Seven days after broadcasting the first three episodes, at nine o’clock in the morning, Netflix released the final three chapters of Enrique and Meghan, the documentary, on Thursday, December 15. A content that the streaming giant has been more than profitable, with 81.55 million hours of views since its debut last Thursday.
And, between broadcast and broadcast, a whole media storm with detailed and real-time coverage in the media with each new trailer that Netflix published (with only 59 seconds of the first trailer, the Daily Mail published 11 news). If in the first three installments Henry of England and Meghan Markle told the beginning of their love story, from their first secret dates between London and Botswana to the official announcement of their engagement.
The two central themes touched on in the first part of the documentary are described in greater detail in the last three episodes: the first, the persecution and harassment that both suffered from the tabloid press; and, secondly, the scrutiny of a racist nature to which Meghan Markle and, now also, her children were subjected, for being the first racialized or mixed-race woman (as she is called in the footage), within the British royal house. . In addition to the two themes that make up the documentary, the two protagonists talk about Meghan’s own suicidal thoughts, the isolation and pressure derived from not finding support or protection within the royal family, the rivalry between Enrique and Guillermo, the disputes and family cries because of the decision to go to the United States or the abortion suffered by the duchess.
More or less well-known revelations after his famous interview with Winfrey, which, however, continue to arouse interest and prove explosive due to the descent into detail (each episode lasts almost an hour) and, above all, because of who tells the story: Enrique and Meghan go from being Dukes of Sussex to kings of their own story.
Fourth chapter: From “Love always wins” to “Nobody knows what happens behind the scenes”
“The world stopped to celebrate love”, comments Vicky Tsai, a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, during the first 15 minutes of this chapter, where the fairy tale fantasy returns to talk about the royal wedding. Some phrases that border on the corny (“Love always wins. And I win,” says another friend of the couple) to immerse ourselves in a period in the life of Enrique and Meghan where everything seemed possible: from the good family relationship (“The father Enrique is charming and I told him: ‘I’ve lost my father along the way’, that’s why he, as my father-in-law, was very important to me. So I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said ‘yes’, he says Meghan) to the possibility of fitting in and adapting to be part of the system, even if it was in her own way. “The whole world was watching us, but at that moment, to me it was just me and her.” says a romantic Enrique. “Enrique and I are very good at finding each other in the midst of chaos,” Meghan adds.
“If you were going to write the history of the royal family as a novel, at this point in the story you would love to introduce a character like Meghan. An energy shot was needed. A modernization that will connect with the new generation”, explains James Holt, former spokesperson for the palace and current executive director of the Archewell Foundation. At this point, Harry and Meghan’s story still seems bright: they talk about their first residence in London, Nottingham Cottage, downplaying their privilege and trying to show themselves as ordinary people: “For some of us we lived in a palace, but it was a little house in the palace grounds”, says Enrique, and Meghan adds that it was “small” (it is a 125-square-meter house with two bedrooms, a living room.
The problems begin when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex begin their official engagements, as explained in the documentary. Specifically, on her tour of Australia in 2018, in which Meghan Markle announced her first pregnancy and both enjoy enormous popularity. There are even British newspapers that begin to call Markle “queen of hearts”, the unofficial title that Diana of Wales had. Soon the fairy tale began to turn into a thriller: “They were so popular that the palace saw it as a threat,” says a friend. Tabloids such as The Sun or The Daily Beast begin to publish information about a supposed rivalry between brothers and snubs between “the fantastic four” (how the press referred to the royal marriages formed by William and Kate and Enrique and Meghan). “The problem comes when the person you marry, your support, begins to gain prominence and do a better job than the person who was born for it,” explains Enrique. “That annoys people, it changes the balance,” he adds. It is at this point that the second comparison with Lady Di appears and they put back images of her controversial interview in Panorama, which William of England recently asked not to broadcast again: “That media attention generated a lot of jealousy and a lot of situations arose complicated”, says Diana in that interview.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex talk about how the media changed its narrative to go against them: they started calling Markle a “diva”, a “difficult duchess” and even an “antichrist”. According to the protagonists, the media had double standards, accusing her of things for which her sister-in-law Kate Middleton was praised, such as wearing an off-the-shoulder dress or “breaking protocol” in some way. Again, accusations of racism by the press arise, which at all times fell into the stereotype that Markle was an “angry black woman”. “Lies are one thing. You get used to them when you belong to this family. But what they were doing to her and how it was affecting her. It was: ‘Enough of suffering”, says Enrique.
