The first two episodes of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan are the two of them telling their love story, the early part of their fairy-tale romance. Prince Harry is very specific: he saw Meghan on a friend’s Instagram and he asked to be set up with her. In the summer of 2016, she had big plans to be a single girl and have a great summer with friends, traveling around and getting into adventures. I don’t think she was expecting to meet her future husband when she was set up on the date with Harry, especially because he was LATE to their first date:
I love that Meghan was immediately like: I have too much self-worth to wait around forever for some chronically late narcissist. Turns out, he really was stuck in traffic and he was a red, sweaty mess by the time he arrived. What I LOVE is that Meghan asked him out for their second date and Harry points out that she was late (by only a few minutes) for their second date. Then for a month, they were just calling and texting and video-chatting, then he asked her to go to Botswana with him and they stayed in a tent for a week. Some more quotes from the two of them:
Meghan on their long-distance relationship: “At the beginning our relationship was this guarded treasure. It was long distance from the beginning. Everything was just texts and Facetimes and we just talked for hours and it just felt exciting. It wasn’t exciting in the way I think people would assume it would be. It was just relaxed and easy. We just got to know each other truly like any other couple where you’re figuring out ‘what do you like to eat? What do you like to cook? What kind of movies do you like?’
Harry on wanting to take Meghan to Africa: “Lesotho gave me the space and the freedom to breathe, to live and to grow. I went to Africa sometimes three months at a time. I’ve got a second family out there, a group of friends that literally brought me up. For me it’s always been quite special so it was absolutely critical to share it with Meg. I was astonished that she said yes. This woman that I’ve only met twice, she’s coming to Botswana and we’re going to be living in a tent for five days. Wow.
Meghan on their Botswana trip: “What if we don’t like each other and we’re stuck in the bush in the middle of a tent. So I get there, it was the first time I’ve seen him in a month. We’re awkward at first, do we kiss? I just remember he handed me a chicken sandwich.
Harry on camping out with Meghan: And then we jumped in a land cruiser and off we went. To start we were sitting next to each other and then we progressed to holding hands and then we squeeze in a kiss. And amid the bumps, and then everything felt totally normal and natural. We had to get to know each other before the rest of the world and before the media joined in. It just felt so right and it felt so normal.
Harry on their two-week rule: “She had a two week rule, which was really smart, which was that we had to see each other in or around two weeks….Those first few months when no one knew, it made much more sense for her to come to me. So that she could come and stay with me on Kensington palace grounds…go for walks around Frogmore and do all these things together so we can get to know each other without someone taking a photograph and it becoming news. Getting her through the police barrier and onto Kensington Palace was risk in itself because people talk right? It’s not about who you trust it’s about who they trust.
Then everything changed just before Halloween 2016, when the British media broke the story that they were dating. Meghan said that “H trying to prepare me of what that might be like, knowing what he’d experienced in the past. He and his brother’s communications secretary, Jason, called to let him know it had been scooped by a tabloid.” Harry and Meghan went out that night, the night before the story broke, and they went to a Halloween party with Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
Is this the first time they’ve talked about him being late for their first date? Because I distinctly remember watching the made for tv movie and he was late in it, but I don’t remember them actually saying he was late.
He was an hour late for the first date in the movie. And yes, this is the first time they’ve said he was late. They didn’t mention it in their engagement interview.
Hey ISA sorry I wrote the same thing, if they Only shared this with friends and family then their betrayal runs deep.
I thought the same!! I actually think Jason and some of the staff had more to do with this. Remember the daily fail wanted even details on their sex life. At some point she trusted Jason and we now know what that lead to…smh
Hey Noki, no problem. When I saw your comment I was glad to have the confirmation.
So someone definitely leaked it. When I saw it I thought that the screenwriter had made it up as harmless filler.
I’ve always thought they authorized someone to consult on those Lifetime movies. The movies have some pretty specific details.
They had nothing to do with those movies. Perhaps the story was leaked during research for the movie.
This is how they have the tea on those life time movies.
The director of the H&M films is Menhaj Huda (IMDB has his details). He was previously married to someone who was also very good (university) friends with a fellow film ‘distributor’ who was at the time loosely dating a junior palace courtier. I think her father previously used to be the host of a TV program called 15 to 1 in the UK?
So anyway after the first film came out, Will and Kate apparently blew a gasket because some of the scenes were so accurate that it would have been clear that Menhaj had some inside info. In particular there is a sequence in the first film, where Kate questions Harry about whether Meghan can adapt to ‘this type of life’ i.e. Royal life. William in particular was apparently not happy with that scene and it sent KP into a tail-spin.
