There is a LOT to unpack in volume two of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan. And a LOT of it is new – which was what some people criticised after volume one dropped last week: that a lot of what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle talk about in the first three episodes of the docuseries was already covered with Oprah. That cannot be said of the final three episodes. This is fresh tea, new details, and so many exclusive photos and home videos. 

 

Remember the PEOPLE Magazine cover story, “The Truth About Meghan”, as “her best friends break their silence”? 

Meghan Markle covers PEOPLE Magazine, February 2019

The identity of those five friends has been the subject of speculation since that issue came out. The Daily Mail, through court, tried to force Meghan to reveal who they were. Two of those friends have now come forward in the docuseries, including Abigail Spencer, who confirms that it was her idea to go to PEOPLE to counter all the tabloids’ lies about Meghan with the truth from those who actually know her. 

The Mail was insisting that it was Meghan who produced that story – and here’s Abigail, on camera, saying she was the one who conceived of it and made it happen because she and Meghan’s other friends could see how horribly she was being treated and wanted to protect her. 

 

That PEOPLE cover story was then used by the Mail’s legal team as a justification for stealing and publishing the letter she wrote to her father, Thomas, because one of the friends in passing mentioned that Meghan had written her dad a letter. Meghan won her case against the Mail over that letter and in the process, successfully ensured that her friends’ identities would remain concealed. Now that the legal situation has been wrapped up, those friends are able to speak freely about what Meghan experienced and what it was like for them as they were trying to support her as she endured the incessant abuse from the tabloids. 

Abigail also appears during the part where Harry and Meghan talk about her miscarriage. And it’s here where Harry says that he blames the Daily Mail for the stress that Meghan was carrying while she was pregnant – stress that he believes contributed to the pregnancy loss. 

This is a publication that has repeatedly published lies about not just Harry and Meghan but so many other celebrities. And in episode four, the documentary compellingly makes the case that the Mail and other tabloids have actively fomented hate against both Sussexes, but particularly Meghan and even Archie, not just with what they publish but also with what they amplify. 

 

Christopher Bouzy, an expert in malicious online campaigns, is brought on to explain how a handful of social media accounts has been able to generate a tidal wave of toxicity against Meghan and he connects those hate accounts to so-called royal experts and journalists who’ve been known to retweet or like those messages, or actually reference them in their reporting. 

One of those royal experts then wrote a book about Queen Consort Camilla. Which means she was given access to Camilla and cooperation from people close to her. 

And that’s where the briefing and the leaking comes in. This is Prince Harry, on camera, basically stating point blank that other royals and their reps were exchanging information about him to protect the other members. That includes his brother’s household. 

So he’s making it clear here that he believes that Prince William’s staff were responsible for placing stories about him and Meghan in the tabloids. According to Harry, he was being sold out by his own brother and father. And one of the examples of this was when he and Meghan spent the holidays in Canada in December 2019 and his father, then Prince Charles, asked Harry to put in writing what he and Meghan were proposing for their future – which was to live abroad while representing the Queen. 

 

Somehow the details of that email were then leaked to the British media, and that had to have come from deep inside. I wrote about this at the time but this is the first time we’re hearing Harry specifically cite this example and explaining why he could no longer trust his own family. 

Harry goes on to recount what happened at Sandringham, after he and Meghan returned from Canada in January 2020 and requested a meeting to talk about their proposal. Charles and William put it off but only until they knew that Meghan had left London. They wanted to get Harry alone, and when they did, Harry says that William screamed at him and Charles kept lying: 

That meeting was referred to as the Sandringham Summit, a statement was released, on behalf of both William and Harry, to push back against some of the false claims that were being made in the media. This was the statement: 

But now we’re learning in the docuseries that Harry had nothing to do with that statement. He wasn’t even consulted about it. 

 

The point he’s making here is that they were willing to push back against the media for William but refused to step up to repudiate the racism that Meghan was experiencing. This has been Harry’s position since the Oprah interview – he is clearly disgusted by the relationship between the monarchy and the tabloid media. Only now he’s going further and specifically naming the family members who he alleges have been feeding the tabloids, and tacitly encouraging the tabloids to continue their anti-Meghan campaigning. William is being called out here, and it’s William’s staff who were assisting the Daily Mail when Meghan was suing them: 

The accusation is that Charles and William’s households were both briefing against Harry and Meghan. Which is tantamount to a betrayal. WHY would anyone ever choose the Daily f-cking Mail over their own family?! Well, it’s kinda like what Meghan’s father, Thomas, did to her. And isn’t that another layer of embarrassment for the British royal family? 

Thomas Markle is a civilian, he has no titles, he is not wealthy. And yet, with all their titles and wealth, the King of England and his heir have to behave in the same way.