Meanwhile, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stress that “nobody knows what really happens behind the scenes” and talk about the mental health problems that Markle began to suffer, who confesses to having suicidal thoughts (“I thought that if I disappeared, this It would end ”, explains the duchess) and to have told her mother. “It’s very hard for a mother to hear that. And I couldn’t protect her, nor Enrique”, says Doria Ragland, between tears. Enrique and Meghan say they did not have family support to try to stop the harassment of the press. “My father used to say: ‘The media will always be the media’, explains Enrique, ‘I’ve been seeing how the system works for 30 years and it’s a dirty game.’ Meghan Markle talks about how she tried to go to a professional to help her, but the royal family did not allow it.
When their first son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born, a year after their wedding, everything took a turn for the worse. Enrique and Meghan feel that the son did not belong to them, “but to the institution.” There are stories in the media about how they are not as open as other members of the royal family when introducing Archie to the world: “They wanted us to serve our son on a silver platter,” Enrique explains.
This first episode ends with the institutional trip that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their eldest son, just four months old, made to South Africa and with the interview that Meghan Markle gave there, where she talked about the difficulties she was experiencing as a new mother. “Not a lot of people ask me if I’m okay,” Markle said, “it’s really hard behind the scenes.” The effect of those words was “madness”, according to Enrique de Inglaterra: “From an institutional perspective, the problem is in her, for not belonging to the system.” The prince mentions his mother again for being the only other person who had spoken loud and clear about mental health, and images of the interview are put on Panorama again. This fourth episode ends with a cliffhanger for the next:
Fifth chapter: From “I wanted my son to have a family” to “I tried so hard and it’s still not enough, I still don’t fit in”
In the fifth episode of the documentary Enrique y Meghan, the weight of the story falls on the enormous pressure that the tabloid press exerted on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex so that they decided to leave the royal family, in addition to how Enrique’s break with his brother was forged. William. The footage begins with the first few frames of Archie running in front of his father and looking for his mother through a plant maze, while Enrique from England records him with his cell phone. “I had a happy childhood, but I felt lonely at times, so I wanted my son to have a lot of cousins and family around,” Markle explains to the camera her desire for her relationship with the Windsors to work. “I did everything I could to make them proud and to be a part of it.
The last Christmas that Henry of England and Meghan Markle, pregnant with their son Archie, spend in Sandrigham, together with the British royal family, in 2018. Joe Giddens (PA Images via Getty Images)
After these first introductory bars, Enrique and Meghan interspersed to tell their story of how the leaks to the press from the royal family took place: from the letter that she sent to her father asking him to stop talking to the media —”Your actions They have broken my heart into a million pieces,” the Duchess of Sussex wrote to her father in August 2018, a letter that Queen Elizabeth II and Charles recommended that she send, to her plans to move to South Africa first and then to Canada. , which also came to light ahead of time. “Why would The Mail on Sunday publish this private letter, knowing that it is illegal?
After months of asking the royal family to act against such harassment, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decide to seek advice and sue The Mail on Sunday for the publication of this letter and continue legal actions against the press. “Meghan became the scapegoat, she would take the negative covers, so that other damaging information about the family would not come to light,” says Jenny Afia, lawyer for the dukes, in the documentary. That complaint in October 2019, they say, became the turning point for their final break with the British royal family. Enrique and Meghan decide to rent a luxurious 16,000-square-meter home in North Saanich, on Vancouver Island, to spend their first Christmas away from London, but the harassment of the press does not stop. “There wasn’t a single paparazzi on Vancouver Island, that is why we chose it, because it is an island”, explains Enrique, before showing his bath in ice water on January 1, 2020, days before beginning his negotiation with Elizabeth II, Carlos of England, his father, and Guillermo, his brother, to move away from London. “We will pay for it, we do not want the taxpayer to assume it. You will obtain the support that we want to give to the monarchy, but for free ”, justifies the duke before the cameras that he wanted the marriage in exchange for his freedom of movement away from media pressure. we do not want the taxpayer to assume it. You will obtain the support that we want to give to the monarchy, but for free”, justifies the duke before the cameras of what the couple wanted in exchange for their freedom of movement away from media pressure. we do not want the taxpayer to assume it. You will obtain the support that we want to give to the monarchy, but for free”, justifies the duke before the cameras of what the couple wanted in exchange for their freedom of movement away from media pressure.
