's difficult relationship with the tabloid press. Speaking in episode two, Harry says members of the Royal Family questioned why Meghan should be protected from newspaper headlines.

"The direction from the Palace was don't say anything," says Harry. "But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well.

"So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like 'my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?"'

"I said 'the difference here is the race element'."

He says there is a "huge level of unconscious bias" in the Royal Family, adding: "It is actually no one's fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right."

The duchess's mother, Doria Ragland, also spoke about some of the news coverage, saying: "They would take pictures of different parts of say Skid Row [an impoverished area of Los Angeles] and say that is where I lived and that is where she was from."

Meghan also spoke about the experience of meeting other royals, saying she found it surprising that the formality "carries over" even when not in public.

"When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger. I've always been a hugger, I didn't realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.

"I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside."

In other moments from the series:

In episode three, Meghan calls the time around their engagement an "orchestrated reality show", and that her interview with Mishal Husain was "rehearsed"

Harry says his family were "incredibly impressed" with Meghan when they first met her. "But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning"

The duke compares Meghan to Pincess Diana, saying: "So much of what Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum. She has the same compassion, she has the same empathy, she has the same confidence, she has this warmth about her"

And although Princess Diana's Panorama interview was secured under deceit, Harry says his mother "spoke the truth of her experience"

Harry calls the press pack of royal correspondents "essentially an extended PR arm of the royal family. An agreement that has been there for over 30 years". He says he believes the media see his trauma as its "narrative to control".

- BBC