The Harry and Meghan documentary that marked the point of no return: Two years on from their bombshell Netflix show, we revisit the most devastating allegations that shook the Palace and the scandalous claims still haunting the Royal Family

The first episode of Harry and Meghan’s hotly anticipated TV documentary featured self-shot footage of themselves the day they ended their royal duties in March 2020.

Curiously the filming took place six months before they signed a $100million deal with Netflix, which involved the privacy-conscious couple handing over a trove of pictures and video from the most intimate parts of their lives.

Commentators said it appeared to be part of their long-term plan to accumulate stock footage which would be used in a tell-all account of Megxit.

It would mark a big change from the Royal Family’s long-running ‘never complain, never explain’ mantra which bans even an interview – never mind a full ‘docuseries’.

Without the royal straitjacket Harry was now able to say what he wanted and he took full advantage by delivering a slew of devastating and damaging ‘truth bombs’ on his own family in December 2022.

But due to royal protocol, Harry’s family members were not able to respond to his claims and Buckingham Palace never released a statement about the series.

Although it was widely panned by viewers and critics due to its relentless ‘woe is me’ tone, only scoring 5.1/10 on IMDB, it did pull in the ratings – becoming Netflix’s second-highest-ranked documentary ever.

Two years on, MailOnline looks back at the most scandalous claims in the bombshell TV series – and why they mean there could be no turning back for Harry and Meghan.

Harry was brought up by another family in Africa

Harry claims that he was ‘literally brought up’ by a ‘second family’ in Africa where he chose to spend three-month stints in his late teens and twenties after his mother’s death. 

Tania Jenkins and Mike Holding were then thanked in his memoir Spare which came out the month after the documentary.

They formed a close bond with the prince when he visited Botswana as a teenager in the aftermath of his mother’s death.

In what was perceived by some to be a snub to King Charles, Harry spoke candidly about his affection for the couple, describing how being away from the spotlight in Africa helped him.

Harry described how it ‘worried’ his father that he was spending so much time in Botswana.

He said: ‘Botswana is a country very close to my heart. The fact that I spend more time here than at home worries my father a lot.

‘I’ve got a second family out there. A group of friends that literally brought me up.’

A photo shown in the documentary features Harry standing next to a laughing Ms Jenkins, with Mr Holding seated next to her on a safari truck.

Royal biographers have claimed that the bond between them was so close that Harry used to jokingly call Ms Jenkins ‘mum’.

Huge level of ‘unconscious bias’ in the Royal Family

Harry also describes a ‘huge level of unconscious bias’ in the Royal Family.

The couple discuss Princess Michael of Kent wearing a Blackamoor-style brooch to a pre-Christmas event in front of Meghan at Buckingham Palace in 2017. She was forced to apologise.

Harry said: ‘In this family sometimes you’re part of the problem rather than part of the solution. And there is a huge level of unconscious bias. The thing with unconscious bias is actually no one’s fault.

‘But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right.

‘It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.’

There is also a suggestion that the UK is racist and more obsessed with race than the US, with Meghan declaring that she ‘wasn’t really treated like a black woman’ until she came to Britain. 

Meghan thought curtsying to the Queen ‘was a joke’

A giggling Meghan appeared to mock her own efforts at following royal protocol as she recounted the ‘surreal’ moment she first met the Queen – performing a deeply exaggerated curtsy in front of an awkward looking Prince Harry. 

Meghan met the Queen for the first time during a lunch at Royal Lodge in Windsor, shortly after she and the duke revealed they were dating in 2016. 

But she said the whole occasion felt like an antiquated banquet at Medieval Times, a family dinner theatre in the US featuring staged medieval-style games, sword-fighting and jousting. 

The Duke of Sussex described how Meghan meeting the Queen for the first time was a ‘shock to the system’.

Harry said: ‘My grandmother was the first senior member of the family that Meghan met. She had no idea what it all consisted of so it was a bit of a shock to the system for her.’ 

