‘Harry & Meghan’: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Do Netflix, Part Deux

SPOILER ALERT

 

The two words that stand out after watching the final episodes of the Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries are “scream” and “scapegoat.” This second and final drop, released today at 3 a.m. EDT, is now live.

The first volume of the series, which focused on the couple’s early romance, didn’t unleash any huge bombshells, but it nonetheless captured a lot of eyeballs: some 81.5 million viewing hours have been logged! The second volume features raw moments where the Sussexes share their version of their bitter split from the Royal Family.

First, the big headline is the screaming. That would be Harry saying that William screamed at him at the famous Sandringham summit in January of 2021. To quote Harry: “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that simply weren’t true … And my grandmother sit there quietly and take it all in.”

 

 

Harry was saddened, he said, by the “wedge” that was created between him and William, with his brother taking “the institution’s side.” He added, “Part of that, I get it, it’s his inheritance. So to some extent, it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and continuation of the institution.”

The other major William moment involved Harry talking about the joint statement that was released addressing William “bullying” Harry and Meghan. Harry said he did not agree to the statement, which denied the bullying, or to his name being attached to it. That seems to be the substantive part of the allegations from the trailer released ahead of these episodes, in which Harry talks about the palace lying to protect William but refusing to ever speak up to defend him. 

 

William comes under yet more fire with Harry’s accusation that Jason Knaupf, William’s former head of communications,  gave a witness statement against Meghan in the Daily Mail trial. Meghan’s lawyer, Jenny Afia, says to camera: “Sadly, there is no way he could have done that without the authority of his bosses.” Meaning, William. 

Meghan adds, “It’s your brother. I’m not going to say anything about your brother, but it’s so obvious.” That is when Harry starts talking vaguely about coverups. There is a note from Jason Knaupf at the end of the episode, denying these assertions.

Now, let’s dig into the “institutional gaslighting” concept. We heard this phrase, too, in the trailer. It turns out Harry is applying it to the bullying story about Meghan that was released, no coincidence, he says, right before their Oprah interview in March of 2021. “To see this institutional gaslighting that happens is extraordinary, and that’s why everything that happened to us was always going to happen to us. Because if you speak truth to power that is how they will respond.”

The most heartrending moment is when Harry blames the stress of the Daily Mail lawsuit (the one contesting the publication of letters from Meghan to her father) for her miscarriage, on the first night at their new home in Montecito, Calif. “I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the Mail did. I watched the whole thing. Now, do we know the miscarriage was caused by that? Of course we don’t.” 

 

 

I have gratitude for him adding those lines, because conversations about miscarriage are so loaded, and most of the time blame can’t be attributed. But, it does illuminate the level of distress the couple felt from the tabloid press, and it fleshes out the story of how and why they went to California to get away from it all. And why they needed so badly to tell their own story, their own way.

There is a lot of looking back here. As to where they are now, Harry talks about being “on the other side,” and their new life in California. He speaks about losing friends, and missing family, but is also very conscious of how cold his visits home have been. He is speaking about the Commonwealth Service, the final duty of their time as senior working royals, where he felt the chilliness from family members. “I really felt distant from the rest of my family, which is interesting because so much of how they operate is what it looks like and not what it feels like. But it looked cold, and it also felt cold.”

On his solo trip back for Prince Philip’s funeral, Harry said he realized “the fact that we are never going to get genuine accountability or genuine apology.”

 

 

In the end, what I took away from six hours of the documentary — besides some really cute images of Archie in the bath or running on the beach with Aunt Eugenie, and Lily, who looks adorable in a hair clip, laughing and gesturing on her Papa’s shoulders — was that the sadness here is that the Sussexes and the Windsors are speaking entirely different languages. I feel sorry for any family rift, and it is almost always down to miscommunication (and different emotional styles). The emotional styles of Americans are very different from Britains, but really, we all are very different in what weight we give to certain things.

I do personally think the never-complain, never-explain thing has its merits. Stoicism is appealing. It has its shortcomings, too, and health consequences, and we are seeing them right here, in beautifully shot and carefully edited footage. We are also only seeing one point of view, of course. 

And one point of view does not the complete picture make. I’d be surprised if Buckingham Palace addresses all this, but then again: in this torrid, thousand-year soap opera, surprise is the name of the game. 

Harry and Meghan have very genuine, concrete issues to be upset about — the racism Meghan faced from every angle, the exhaustive and exhausting media coverage of their every move and some clearly inflated and conflated half-truths and innuendos. They are distanced from much of their families. That is very sad. I do really hope they can lay down their arms now, though, after six hours of their truths, and really, truly move on happily with their lives.

 

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