Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary: Duke of Sussex says wife being American actress 'clouded' family's view of her

The Duke of Sussex has said his wife being an American actress “clouded” his family’s view of her, as he opened up about the breakdown of their relationship with the royal family in the couple’s Netflix documentary.

Harry & Meghan – a six-part docuseries – dropped on the streaming giant at 8am on Thursday in the UK, with the Windsors steeling themselves for bombshells in the first three episodes.

Meghan, talking about meeting the Queen during episode two of their Netflix documentary, said: “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Harry went on: “I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed, some of them didn’t quite know what to do with themselves.

A woman watches an episode of the newly released Netflix docuseries "Harry and Meghan" about Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in London. Picture: Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

“Because I think they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman.

“But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning – ‘oh, she’s an American actress; this won’t last’.”

Meghan added: “The actress thing was the biggest problem, funnily enough. There is a big idea of what that looks like from the UK standpoint – Hollywood – and it’s just very easy for them to typecast that.”

In the opening scenes, Harry is shown at Heathrow airport in footage he filmed himself in March 2020 at the culmination of the Megxit crisis and as he prepared to leave the UK for the last time as a senior royal.

“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,” he says.

Meghan is seen separately, filming herself in Vancouver wearing a towel on her head and saying: “Unfortunately, in us standing for something, they are destroying us.”

The series began with a written statement on a black background saying it is a “first-hand account of Harry & Meghan’s story told with never before seen personal archive”.

It said all interviews were finished in August 2022 and “members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series”.

Harry says: “We’ve just finished two weeks, our final push, our last stint of royal engagements. It’s really hard to look back on it now and go ‘what on Earth happened?'”

He adds: “This isn’t just about our story. This has always been so much bigger than us.

“No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth. The institution knows the full truth. And the media know the full truth because they’ve been in on it. And I think anybody else in my situation would have done exactly the same thing.”

Meanwhile, Meghan is seen saying: “I just really want to get to the other side of all of this.” There is a silent pause before she appears emotional and says: “I don’t know what to say anymore.”

Harry and Meghan signed lucrative deals, thought to be worth well over £100 million, with the streaming giant and Spotify after quitting as senior working royals in 2020 following family rifts and struggles with royal life.