Episode Guide
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle are among the most well-known royal partners in recent times. They have experienced a lot of controversy during their time together as a married couple, and here they reveal all. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex offer their viewpoint on the events that have been repeatedly brought up during public conversation, split across 6 episodes in Netflix’s docuseries. In addition to the former senior members of the royal family, the show also includes a number of the couple’s friends and family members. The two-volume series gives viewers a glimpse into their early lives and discusses how the couple met, how they supposedly left the royal life behind, and how they have lived since. The show addresses sensitive themes including Meghan being bullied by “them”—the intrusive media and the Royal Family, the institutionalized racism in the Royal Family, her having suicidal thoughts, losing her child, her need to speak the truth, and her desire for peace. “Never complain and never explain” has served as the Royal Family’s key element when interacting with the press. Since this is clearly not Harry and Meghan’s style, they have turned to Netflix to fight their own battles with the press as well as the members of the Royal Family. In the two-volume docudrama, Meghan and Harry provide their first-person account of what transpired, so from their point of view, they lay everything bare for the audience to see their story and what happened. This tale comes from the horses’ mouth itself, so it does justice to their narrative and their truth since they put it out themselves, unlike a show like The Crown, whose credibility could be questioned. Every story, like a coin, undoubtedly has two sides. The audience is informed before the documentary even starts that the Royal Family hasn’t commented on it, which is not surprising considering that it violates their protocol of not complaining and not explaining, which the former senior members of the Royal Family opted to breach. Having said that, considering that the other side hasn’t had a chance to present their argument and battle for their position on the matter so we ourselves can determine what is “the truth” and not “their truth”, the validity of everything presented in the documentary is seriously unreliable. The documentary’s premise is quite weak because it is a one-sided account to begin with. It is stated in the documentary’s last episode that the objective of the six-part docudrama is that the Sussex’s want to share the truth, bring about peace, and finally put the drama behind them and live a private life. The documentary seems to be a means for the Duke and Duchess to supposedly put all the previous baggage down, and it indicates that they are seeking closure. The documentary attacks the Royal Family, including King Charles by calling him a liar. Furthermore, Prince Harry accuses William of yelling at him, and the Late Queen Elizabeth ll was accused of remaining silent and doing nothing. One could argue that the documentary is causing more drama and likely not going to enable them to live in peace privately as they wanted throughout. The documentary makes numerous serious accusations and blames members of the Royal Family and the press throughout, but there is no evidence to back up those claims other than accounts from the Duke and Duchess’s close family and friends who support the Sussex’s and are clearly on their side. Aside from close friend’s accounts and showing newspaper headlines, there is no credible evidence to back many statements. For instance, Meghan accused a member of the Royal Family, claiming that the person asked her the color of her baby while she was pregnant, which is a seriously racist thing to ask. However, she doesn’t name the person, and she hasn’t named anyone in the other racist accusations either, which reduces the reliability of her claims. Meghan spoke about feeling alienated when she joined the Royal Family, having suicidal thoughts, losing her child, and battling the media and the Royal Family, which makes us feel sympathetic toward her. On the other hand, one can counter that the show is merely a self-serving petty tantrum to seek revenge from the Royals. Furthermore, they talk a lot about mental health throughout the documentary, yet fail to address how viewing the documentary might affect the royal family members’ mental health. The show discusses Meghan’s struggles to adopt the ways of the Royal Family, such as formality, curtsey, dressing style and more, to name but a few. It seems to be fairly challenging, and it makes viewers feel sympathetic towards her. Having said that, Meghan openly mocks curtsying the Queen and curtsying in general in the documentary, which is culturally ignorant and offensive in and of itself. Every culture has its own way of being, such as how the Japanese bow, many Indians touch the feet of elders and how the people of England bow to the Queen. Making light of a particular component of a culture on a reality show is rather disrespectful. The documentary repeatedly claims that Meghan Markle and Princess Diana are alike, almost as if trying to make us see a connection between them. This is fine to begin with, but after a while it becomes repetitive and it feels as though people’s feelings for Princess Diana were being exploited to accomplish a goal. The documentary employs a number of dramatic elements, such as Meghan’s constant crying, sad background music, making her kid talk to Princess Diana’s picture for the video, and the Sussex’s’ complaining throughout the six episodes, making it feel more like a docudrama than a reliable documentary with a fair argument and evidence to back claims. Harry & Meghan allows the Sussex’s to tell their own story and speak their truth. Unfortunately, this series lacks important aspects of what makes a good documentary, including a strong purpose, a solid argument, and proof to back up claims and serious accusations. To make matters worse, there’s a gloss of dramatic and tedium moments, making for a rather dour experience overall.
