39 of the Biggest Revelations From the "Harry & Meghan" Netflix Docuseries

Many assumed Harry and Meghan met through their shared commitment to charity work, so you may be surprised to learn their first meeting was actually spurred on by something far more mundane.

In July 2016, Meghan was on a girls' trip through Europe with her friends during a filming break ahead of "Suits" season seven. One of Meghan's friends posted a photo of the actor with a 2016-era Snapchat dog filter, and she just so happened to be Harry's friend. Harry, seeing the picture, was instantly smitten. "I was like, 'Who is that?!'" Harry says of seeing Meghan for the first time.

The friend emailed Meghan, writing, "Between you and I, thought you might want to know this being newly single and all. I put our Snapchat on Instagram and Prince Haz follows me (he's a friend). He called me last night dying to meet you. Hehehe. I just might have to set you up."

After looking through Harry's feed, which consisted of beautiful photography and environmental shots from the time he spent in Africa, Meghan knew she wanted to meet him.

Harry may have nearly blown it with Meghan before they even began. The pair were set to have their first meeting at the private club Soho House, but Meghan was almost put off because Harry showed up half an hour late.

"He kept texting. He was like, 'I'm in traffic. I'm so sorry.' . . . Then, I didn't know him, so I was like, 'Is this what he does? Got it. This I'm not doing.'"

Meghan thought Harry might be someone with too big of an ego who thought any girl would sit and wait for him, but that worry was washed away when the prince finally arrived begging for forgiveness. "When I walked in, [I was a] hot, sweaty, red ball of mess," Harry recounts in the doc, looking mortified about his first-date flub.

Meghan realized Harry was earnestly interested in her and texted him before she was set to leave London to see if they could have one more date. That time, she was the one who was late for that date (but only by five minutes).

As a result of Meghan's busy filming schedule in Toronto and Harry's high-profile status in Britain, the pair were impossibly busy and an ocean apart. For that reason, much of their relationship's early days were spent sending photos to each other and FaceTiming. The pair only met in person twice before Harry invited Meghan to go on a trip to Botswana, Africa, with him, where they would spend five days together in a tent.

To say Meghan was nervous about the prospect would be an understatement. "What if we don't like each other?" she wondered. But when Harry greeted her in Botswana with a chicken sandwich in hand, her worries melted away.

They shared their first kiss on that trip, and they knew they wanted to make things work.

After their Botswana trip, Harry and Meghan knew they wanted their relationship to work. Knowing long-distance relationships are hard, Meghan made a rule that they needed to see each other every two weeks. Since it was easier for her to take commercial flights, it meant she would fly to London regularly so she and the prince could get to know one another even more. As a result, they dated mainly on the palace grounds.

On Oct. 29, 2016, Harry and William's communications secretary, Jason Knauf, informed Harry that a tabloid had scooped the story about him dating Meghan. Realizing their lives would change the next day, they decided to go out and have fun on their last night as a private couple. Along with Princess Eugenie and her now-husband, Jack Brooksbank, the pair dressed in costumes that concealed their identities, went to a Halloween party, and had a fantastic night.

As the media began to follow Meghan and pick apart her every move, her mom, Doria Ragland, knew there was a racial component to the way her daughter was being treated. But Meghan, who is mixed race and grew up somewhat removed from much of the overt racism Black people face, didn't see it. "I said to her . . . 'This is about race,' and Meg said, 'Mommy, I don't wanna hear that.' And I said, 'Well, you may not want to hear it, but this is what's coming down the pike,'" Ragland says.

"It's very different to be a minority but not be treated like a minority right off the bat," Meghan explains in the doc about growing up mixed race. "Obviously, now people are very aware of my race because they made it such an issue when I went to the UK. But before that, most people didn't treat me like a 'Black woman.' So that talk didn't have to happen for me."

Ragland reveals that, in hindsight, she wishes she'd prepared Meghan better. "As a parent . . . absolutely I would like to go back and have that kind of real conversation about how the world sees [Meghan]."

More negative coverage with racial undertones hit the press, including headlines that said Meghan was "Straight Out of Compton" and claims that Meghan grew up with Ragland on Skid Row.

"What people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything she was being put through, they had been put through as well, so it was almost like a rite of passage," Harry explains. "And some of the family were like, 'Well, my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?' And I said, 'The difference here is the race element.'"

