[footsteps running]
On January 8, 2020,
Meghan and Harry announced that they were
stepping away from the royal family
to pursue a more private life.
No one in the royal family
was expecting the announcement that day,
yet it was years in the making.
This is the story of how Prince Harry
and Princess Meghan came to the decision
that shocked the world
by rejecting what many thought
was a fairytale life come true.
But not all fairytales have happy endings.
Some have cautionary lessons.
Once upon a time, there was a prince named Harry.
Everyone in the entire world knew who he was.
Even so, his parents tried to give him
a safe and normal childhood.
But on this day,
he could tell something was wrong.
His older brother, Prince William,
could also tell something was strange
because all the TVs and radios had been removed.
[footsteps approaching]
The boy's father, also a prince, came to them.
He told them he had terrible news about their mother.
Her life was supposed to be a fairytale too.
She found a charming prince and became beloved
by the entire world.
[camera shutters click]
She was dubbed "The People's Princess"
and was followed everywhere she went.
She tried to use the attention
to bring cameras to areas of the world
that were often ignored,
like war zones filled with landmines.
[camera shutters clicking]
But the prince and the princess
divorced in a media frenzy,
and young Prince Harry watched how
the nonstop attention escalated into disaster.
[car crashing]
[people chattering]
[cameras shutters clicking]
Harry: Don't take the piss out on me!
Narrator: As Harry got older,
the death of Princess Diana had a powerful impact on him.
He made it no secret
that he blamed the paparazzi for her death
and very quickly became tired
of being a member of the royal family.
Like many teenagers, he rebelled.
Tabloids were quick to find photos
of him drinking underage, smoking,
partying in Las Vegas,
and even wearing a Nazi uniform
to a costume party.
Then Harry joined the military,
and he said he found a feeling of peace
for the first time since he was a boy.
In 2007, he was excited to be sent
to the front lines in Iraq.
But the media found out about the deployment,
and it quickly turned into a national story,
gaining the attention and threats
of Iraqi insurgent groups.
The head of the British Army personally decided
that Harry had to stay home.
In September 2012,
he returned to the Afghanistan front lines,
this time as an Apache helicopter copilot
and gunner.
[helicopter whirring]
A Taliban spokesperson declared,
"We are using all our strength to get rid of him,
either by killing or kidnapping."
[explosions]
Harry told the media he loved serving
in the military because, quote, "You can only
fit a certain amount of people in a helicopter,
therefore no one can follow us, like you guys."
While serving, he developed an interest
in supporting injured veterans.
It led him to beginning the Invictus Games,
a Paralympic-style sporting event
for servicemen and women that began in 2014,
growing into a life passion for him.
Eventually, Harry returned to his duties as a prince,
but unlike his brother and sister-in-law,
he had trouble balancing
the constant media attention
and came close to breaking down from depression.
After several failed relationships,
in July of 2016 he was set up
on a blind date in London
with an actress, Meghan Markle.
Meghan wasn't like anyone else Harry had ever met.
At age 11, when she saw an Ivory soap commercial
that made it look like only women
should do household chores,
she started a letter-writing campaign
to Procter & Gamble,
getting them to change their slogan.
[pencil scratching] Director: Rolling!
Narrator: She became an actress
and achieved some success
as a cast member of the show "Suits."
At the time, she also became involved in charity work.
So she and Harry could relate to each other,
and the date went well.
After only two days, Harry invited Meghan
to travel with him to Botswana.
Harry had fallen in love with Africa
when he, his father, and brother, William,
had visited it shortly after Princess Diana's death.
[wildlife rumbling]
He shared that solace with Meghan.
But their peace didn't last very long.
By early October, the infamous British tabloids
were reporting on the romance.
[camera shutters clicking]
And along with those reports
came harsh opinion pieces,
often focusing on Meghan's race,
with equally harsh conclusions.
Soon, even in Toronto,
where Meghan was filming "Suits,"
she was followed by media.
On November 8, Prince Harry issued
an unprecedented public statement
confirming the romance,
but also castigating some.
In part, it read, "His girlfriend,
Meghan Markle, has been subject
to a wave of abuse and harassment. ...
He knows commentators will say
this is 'the price she has to pay'
and that 'this is all part of the game'.
He strongly disagrees.
This is not a game -
it is her life and his."
[camera shutters click]
In November of 2017,
they announced their engagement,
and the tone of the media coverage began to shift.
Meghan immediately started receiving positive coverage.