Eventually they identified the pillow talker – i.e. junior courtier dating the film distributor. She then goes nuts and has a feud lasting months (possibly close to one year) with the friend married to the Merhaj as she felt that friend was pumping her for info for the film.
Anyway fast forward about 1 year and Menhaj and his wife are then divorced and his wife recieves an MBE for services to ‘charidy’ from Prince William no less….
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/all-your-might-lily-lapenna-lily-lapenna-mbe
Anyway the rest is history as they say…
also I don’t know about the first movie, but the third one (escaping the palace or whatever) was written by Scarlett Lacey, whose father wrote Battle of the Brothers and was supposedly really ticked that a lot of stuff was edited out of that book. so I gave that movie more credibility as well bc it seemed to fit with what we knew and fleshed out some details.
@Becks1 – Thanks for that info. The third movie feels a lot more real. Lifetime was doing their typical sappy romances (albeit with genuine nods to the challenges H & M faced and a sympathetic angle) while the third film is more biopic style real life drama.
I loved hearing this story from them. It was so sweet how nervous he was and how they really came upon each other. Through social media! Him sharing how he was so nervous he was sweating was so enduring and her being kind of like ” Um, really dude? Late for our first date?” I love them so much!
Loved loved loved how he said she was a few minutes late the next time they met but he didn’t care how late she was bc he wanted to see her again and wasn’t moving. That man was hooked.
They are so cute and adorable and I love them! I love the bit about Meghan was mad that he was late and he was so worried. I also loved the pics of her being a single girl, traveling and such. I think its important for people (the in-between people, who don’t really have an opinion on her either way) to realize that she had this VERY active and social life, that she was successful, that she was really living her best life at that moment. She didn’t need Harry to pay for her to travel, or for her to have nice clothes, she already had that.
I love that they had Silver Tree and Lindsay Roth on the doc to talk about them, but I also wish they put into context who they are, just to emphasize that point even more. Silver Tree is a director, I think she most recently worked on The Flight Attendant, and Lindsay Roth was I think a producer on Larry King. So Meghan has always had well connected friends. She didn’t harry for that either.
All the haters wanna act like she’s a gold digger, but I’ve always thought her life before proves she must really love Harry. It seemed great. And they’ve built a beautiful life together, but there’s no way I would’ve traded that for the opportunity to wear a tiara for a man I didn’t love.
I watched the Harry and Meghan Lifetime movie years ago and they really had this scenario that Harry was late on their first date. Since I don’t recall this story before I wonder if someone spilled to Lifetime.
It makes me wonder what other details the lifetime movie had that really happened.
I know this did NOT happen, but part of me really wishes that Charles did kick out Princess Michael and bellow something about “they can take it up with the FIRST IN LINE!”
The First lifetime movie also had a Halloween scenario, they went out in disguise. These are the type of dating details you tell your very close friends not courtiers. And since I believe Meghans friends would never do that, it must be from Harry telling his brother when he thought he was sharing his new relationship to someone he could trust. And then Jason did the needful.
Actually, the Halloween stuff likely came from one of Andrew’s staff who overhead Eugenie discussing the outing with her father. There was speculation in FF that an Andrew staffer had also spilled the M&H dating secret to Tominey (who broke the story), but it could just as well have been Knauf and KP with all we know now.
I haven’t watched it yet, but even the most benign parts like this sweet origin story triggers the bots and trolls. Imagine hating someone so much that you stay up all night to watch a movie about them. And “No one cares about these people!” say the people who just stayed up all night to watch this. Hate is a hell of a drug.
Just finished episode 2 and so far there hasn’t been any ˋtruth bombs’. A couple subtle digs at Wills&Kate but that’s about it.
What I love seeing (and Fleet Street will hate seeing) is their absolutely gorgeous home and picturesque life in Montecito. That scene where they’re on the terrace at sunset watching hummingbirds with Archie is stunning.
I wonder if the eps released next week will include this information.
At first I thought it was a little corny but then I got completely sucked into their love story. It’s the real deal. Now I truly understand what they went through and why they left.
Jason probably called the tabloids and then called Harry to say “you’ve been scooped”.
This was my exact thought, too!
That is SO much how it came across to me, in both of the instances they shared this scenario happening. It felt like Checkhov’s Jason Knauf. I’m sure he’s going to feature in part 2.
I had exactly the same thought.