As soon as the media found out about Meghan and Harry's relationship, paparazzi began to stalk her to get exclusive, unauthorized photos of her. This meant trying to buy call sheets so they would know when she would be on set, using long lenses to get a view of her from far away, following her onto the set, and breaking into the trailer area to get photos of her coming and leaving. Eventually, "Suits" production was forced to cage in the trailers.

"So I would say to the police, 'If any other woman in Toronto said to you, "I have six grown men who are sleeping in their cars around my house and following me everywhere I go, and I feel scared," wouldn't you say it was stalking?'" Meghan shares how unsafe she felt on set. "And they said, 'Yes, but there's really nothing we can do because of who you're dating.'"

Things only changed when Meghan received a death threat, at which point she was given a security detail.

As a celebrity, Meghan always understood the dynamic of having a forward-facing version of herself that's very formal. Still, she was used to letting that go and relaxing in private with her close friends and family. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case with the royals, she soon learned.

"Now, I know so much, and I'm so glad I didn't then because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness," Meghan explains, sharing how she was in ripped jeans and barefoot when she met Prince William and Kate for the first time. She also shares that she's a hugger, which she realized is "really jarring for a lot of Brits" (though it's unclear if this was an issue with William and Kate).

"I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside," Meghan shares.

Harry recounts how the royal family were "incredibly impressed" with Meghan when they first met, adding, "Maybe surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman." But while the press may have been hyperfocused on Meghan's race, the royals were more concerned about something else.

"But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning," Harry shares. "'Oh, she's an American actress. This won't last.'"

"There's a big idea of what that looks like from the UK standpoint," Meghan adds. "You know, Hollywood? It's very easy for them to typecast that."

Samantha Markle, Meghan's half-sister on her paternal side, is well-known for giving regular negative interviews about Meghan, claiming they were very close until Meghan joined the royal family. According to Meghan, however, these claims are untrue, but she was never at liberty to tell her story because the palace's policy was not to respond.

Meghan says she doesn't have any memories of Samantha from childhood because Samantha was grown and had moved out by the time Meghan was growing up and spending weekends with their father, Thomas Markle Sr. They hadn't seen each other for a decade by the time Meghan became engaged to Harry, and that meeting had only been a day and a half.

Meghan is, perhaps surprisingly, closer to Samantha's daughter Ashleigh Hale. Hale was raised by her grandparents from the age of 2, and they ultimately adopted her. Hale lost contact with Samantha when she was 6, but they reconnected in 2007, at which point Meghan was excited to reach out and meet her niece.

The pair went on trips together and bonded. "We just hit it off," Meghan says of their instant connection. Photos of Meghan and Ashleigh's excursions are featured in the docuseries.

"I think she takes on a lot of roles for me," Hale says of her relationship with Meghan. "There's like a sister element. There's something maternal. She's a best friend. She's kind of all the things."

"I think we both craved the same thing," Meghan adds. "I wanted a sister, and she was like a little sister . . . Ash was put through quite a bit by the media just by association. I didn't want her life to be plagued with all that drama."

When Meghan began dating Harry, Hale noticed that Samantha became resentful of Meghan. No matter what Hale said, her mother would just get angrier and angrier, until they eventually stopped talking. "Some people, you just can't reason with," Hale said.

Unfortunately, Samantha drove somewhat of a wedge between Meghan and Hale. With the palace's press team being unwilling to respond to Samantha's claims and clarify the nature of Meghan's relationship with her, it seemed to them impossible to invite Hale to the wedding lest it generate more questions among the press.

"They just couldn't wrap their heads around it. And I have compassion for it," Meghan explains. "'How do we explain that this half-sister isn't invited to the wedding, but that the half-sister's daughter is?'"

In the end, Meghan was forced to deliver the news to Hale that she wouldn't be able to attend the royal wedding, describing the call as "painful."

"I think I said I was hurt on some level, but I understood where it was coming from," Hale said about the call. "To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship that was so important to me was impacted in that way. To feel like, because of her, it was taken away, it's been hard."

In an emotional moment, Harry admits that he blames himself for the dark turn Meghan's relationship with Thomas took. "It's incredibly sad what happened," he says. "She had a father before this, and now she doesn't have a father. And I shouldered that. Because if Meg wasn't with me, then her dad would still be her dad."