Enrique decides to take action on the matter and after sending his plan to move to Canada to the queen’s secretaries, his father and brother travel back to the British capital to speak with his grandmother. She, according to Enrique, knew that the marriage felt bad and invited them to spend a night at Buckingham Palace to talk and assured him that she had no plans on her official agenda. As they landed at Heatrow, Meghan says, they received a message: the queen can’t serve you, she’s busy all week. After that new disagreement, what would be his plan to move to Canada leaks. “His father asked him for the plan in writing and within five days he was in the press,” explains Meghan. After this new leak, of which Enrique directly accuses his family, Seeing that in it it was possible to know that they had specified that if necessary they would renounce the dukedom, they decided to make their position public on January 8 through a publication on their Instagram account. “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year to begin to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘principal’ members of the royal family and work to be financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen, ”explained the official statement from the Dukes of Sussex. we have chosen to make a transition this year to begin to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘principal’ members of the royal family and work to be financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen, ”explained the official statement from the Dukes of Sussex. we have chosen to make a transition this year to begin to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘principal’ members of the royal family and work to be financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen, ”explained the official statement from the Dukes of Sussex.
That statement was the time bomb, according to Enrique and Meghan, for everything to explode and an emergency meeting to be arranged in Sandrigham on January 13, 2020, in which Meghan would not be present after flying back to Canada to be with her son Archie, after the failed trip to London to see the queen. “It was horrible to have my brother yelling at me and my father telling me things that I knew weren’t true and my grandmother sitting there in silence, taking it all in,” Enrique explains about the moment that marked the final break with Guillermo. “The saddest thing was the gap that was created between my brother and me. Now he is on the side of the institution and I understand it. It is his legacy, to a certain extent he already has it ingrained that part of his responsibility is for this institution to survive and continue ”.
However, one of the reproaches that Enrique does not let his family overlook is that of protecting Guillermo more than his wife. The Duke of Sussex recounts how after the Sandrigham meeting, in which no agreement was reached on his departure, a statement signed by him without his permission was issued in which he denied that Guillermo had threatened them and that this was one of the reasons for leaving. “I called M to tell him about it and he started to cry, because in four hours they had delightedly lied to protect my brother, but for four years they never told the truth to protect us,” explains Enrique, who assures that that place, Sandrigham, from which he kept numerous memories, including special moments with his mother, it became a bittersweet place.
At this point, the couple, always according to them, had no choice but to leave. “I was the one who decided to leave, she [Meghan] never asked for it, but we live misogyny taken to its maximum expression,” Enrique reflects on the newspaper front pages, the cartoons and the headlines with the term Megxit that led to blaming the Duchess of Sussex of the decision to move to Canada and leave the royal family. “You both know who you are,” a voice from a meditation guide is heard saying that an emotional Meghan and Enrique are still on the sofa in a friend’s apartment in New York, in 2021. A gust of the future that awaited the two before counting how his last week within the royal family was, the first of March 2020.
“We imagined Archie jumping in the Frogmore garden, that was our future and everything changes very quickly,” says Enrique, while images of the couple collecting their belongings in Windsor Castle follow one another. “Everyone needed to blame me, because then it wouldn’t be their fault,” she adds. “It didn’t have to be like that. We have talked about it a thousand times. We would sit up late in the kitchen and say to ourselves: ‘We could have gone on like this for the rest of our lives,’” Enrique explains of what their last official acts in London meant for them as members of the royal family while it can be heard from background She Is Like a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones, in a clear allusion to the wardrobe that Meghan wore that week: a turquoise blue, red and green dress, colors that she had never used before, according to her, so as not to stand out and clash. “We went back to Buckhimgham, I took off my green dress [after the Commonwealth Day Mass on March 9, 2020, his last official act] and ran to the airport to catch a flight. I really wanted to see Archie,” Meghan explains.
“I got on the plane, and not the pilot, but someone on board and a crew supervisor knelt before my seat, took off his hat and said, ‘Thank you for all the service you’ve done to this country.’ And that was the first time I felt that someone was aware of my sacrifices, not for my country, but for another that is not mine”. The Duchess of Sussex recounts how, upon reaching Canadian soil, she threw herself into the arms of a trusted bodyguard and began to cry, telling him that she had done everything possible to remain within the royal family. “I tried very hard and that’s the trigger, the fact of thinking that even so it’s not enough, I still don’t fit in,” Meghan explains excitedly.