I think it’s really what’s implied (to those in the know), the casual viewer will not pick up on it.
I don’t think it’s coincidental that J-Knife’s name and photo was diagrammed as to how he fits into the palace comms team. More to come.
Most likely.
+1
Yep. 100%.
Based on everything we have seen and heard since I think we can all be very confident that he was the source of this ‘scoop’.
I’m at literally at this point in the show! I’ve got to stop watching it because I have other things to do. I am actually surprised by the content so far; I was primed for big drama. I’m really pleased they didn’t go in hard with anything critical. It’s their love story and so far it’s more about who she is and who they are as a couple. (And the critics will be hating that they are showing Archie, because it’s been their thing that he’s never been seen. But as Harry says, it’s with their consent.)
Is it indulgent or too much to be talking about their ‘love story’. To me, as a Brit, it’s a very American thing, very personal, but it’s nice because it’s fresh and modern. I also think it’s important because there has been this long standing idea that she somehow stole Harry; that she manipulates him; that he wants to leave and get back to being the fun old Harry in the UK. NO NO NO! He is a grown up. That is his past. This is him now. And those idiots who wrote him off as the RF’s funny guy must be astonished. And I love that it started with a positive. So far, nothing for any RF members to be up in arms about…unless they can’t stand seeing two people in love (which few of them are). I don’t see it as a continuation of the Oprah interview so far. I see it as focusing on them as a couple.
I thought it was really interesting that there is a Netflix disclaimer saying they had approached the RF with the content but they had refused to be involved. So much for being blindsided by this series.
I love that its showing that Harry is still the same fun Harry he always was. He’s just having fun with his wife and kids now. Like they look so damn goofy and happy in some of those pictures. He hasn’t changed, not in the way the tabloids want us to think. He’s just done being used by the royal family and letting his wife be abused by the family and the press.
And yeah I found the disclaimer kind of hilarious. SO you 100% knew this was coming.
^^ That’s so true @Becks1. The fun thing is that Meg & Haz are so sympatico. At heart, they are both goofy and fun-loving. That’s surely one of the reasons they hit it off immediately. And more evidence is in how Harry was first attracted to Meg after seeing her goofy Snapchat dogface pic! LOL! 🐶
Sparrow, I’m American, but I did feel that it was cute to see how H&M met and how their love story progressed while at the same time feeling that I did not need to know it. If that makes any sense.
So far @Sparrow, we never get a good look at Archie’s face though. It’s mostly side and back angles. He’s such a cute kid. Lili too! 🥰
Can’t wait to watch…I think the volume 2 is where they will talk about how everything just went sideways and all that stuff. It’s nice for the, to build it and talk about their love the first 3 episodes then all the crazy shit and why they left to then close about their hopes for the future and what they are building.
I’m trying to think of what this reminds me of. I can’t quite place it. I know its very typical for movies and series to start off all happy and then something happens and its darker, but there is a specific movie where I only watch the first half bc I don’t like when it gets darker and sadder, LOL. and I’m trying to think of which movie it is. Ugh this is really going to bother me now. But that’s what this reminds me of….all happiness and light and then….the bad stuff moves in.
Oh yeah, it’s definitely a storytelling trope. I always joke “things were so happy back then!” (and have done so ever since I was a ‘tween) anytime a movie/drama is conspicuously setting the stage with an idyllic couple or family. It’s cheesy in movies, but when nonfiction/reality television does it, it always feels more like True Crime
Honestly, I may be thinking of Crazy Rich Asians, LOL. Where the beginning is bright and happy and full of good food and good fun and then bam, the bachelor/ette parties happen and it gets sad and serious. That’s actually not it (I know I know, there are so many movies like this, but there is one in particular where I only watch the first half, LOL. I need to look at my IMDB history haha.) But CRA actually fits here, in the context of Meghan meeting this man from another world and falling in love and then the family being like “you will never be one of us.”
This is the plot line of every Dateline episode ever. LOL!
Except even in the happy engagement photos, we see Guy with his two broken legs. Heartbreaking, and a hint of what was to come or perhaps even already in motion?
This is far afield, but this reminds me of how we handled “The Sound of Music” when my kids were little. They loved the music, and wanted to watch the movie, so we cut the movie off after the wedding. They probably watched the abridged version 30 times.
They were 12 and 10 when they were at my mom’s house and saw the whole movie … by that time they were old enough to start to understand the history. “Mom, there’s like a whole movie after the wedding,” my one daughter said to me, as if I didn’t know.