As Harry and Meghan's popularity grew, press coverage turned to become more negative with both Kate and Meghan often pitted against each other. Harry points fingers at the comms teams who, he says, would leak stories to the press about other principle members of the family to skew public opinion in favor of their own principles.

"The issue is when someone who's marrying in, who should be a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight, or is doing the job better than the person who is born to do this, that upsets people, it shifts the balance," Harry says. "Because you've been led to believe that the only way that your charities can succeed and the only way that your reputation can be grown or improved is if you're on the front page of those newspapers. But the media are the ones who choose who to put on the front page."

As a result, coverage of Kate and Meghan was blatantly biased. Press cuttings stating that Kate "tenderly cradles" her baby bump, while Meghan doing the same was "vanity" are shown. Headlines that Kate received avocado to help with morning sickness, while Meghan's love of the fruit was "linked to human rights abuse." Or that Kate wore "versatile shoes" while Meghan "broke royal protocol."

Harry says, "This is how it was covered for her. This is how it was covered for her. If you don't see the difference and understand why it's being reported that way then I can't help you. I can't, I'm sorry. I just can't."

Racial undertones within the press began ramping up, as Meghan was accused of diva behavior, and associations with drugs, and terrorism were being drawn.

In a series of heartbreaking interviews, Meghan opens up about how low she really got. So much so that she began thinking, "All of this will stop if I'm not here. And that was the scariest thing about it, it was such clear thinking."

Meghan's mom, Doria, details how hard it was to hear that her daughter felt this way, and she was helpless to do anything about it. "I remember her telling me that she wanted to take her own life. And that really broke my heart, because I knew that it was bad but to just constantly be picked at by these vultures, just picking away at her spirit, that she would actually think of not wanting to be here," she says. "That's not an easy one for a mum to hear. And I can't protect her, H can't protect her."

Harry admits that he didn't deal with the situation in the way he should have. He was understandably "devastated" that his wife felt this way and knew she was struggling, but he didn't expect it to get this far. "I didn't deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as institutional Harry, as opposed to husband Harry. And what took over my feelings was my royal role," he says. "I had been trained to worry more about 'what are people going to think if we don't go to this event? We're going to be late.' And looking back on it now, I hate myself for it."

In perhaps the most damning part of this section, Meghan reveals she wasn't allowed to seek help her depression and suicidal thoughts because "they were concerned about how that would look for the institution." As such, her world became very small and controlled, she was not even able to send her friends a photo without being granted permission.

The couple's decision to move from London and carry out Commonwealth duties abroad was far from a surprise. In fact, they had discussed moving to New Zealand in 2018, and moving to South Africa in 2019. The relocation to Africa had even been signed off by the Queen, Charles, and William's offices.

However, the news was leaked to The Times newspaper. As soon as it became public debate, the plan was scrapped. Yet Harry's frustration around moving to Canada was fueled because "...the family and their people knew that we were trying to find a different way of working for a minimum of two years."

The Sussexes tried to find a way to serve the Queen while also leaving London, so they could distance themselves from the Royal Rot. "The pack of the royal rota is based there in London, so if we're not there, they can't cover what we're doing. You guys can be on the front page of all the papers, and you can have it exactly the way you want it, and we can just go on doing the work in the name of the Queen," Meghan says. The royals considered places like Canada, New Zealand, and then briefly landed on South Africa.

Unfortunately, the plan to move to South Africa was leaked to "The Times," and thus was immediately scrapped. "It's now become a public debate," Harry shares. "Once plans like that become public debates, nine times out of ten, it's going to fail."

The couple and the Palace then came to a decision they would move to Canada, so Charles asked Harry to put the plan in writing despite Harry's concerns it would be leaked to the press. Sure enough, the email — in which Harry noted that "if this wasn't going to work out, then we would be willing to relinquish our Sussex titles if need be" — was leaked to the press.

"It became clear the institution leaked the fact that we were going to be moving back to Canada, and the key piece of that story that made me aware that the contents of the letter between me and my father had leaked is that we were willing to relinquish our Sussex titles," Harry says. "That was the giveaway."