Chapter Six: From “We’re Trapped” to “We’ve Made It”
It is March 14, 2020 and the family is in what Enrique calls the “freedom plane”. The couple, along with Archie, decide to flee Canada —where they resided— to hide from the press at Tyler Perry’s house in Los Angeles, a friend of Markle’s whom he doesn’t even know in person. “She was being mistreated,” Perry alleges as images flash across British media headlines. “We were trapped and everyone knew where we were,” Markle explains two years after leaving her home in the Canadian country to live for 12 weeks at Perry’s house.
While they keep his whereabouts a secret, Archie celebrates his first birthday and takes his first steps in someone else’s house, but it brings them the peace of mind they so longed for. 24 hours later, the British tabloid Daily Mail publishes the location where they are and that is when the persecution of the paparazzi begins again after so many weeks of peace. “It’s almost five in the morning. Archie has woken up because of the sound [while he focuses on the helicopters that fly over the house] ”. To avoid harassment from the press, Perry has a fence built. It is of no use, since every day, according to his own account, they found it cut.
The chapter focuses, almost entirely, on the media battle that the couple maintains with the British media, especially the Daily Mail. Five years of lawsuits, manipulated news and leaks from close people. “Their defense told me: ‘We need you to collaborate. We need access to your email and phone, based on these terms: I love you, Archie, Kate, William, Africa…’What did that have to do with the lawsuit? Archie hadn’t even been born when my father’s letter was published.” In yet another attempt to equalize the situation that Lady Di lived through, Enrique again recalls anecdotes that his mother told him: “She always said: ‘If they speak ill of you in the tabloids, it’s because you’re doing it well.’ So I’ve always believed that this was worth fighting for.”
In July 2020, when they just moved into the house where they now reside, Markle suffered a miscarriage. Both defend, although it is Enrique who says it directly, that this loss that she has already spoken of in the past publicly, was the fault of the harassment that she experienced daily: “I am sure that my wife suffered an abortion because of what the man did. Mail. I saw it all. Do we know for sure that the abortion was caused by that? Obviously not. But if we take into account her stress, the lack of sleep and the pregnancy phase, how many weeks she was… I can say that she miscarried because of what they were trying to do to her”.
The family images with Archie and Doria are repeated repeatedly: playing in the garden, cooking… All while waiting for the arrival of the new member of the family. Finally, he is a friend of the marriage – who is exclusively given the news of the arrival of his second child – who tells it in The Guardian. On February 14, 2021, it was made public, coinciding with a very important date. “I received a message from two completely different people. It was the 1984 Valentine’s cover, of my mother announcing that she was pregnant with me. We had no idea, it was pure coincidence.” Lilibet Diana would be born on June 4, 2021, almost four months later.
In this chapter, they also recall another of the triggers for the estrangement between the British royal family and Enrique and Meghan: the long-awaited interview with Oprah Winfrey. In it, the couple recounted in the first person, for the first time, everything they had experienced, how they had felt and what they were going through: depression, bullying, racism… A year later, Markle laments that all the controversy focus solely on the issue of race. Faced with accusations of racism by the British royal house, they issued a statement in which they defended the couple and apologized for what they had gone through. But the reality outside the spotlight was very different: the relationship between the brothers weakened with each action. A scene is broadcast in which Harry receives a message from Prince William. His face says it all but his lapidary phrase, more: “I wish I knew what to do.” It is not known what happened next, nor what was the message he sent her. But the reaction, both from Markle and Enrique, is emphatic.
A month after the famous interview, Philip of Edinburgh died. The prince always defended his grandfather, to whom he was very close. Despite being thousands of kilometers away from London and the hole that his relationship with his relatives was going through, he traveled to the British capital to say goodbye for the last time to the duke. “It was hard. Especially spending time and talking with my brother and father after all. They were still focused on misinterpreting the whole situation. I have had to assume that they will never hold us accountable or give us a sincere apology.”
Faced with the final question about whether he misses the institution, the prince is clear: “I miss family reunions, when we all got together at certain times of the year. But I think we are where we need to be. We have achieved it”. The documentary ends with Markle giving the speech he gave on the night of her wedding. One last sentence sums up the entire documentary in three words: “Love wins.”