Meghan said: ‘There wasn’t like some big moment of “Now you’re going to meet my grandmother”. I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before.

‘We were in the car and we were going to Royal Lodge for lunch, and he’s like “Oh, my grandmother’s here, we’re going to meet her after church.” 

‘And I remember we were in the car driving up and he’s like “You know how to curtsy, right?” And I just thought it was a joke.’

Harry said: ‘How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you will need to curtsy. Especially to an American. That’s weird.’

Meghan added: ‘Now I’m starting to realise “This is a big deal”. I mean, Americans will understand this… We have Medieval Times, dinner and tournament. It was like that.

‘Like, I curtsied as though I was like… “Pleasure to meet you your Majesty.”

‘It was so intense. And then when she left, Eugenie and Jack and Fergie say “you did great!”. Thanks. I didn’t know what I was doing.’ 

Harry chose with his heart – unlike his male relatives

Harry insisted that his decision to marry Meghan sets him apart from his family because it was ‘from his heart’ and not because she ‘would fit the mould’.

It has been seen as a swipe at his father and other senior royals, perhaps even his brother William.

The Duke of Sussex said: ‘I think for so many people in the family, especially obviously the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with. 

‘The difference between making decisions with your head, or your heart. And my mum certainly made most of her decisions – if not all of them – from her heart. And I am my mother’s son’. 

He also said his wife being an American actress ‘clouded’ his family’s view of her – and they believed it wouldn’t last.

The reuse of the Martin Bashir clip hated by William

Prince William was also angered by his younger brother’s decision to use a clip from their mother’s notorious and deceitful BBC interview with Martin Bashir.

The Prince of Wales previously issued an unprecedented televised statement where he requested the ‘deceitful’ programme should never be aired again after Bashir duped her into taking part.

Midway through the first episode, clips are shown of Diana speaking in the controversial 1995 interview, a programme that William said exacerbated his mother’s ‘fear, paranoia and isolation’. 

Justifying the decision, Harry told his documentary: ‘She felt compelled to talk about it. Especially in that Panorama interview. 

‘I think we all now know that she was deceived into giving the interview, but at the same time she spoke the truth of her experience’.

A report by Lord Dyson, published in May 2021, found the BBC covered up Bashir’s deceit in obtaining the interview and ‘fell short of high standards of integrity and transparency’.

The journalist was in ‘serious breach’ of the BBC’s producer guidelines when he faked bank statements and showed them to Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother, to gain access to Diana in 1995, the report said.

The royals are too formal, even behind closed doors

Meghan also hits out at the formality of the royals, describing meeting Prince William and Kate for the first time wearing torn jeans and bare feet. 

Discussing what happened, she said: ‘I was a hugger. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.’

She said: ‘I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.

‘That there is a forward-facing way of being. And then you close the door and you are like “Oh great. OK, we can relax now”. But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.’

Harry says Diana was left ‘by herself’ after divorce

Harry, who proudly claimed he was ‘his mothers son’ in the show, seemed to still have a festering feeling of ill-will towards the Royal Family regarding how his mother Princess Diana was treated.  

The documentary cuts to an announcement by John Major on December 9, 1992, that ‘with regret’ the Prince and Princess of Wales had decided to separate.

He says the decision had been reached ‘amicably’ and they would both continue to participate fully in the upbringing of their children.

The documentary then shows a clip from the famous Panorama interview where Diana says: ‘Everything changed after we separated and life became very difficult for me.’

Harry’s voiceover then says that the moment Diana divorced and left the institution, she was by herself.

‘The pain and the suffering of women marrying into this institution, I remember thinking, how can I ever find someone who is willing and capable to be able to withstand all the baggage that comes with being with me?’

Royals asked why Meghan should be ‘protected’

The Duke of Sussex has said members of the Royal Family asked why the Duchess of Sussex should be ‘protected’ when the couple questioned newspaper headlines about her.

He said: ‘The direction from the Palace was don’t say anything.

‘But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well.

‘So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like “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?”

‘I said “the difference here is the race element”.’