But then the media became quite interested
in Thomas Markle, Meghan's father.
And he became interested
in how he was being portrayed in the media.
Thomas arranged a monetary deal with the tabloids
to stage photo ops.
When the royals asked
if he had received payment from the tabloids,
he lied and denied it.
Coverage of "Will he or won't he attend?"
threatened to overshadow the wedding itself.
In the end, he didn't attend,
under advisement from his doctor.
But many in the media say it was because
he wasn't welcomed by the royal family.
Meghan walked herself halfway down the aisle,
and then Prince Charles escorted her
the rest of the way.
Even after the wedding,
Thomas continued to make waves
accepting offers to appear on British media.
He claimed Harry had spoken to him about Brexit,
Trump, and other political issues,
something the royals strictly forbid.
[pencil scratching]
So, like the little girl starting a
letter-writing campaign,
Meghan again picked up a pen,
this time to urge her father to stop.
It was the last communication they had.
[Meghan sniffling]
Harry certainly knew how the media
could invade his family's life.
The tabloids had printed everything
they could find from his family over the years,
from crass, sexualized hidden-camera pics
to secretly copied diary pages.
All of the attention helped bring Meghan
closer to her new family,
the few people who could understand
what she was going through.
She and Harry along with Prince William
and Kate Middleton
were dubbed the "Fab Four" by the media.
But the media never stopped
holding her to different standards,
like criticizing her for touching her baby bump
repeatedly while in public,
even though the media had previously
praised Kate Middleton
for doing the exact same thing.
Tradition had it that first appearances
of royal babies would be outside the hospital.
Prince Charles and Diana had done it.
Prince William and Kate had done it too.
But Harry and Meghan decided to introduce
their new baby boy, Archie,
two days later at Windsor Castle,
and the British media attacked them for it.
[baby giggles]
And soon the media began to speculate
that the so-called Fab Four were splitting up.
Then, in June 2019, Harry and Meghan
announced they would be leaving
William and Kate's The Royal Foundation charity
to start their own,
despite William supposedly making several attempts
to change Harry's mind.
In January 2019, Splash News, a paparazzi agency,
used a helicopter to take intimate pictures
of Harry and Meghan's Cotswolds home,
causing them to move out.
Harry and Meghan were then criticized
for taking private jets
three times in September 2019,
including flights to an environmental conference.
Three months after their wedding,
The Mail on Sunday published the private letter
Meghan had sent to her father.
[Meghan crying]
When Harry and Meghan sued,
Thomas Markle said he would be happy
to be called as a witness,
but to defend The Mail on Sunday.
[camera shutters clicking]
Harry publicly admitted that his life
with Meghan and Archie
had become really difficult.
Meghan later said --
Meghan: It's not enough to just
survive something, right?
Like, that's not the point of life.
You've got to thrive.
You've got to feel happy.
Narrator: At the end of that year,
Harry and Meghan elected to spend Christmas
by themselves in Canada.
[Archie gurgling]
Despite having the support of the Queen,
they were still criticized by the media.
But by being in Canada,
Harry and Meghan found a whole new sort of peace,
and they made a decision to pursue a move
they had been thinking about.
Though there had been rumors,
no one was expecting the unprecedented announcement
from Harry and Meghan.
[sighing]
[whispering]
It quickly became known as Megxit.
On January 13 of 2020,
a meeting among the top royals was set
to discuss Harry and Meghan's future in the monarchy.
Harry would decide their future for the both of them
with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles,
Prince William, and their top advisors.
Prince William urged Harry to change his mind.
But Harry was determined to make it happen.
After the meeting,
an announcement was made by the Queen.
She wrote, "Although we would have preferred
them to remain full-time working
Members of the Royal Family,
we respect and understand their wish
to live a more independent life as a family
while remaining a valued part of my family."
A few days later, Harry said,
"I know I haven't always gotten it right,
but as far as this goes,
there really was no other option."
[footsteps receding]
Over 2 billion people watched
the funeral of Princess Diana.
He reflected on that day, saying,
"I think being a part of this family,
in this role, in this job,
every single time I see a camera,
every single time I hear a click,
every single time I see a flash,
it takes me straight back."
Now officially separated from the royal family
and living in Los Angeles,
and after having had the opportunity
to tell their side of the story
in a world-famous interview with Oprah Winfrey,
the question on the minds
of many people following them is:
Will they finally be able
to find their happy ever after?
[camera shutters clicking]
[people cheering]