As it happened: Duke, Duchess of Sussex to reveal why they stepped down from royal duties

Harry used the documentary to take further swipes at his brother William and father King Charles III.

Our Europe correspondent Rob Harris writes that early in episode one as he framed his actions during the past two years around the memory of his mother, suggesting he is the one who is carrying her flame.

Read more: Prince Harry takes swipe at William, Charles in Netflix documentary

We didn’t learn terribly much from the first-half of the series other than Meghan’s amusing demonstration of her curtsy to the queen at their first meeting.

Meghan has recalled the day she met the Queen, the first senior royal she was introduced to.Credit: Netflix

We certainly got more glimpses into the celebrity lifestyle the pair live, with the gorgeous backdrops of Californian mansions and Meghan being attended by make-up artists and attendants before her public events.

Doria Ragland’s first comments were notable, although more for that she spoke at all rather than what she said, but her strong criticisms of Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, won’t go unnoticed.

When it came to Harry, his observations about the royal men choosing wives that “fit the mould” will certainly be taken as a shot at his brother William and it will be interesting to observe the reaction from the royal reporters that Harry accused of acting as the de facto publicity arm of the royal family.

But even so, Harry didn’t exactly blow the lid off that cozy arrangement or give examples of where taxpayers had been let down by its existence.

Perhaps that’s next week?

Overall, the challenge for Harry and Meghan may be keeping anyone but their most devoted followers interested.

Television is meant to be interesting and much of that was a routine recap of their relationship, something that has been well-documented by the world’s press.

But the true verdict will be the ratings, if Netflix releases them.

Thanks for joining us tonight. We’ll bring you live coverage of the next three episodes at the same time next week. See you then.

Harry used the documentary to take further swipes at his brother William and father King Charles III.

Our Europe correspondent Rob Harris writes that early in episode one as he framed his actions during the past two years around the memory of his mother, suggesting he is the one who is carrying her flame.

Read more: Prince Harry takes swipe at William, Charles in Netflix documentary

Five years ago, Harry and Meghan told the world that they met via a friend who set them up on a blind date.

In that interview with the BBC, which Meghan referred to tonight as “rehearsed” and their “orchestrated reality show,” Harry said: “We first met, we were introduced actually by a mutual friend, who ...” before being interrupted by Meghan who said: “We should protect her privacy.”

“It was through her,” Harry said.

But tonight Harry told Netflix a slightly different story.

“Meghan and I met over Instagram,” he said.

“I was scrolling through my feed and someone who was a friend had a video of them, it was like a snapchat, it was dog ears,” Harry recalled.

“That’s what he saw of me ... it was ridiculous,” Meghan said.

The Instagram post Harry saw of Meghan that led to their first date.Credit: Netflix

“That was the first thing, I was like ‘who is that,’” Harry said.

Meghan said that at this point in time she was “intent on being single,” having divorced, but received an email from her friend telling her that “Prince Haz” had seen their snapchat picture on Instagram and wanted to meet her.

“Who’s that,” Meghan recalled asking her friend.

Meghan requested to see Harry’s Instagram feed.

“That’s your homework ... that to me was your best barometer,” she said.

The couple claimed that until this documentary: “We’ve never been allowed to tell our story.”

We are interested in your take.

Did the Harry and Meghan documentary change your views tonight?

And that’s where episode three ends, teasing the royal wedding which took place at Windsor Castle in 2018.

Perhaps we will hear more about the infamous feud between Meghan and Kate over dresses which made the Duchesses cry?

Regardless, the wedding is inevitably where we will pick up events this time next week when Netflix dumps the final three parts of its series.

Meghan’s mother Doria says she was stunned that Meghan’s father staged photos ahead of her daughter’s wedding to Harry in the UK.

Meghan expressed disbelief that she found out through a tabloid that her father would not be attending her own wedding.

Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland in a screenshot from the Harry & Meghan documentary.

She said when the initial photographs of her father were published – purporting to show him preparing for the trip to London, but were later revealed to have been staged – she doubted her own father’s story.

“I don’t know why, but I don’t believe him,” she recounts saying to Harry.

“I was absolutely stunned that Tom would become part of this circus,” said Doria, who said parents should not be exploiting their children.

Meghan shares a text that she received from her father’s phone, but she says was not written by him, because it called her Meghan instead of Meg.

“We knew his phone had been compromised,” she said.

Harry says that before Meghan married him, she had a father, but now she doesn’t, something he says she “shoulders”.

The documentary is now back criticising the Commonwealth, with contributors describing the union of nations as “empire 2.0”.

The Commonwealth includes countries that were formally part of French and other European empires who have joined voluntarily, such as Rwanda, which hosted the meeting of nations this year in Kigali.

The documentary features Harry and Meghan visiting the Stephen Lawrence memorial in honour of the British teen who was murdered in 1993 in a racially motivated attack.

The documentary is linking Britain’s colonial past to modern-day racism and the treatment of Meghan.

The first three episodes of Harry & Meghan have landed on Netflix, and it didn’t take long for royal commentators to give their verdicts.

He’s one of the most outspoken critics of Harry and Meghan, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that British commentator Piers Morgan was unimpressed with the documentary.

The host of Piers Uncovered labelled the pair “boring” while also taking issue with the documentary’s discussion about race.

Meanwhile, royal reporter Rob Jobson has claimed Harry has taken a “backhanded swipe at his father” by claiming the men in his family typically married women who fit the mould.

Royal biographer Omid Scobie, a friend of the couple and author of Finding Freedom, has – not surprisingly – been posting generally favourable quotes from the episode.

Meghan says she had a lot to learn about becoming a duchess, including Britain’s national anthem.

She says she googled God Save the Queen (now of course it’s God Save the King) to learn the lyrics.

Asked if she had to hone a technique for a royal wave, she said it wasn’t “a thing” and that everything is done “just smaller.”

The documentary flicks to footage of Meghan being dressed in a huge red gown by several attendants in New York, while Harry sits back and watches, observing “there are now three people under your dress.”

She says in the UK she never wore colour because you couldn’t wear the same colour as the monarch or any member more senior.

She says for this reason she chose to wear colours that would blend in, insisting: “I’m not trying to stand out here”.

Harry, who founded the Invictus Games for wounded war veterans, says serving in Afghanistan burst the bubble he was living in as a member of the royal family.

Prince Harry became known as Wales when he went to war.Credit: AP

He says he was so grateful to live as a more normal person during his time in the military, being fully aware that his life was anything but normal.

He says his own humanitarian work came into perfect union with Meghan’s work “in this beautiful matrimony” when they formed their relationship.

But Meghan says she didn’t know it would be “taboo” to talk about her work, which an advisor to their foundation said was closer to activism than the neutral charity work that royals normally take up to avoid becoming embroiled in any political issues.