That’s how Titanic was for me. I’d watch the first half and then turn it off once they hit the iceberg lol
@Kebbie omg I think Titanic is the movie I’m thinking of. At this point, I just like to watch the first half and not the literally disastrous second half lol.
Surprise! It is about them, all about them. C-Rex and company are footnotes because of history in this story.
Yea, it’s called Megan and Harry and it’s about Megan and Harry. Harry hasn’t even mentioned his father yet.
Rota going crazy because Oh no! They have photos and videos of themselves and their family! Yup just like normal people.
Oops, Harry and Megan.
I think there will be rawer truths in Spare.
I wonder how it will take for the rota to figure out that “Hm, we don’t need to watch it.” Instead, not only will they watch it but they will write and talk about it.
“He handed me a chicken sandwich ” lol I ❤️them both
I know. That is sooo cute. Reminds me of the sandwich song by Fred Penner, Sandwiches are Beautiful, this verse in particular:’
“Once I met a pretty girl, the fairest in the land
Young men in the county there, were asking for her hand
They’d offer her the moon and they’d offer her the sea
I offered her a sandwich and she said she’d marry me”
LOL. I’m loving this love story.
I giggled at that!
Omg I’ve never heard that Fred Penner song, cute & perfect!
🥰 That’s so cool @Lissen, and definitely something Meghan would love knowing about. She always shared quotes and poetry on her Instagram. Thanks for posting. You should consider sending Haz and Meg a message about this song lyric via their Archewell site. 😄
OMG. I love that. My Mom was known for offering a sandwich to anyone visiting within two minutes of their arrival. It was one of those things we gently poked fun of. We would say,”Mom why do you think that anyone that walks through the door is hungry?.”. Her response, “Why do you think they’re not?”. Never heard that Fred Penner song either. Love it.
I can easily see a fun competition between H&M asking a visiting guest if they would like a sandwich first.
That pillow shot of Harry!😍💜
Wonderful!
Suddenly, every tourist is now trying to get a reservation at 76 Deane St. Only to find out it is part of the Soho Club, private members only.
^^ LOL! 😆
Yeah, I figured it must be part of Soho House in London because Meg is close to Markus Anderson who is an exec and right hand man to founder, Nick Jones. Privacy was crucial and Anderson ensured they had it. Articles at the time always mentioned their first date was at Soho House. Plus, Meghan had posted on her Instagram a photo of herself standing outside the restaurant on Deane Street, with a caption that only Haz and their closest friends understood.
Harry and Meghan are so cute.
Despite the UK press’ hysterics there arent many bombshells in the doc so far just a lot of sweet moments but one thing that did raise my eyebrows was when Meghan called their engagement interview a “reality show” and they seemed to insinuate it was entirely scripted. Backing this up is the fact the story of how they met and got engaged seems to be a bit different here than in that engagement interview.
The engagement interview omits Harry first seeing her with their mutual friend on IG and significantly downplays how romantic their engagement actually was. That’s why it’s important that they included pictures from the night of the engagement because now KP can’t say they were lying in the doc but it also makes me wonder what else they forcefed them to say in that engagement interview. In particular that segment about how “Catherine” was so supportive now looks more suspect to me especially since when Meghan has mentioned her since she’s never referred to her as “Catherine” like the palace notoriously has tried to push people to do; she calls her Kate.
Ooo! I didn’t catch that! Harry and Meghan always call her Kate, even William in their engagement interview called her Kate if memory serves me correctly. Catherine is definitely a palace creation (as in, people only referring to her as that), while family calls her Kate. Like Elizabeth and Lilibet
Meghan knew her worth. I’m happy the focus was on their romance and love. I had a permanent smile on my face 90% of the time.
A week is too long a wait for the other 3 episodes.
Another thing M&H bonded over was both being children of divorce. The poem Meg had written as a child and recited during the documentary is poignant. It was interesting to learn that she gravitated to acting in part because of memories of enjoying time on the set of Married With Children. Being part of the close-knit cast of Suits was like family for Meghan — a change from those lonely days of spending time separately with each parent, and not growing up with siblings her own age.
I watched all three episodes.
This documentary is a love story! We know that Harry and Meghan are in love and we know what the media has told us about their relationship and marriage and the events surrounding it all. however, this documentary is from Harry and Meghan’s prospective.
It is obvious that the Palace could have tried to control the tabloids but they did nothing, Harry was right, the attacks on Meghan was different from what Diana, Fergie and Kate had to endure. The race element took it to a hold new level.