Harry soon realized they needed to have a sit-down meeting with the queen, Charles, and Will if they were going to nail down the Sussex's plan for their future once and for all. "I sent an email to the three most senior private secretaries saying, 'Let's have a meeting. Let's get together and have a meeting. Let's talk about this, because what was playing out in public was crazy.' And that meeting was rejected," Harry shared.

It wasn't until Meghan had boarded a flight to return to Archie in Canada that the palace arranged a meeting with Harry. "Imagine a conversation – a roundtable discussion – about the future of your life when the stakes are this high, and you – as the mom and the wife and the target in many regards – aren't invited to have a seat at the table," Meghan said of being excluded.

"It was clear to me that they planned it so that you weren't in the room," Harry said.

It's no secret that tensions between the two once-close brothers has been bubbling, but Harry reveals for the first time just how heated discussions became during their urgent meeting in Sandringham to discuss the logistics of Harry and Meghan stepping back as senior royals. Harry proposed having a "half in, half out" position where they would have their own jobs and still work in support of the Queen, all at their own expense. But this was not up for debate.

"It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren't true, and my grandmother, you know, quietly sit there and sort of take it all in," Harry says. "But you have to understand that, from the family's perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things, and her ultimate mission goal/responsibility is the institution."

William, as heir to the throne, has a responsibility to keep the institution thriving, but Harry alludes it has come at the expense of their bond. He says, "The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother."

When reports that part of the reason Meghan and Harry were stepping down as working royals was due to Will bullying Meghan, the Palace took no time at all in releasing a letter denying the claims. "Once I got in the car after the meeting [at Sandringham], I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother's name squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family," Harry said.

The problem was, Harry had nothing to do with the letter. "I couldn't believe it. No one had asked me. No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that," Harry shared. "And I rang M and I told her, and she burst into floods of tears, because within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother, and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us."

It was then that Harry and Meghan realized that the Palace was never going to defend them.

Despite the overwhelming narrative that Meghan was the one who influenced Harry to distance himself from the monarchy, he says in the documentary that it was his decision entirely. "He never would have been attracted or interested in me if he wasn't already on his own path," Meghan added.

When Harry returned to Canada, the Sussexes' house was surrounded by press: "boats in the water, cars up the drive, individuals trying to jump over the fence and take photos over the fence," Harry recounted.

When Meghan asked Harry if the Palace would pull their security now that they were stepping down as working royals, Harry insisted they wouldn't considering how much of a threat they were under. He was surprised to learn he was wrong, though.

"I said 'No, they would never do that.' And they did it." The palace left Harry and Meghan only three weeks to find new security for his family.

Harry and Meghan might be two of the most famous people on the planet, but even they were starstruck when Beyoncé texted after the Oprah interview.

"I still can't believe she knows who I am," Meghan says as Harry gasps and exclaims, "Shut up!" in a cute moment of normality. Beyoncé texted to check in with the couple. "She said she wants me to feel safe and protected. She admires and respects my bravery and vulnerability and thinks I was selected to break generational curses that need to be healed." Harry replies, "That's well said."

Later in the docuseries, Harry also receives a text from his brother about the Oprah interview and is visibly shaken. "I wish I knew what to do," he says.

Perry became very close to Meghan and Harry thanks to all the help he gave them amid their move to California. For this reason, they thought he was a perfect option for a very important role in their daughter Lilibet's life. "We'll call, we'll chat, and we'll talk about silly things, and they were pretty serious on the phone. I go, "Okay, what's going on?" They said, "Well, we'd like for you to be Lili's godfather."

Perry was "honored" and accepted happily, but he had one reservation. "'Hold on a second. Does this mean we gotta go over there and do all that in the church with them and figure all that out?'" he says, recounting their conversation. "'Because I don't want to do that.'"

Since officially leaving the UK at the beginning of 2020, Harry admits there are elements he misses about life in London. "The weird family gatherings when we're all sort of brought together under one roof for certain times of the year," he reminisces. "Being part of the institution meant that I was in the UK so I miss the UK. I miss my friends. I've lost a few friends in this process as well."

Harry also reflects on where he has ended up in the world, and believes he has followed in his mother's footsteps. "I changed to the point that I'd outgrown my environment. Therefore, this was the most obvious place to come. It's one of the places where I think my mum was probably going to end up living, potentially."