The highly anticipated Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan released its first three episodes on December 8th, giving us never-before-seen footage, soulless interviews and unprecedented access to the private lives of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Episode 1 describes how the couple first met and how their love blossomed. It had been widely reported that the pair were introduced by a mutual friend and set up on a blind date, but that’s not necessarily the whole story. In a very modern twist, they actually first met via social media.
“Meghan and I met through Instagram,” Prince Harry says of their first interaction in July 2016. “I was scrolling through my feed and someone who was a friend had this video of them both, it was like a Snapchat.” Turns out it was actually Markle who posed with the Dalmatian dog ear filter. (Who knew a floppy-eared, tongue-wagging filter could be the start of a great love story?) Harry asked his friend about her, and that friend emailed Markle asking if she’d like to meet him.
“I said, ‘Who is it?’ And she said, ‘It’s Prince Haz,'” says Markle. “I said, ‘Who is that?’ I asked if I could see his feed.” Which leads us to another revelation that has long been suspected: Harry has his own private Instagram page. Markle goes on to indirectly reference the 2021 Oprah interview asking if she Googled Prince Harry before they started dating. Instead, Markle explored what he had posted on social media. “That’s your homework, let me see what their feed is about, not what anyone else says about them,” she explains. The feed in question was full of “beautiful photography” from his time in Africa.
After exchanging numbers, the two met up for drinks at Soho House in London, where Harry was half an hour late! He arrived as a “hot, sweaty, red ball of chaos” after getting stuck in traffic, but the pair got along like a house on fire. The next evening they returned for dinner. “We were together as children,” Markle explains as selfies from their evening flash on screen.
“So much of what Meghan is and who she is is so similar to my mother.”
The couple visited Botswana together and kept their relationship a secret for the first four months, although there was one rule Markle insisted on: the two-week rule. That meant they had to see each other every two weeks to really get to know each other. “I knew this could only work if I kept it still for as long as possible,” says Harry.
After their relationship became public, the media flooded their lives. The couple married and had two children, Archie and Lilibet, but their romance was far from smooth, leading to them stepping back from royal duties and relocating to California in 2020. “She sacrificed everything she ever knew, the freedom she had, to join me in my world. And pretty soon after that, I sacrificed everything I know to join her in her world,” says Harry.
While the explosive docuseries will no doubt spark conversations about media intrusion, institutional racism, and the royal family in general, the first episode shines brightest about love conquering all. “So much of what Meghan is and how she is is so similar to my mother,” says Harry while fondling memories of Princess Diana. “She has that same compassion, she has that same empathy, she has that same confidence, she radiates that warmth.”
Stream the first three episodes of “Harry & Meghan” now and the last three episodes from April 15.