The discussions about the Commonwealth was problematic to me, as a black woman and a woman born in the former Commonwealth State of Barbados now a Republic, because, if Meghan and Harry had stayed, Meghan would have been used to prop up an institution that is and was of no benefit to people of color and people of color would eventually realized that and turned against Meghan and what the institution…the Commonwealth stands for in realty and at its core.
I have also watched all three episodes because I did not want my experience contaminated or influenced by the toxic media and jealous maniacs.
The documentary is beautiful and very moving, and you really get a sense of Meghan’s personality, she is hugely intelligent but very funny and girlish and very open. There are some surprises, I really was not expecting Doria to say so much, and the relationship she has with her niece is quite deep.
The plot is slowly introducing Jason Knauf and the fact that Billy and Katie were less than nice.
Very pleased that sterling people like David Olusoga and Afua Hirsch and Misan Harriman are in it, as well as friends of Harry and Meghan we have never seen.
The next three episodes will go deeper. Harry and Meghan will never return to the UK permanently in my opinion.
The documentary soundtrack songs are wonderful.
Yes, seeing and hearing Doria is great and I hope to hear more from her.
Mr Olusoga and Ms. Hirsh added a degree of historical and non bias prospective that I did not consider.
Oh my gosh, I love the sound track.
I’m waiting to watch but so excited that I will be seeing some glimpses of their new life together! Reading comments is kind of like looking at the chart on a box of chocolates and deciding where you are going to start 🤣
So I watched the whole thing today because work is pretty slow right now (which is fine!) and I was surprised at how much info we got from them about their relationship! How they first met, their first dates, the trip to Botswana, the secretive trips, the relationship becoming public, the details and pictures of the proposal etc… They made it sound like they were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date but Harry was the one who spotted her in a mutual friend’s social media picture and they communicated over social media before meeting. So not completely a blind date but close enough. I definitely expected them to dive deeper into the intrusive press around Meghan and all the racist headlines and how she was stalked by the media but there was all this cute fluff in there I wasn’t expecting. These two people are the friends you are annoyed at because they are so in love lol.
LaughingMyArseOff:……so chuckyCheese Da Turd is on the offensive which we’re not to be able to see, eh?
Now, bearing in mind that these troglodytes in palaces live and die by “optics,” he took his arse off to an Ethiopian christian church today of all days. Now that’s a room fill of black people! Lol
“wE’rE vErY mUcH NOT! raaaaaacis!”
I’m suuuuure his handlers thought this would be a flex.
Anyhooooo……so they prolly thought tht the Christmas service they’re hvng for betty next Thursday when Vol 2 of H&M drops, should reaaaaallllyyyy take attention away from the docu. Lol
However, Part 2 is when the highly anticipated “bombs” will drop. Let’s see how they handle that! If today’s bungling re the lies they tried to tell on Netflix is anything to go by, they & the RotaRats & britshidtmedia in general are gonna be in a world of hurt.
@Harper: “Except even in the happy engagement photos, we see Guy with his two broken legs. Heartbreaking, and a hint of what was to come or perhaps even already in motion?”
Yeah, seeing those pictures of Guy with his front legs wrapped as Harry was kneeling to propose, is so poignant and heartbreaking. There just seems to be something sinister about Guy’s broken legs! As if someone was trying to rattle or scare Meghan, and cause friction between her and Harry ASAP.
I recall after the engagement announcement that someone leaked about Guy’s legs having been broken, but there were never any formal reports until Meghan spoke about it earlier this year after the death of her British friend who’d introduced her to The Mayhew.
I watched the three. What I found interesting:
1- The tent they stayed in when in Botswana. I remember seeing pictures of glamping places in Botswana somewhere in the press ages ago that made their holiday seem much more high end, but now we see they went camping. So cute and real.
2- Her niece. I don’t understand how being Samantha’s daughter would get her off the wedding invite list, when the fact that there was “nobody from her family” (except her mum) at the wedding was then used against her. This “how do we explain that I don’t speak to her mum, but I do speak to her” makes no sense to me.
3- I loved the bit where he says she was a couple of minutes late to the second date but that he was not going anywhere, he would have waited for ever. So sweet!
4- the list! What was on the list? (the list of “requirements” for his ideal woman).
5- The curtsy. I blame Harry here. How can you possibly not give her advance warning that she will be meeting the Queen? This could be stressful, so why not prepare her and show her how to curtsy? Did she really do such a deep curtsy/bow, or is she just joking about it?