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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix docuseries, titled Harry and Meghan, has dropped in part today – unveiling dramatic revelations about their time in the UK.

Here, Sky News highlights the key admissions made by Harry and Meghan, along with a few more surprises.

Screen Grabs taken from Harry and Meghan  Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan
PIC:NETFLIX

Episode 1

Harry and Meghan both appear candid from the off and ready to tell their version of events following their 2016 whirlwind romance.

After completing their final stint of royal engagements in March 2020, the 38-year-old prince says it is “really hard to look back on it now and go ‘what on earth happened’? Like, how did we end up here?'”

Harry and Meghan Netflix series – live updates

Women in the Royal Family

Prince Harry spoke about women in the Royal Family and said he had learnt “the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution”.

He said: “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.”

Harassment of Princess Diana

Prince Harry says his mother, Princess Diana, was “harassed throughout her life”.

He says: “My mum was harassed throughout her life with my dad, but after they separated, the harassment went to new levels.”

Harry goes on to say that the moment his mother divorced, she was “by herself”.

Screen Grabs taken from Harry and Meghan  Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan
PIC:NETFLIX
Image:
The royal couple had a ‘guarded’ relationship at the beginning. Pic: Netflix

Meeting on Instagram

Meghan reveals she wasn’t looking for a relationship the summer they met.

“I was really intent on being single, and just having fun all the time,” she says. “I had my career, I had my life, I had my path, uh, and then came H – I mean talk about plot twist.”

Then Harry reveals how they actually met…

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

“I was just scrolling through my feed and someone who was a friend had this video of the two of them, like a Snapchat, with dog ears. That was the first thing – I was like ‘who is THAT?'”.

Archie heard speaking on TV for first time

The couple’s son, Archie, is heard speaking on TV for the first time six minutes into the episode.

As Meghan looks at the sunset, she asks Archie how he would describe it.

“It’s beautiful,” he says.

Screen Grabs taken from Harry and Meghan  Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan
PIC:NETFLIX
Image:
Archie is heard speaking on TV for the first time. Pic: Netflix

Fitting the mould

Harry reveals there was an urge for members of the Royal Family to marry someone who “fit the mould”.

He says: “I think for so many people in the family, especially the men, there could be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to someone you are destined to be with.

“The difference between making a decision 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.”

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Public pressures

How different Prince William and Harry were as children is explored in the first episode, and how the Royal Family reacted to the paparazzi.

Harry describes his childhood as “filled with happiness and laughter”, but added that “the majority of my memories are of being swarmed by paparazzi”.

He also describes how the Royal Family reacted to paparazzi: “Rarely did we have a holiday without someone with a camera jumping out of a bush or something. Within the family, within the system, the advice that’s always given is don’t react.

“Don’t feed into it. There was always public pressure, with its fair share of drama, stress and tears. And witnessing those tears. I could always see it on my mum’s face. And that was when I thought hang on what am I, who am I, what am I part of?”

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Meghan ‘similar’ to Princess Diana

Speaking about Meghan, Harry says: “So much of how Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum.

“She has the same compassion, she has the same empathy, she has the same confidence – she has this warmth about her.”

He adds that he accepts “there will be people around the world who fundamentally disagree with what I’ve done and how I’ve done it, but I knew that I had to do everything I could to protect my family”.

“Especially after what happened to my mum. You know I didn’t want history to repeat itself,” he says.

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Harry and Meghan: Key takeaways

Episode 2

Falling in love

Meghan reveals in episode 2 that the beginning of her relationship with Harry was “long distance” and “guarded”.

She says: “Everything was just texts and FaceTimes and we’d just talk for hours and it just felt exciting which is so weird because it wasn’t exciting in the way that people would assume that it would be.”

The former Suits actress describes the start of their romance as “relaxed and easy”.

Screen Grabs taken from Harry and Meghan  Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan
PIC:NETFLIX
Image:
Meghan says her relationship with Harry was ‘easy’ and ‘relaxed’

She says: “We just got to know each other. Truly, like any other couple when you’re figuring out… What do you like to eat, what do you like to cook? What kind of movies do you like?”

Speaking about the relationship, Harry says: “I got to know her more and more, I was like, ‘I’m really falling in love with this girl’. So in spite of my fear, I just opened my heart to see what’s going to happen.”

Meghan meets William and Kate in ripped jeans

Meghan said she found the Royal Family quite formal upon first meeting them, and revealed she first met Prince William and Kate while wearing a ripped pair of jeans.

She says she has always been a hugger and didn’t realise that was jarring for a lot of British people.

“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside,” Meghan says.

“That there is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and ‘phew I can relax now’ but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

Prince Harry says the Queen was the first senior member of the Royal Family who Meghan met.

First death threat

Prince Harry describes the early stages of his relationship as a “combination of car chases, anti-surveillance driving and disguises”.

Meghan describes how she received a death threat while she was in Toronto after the huge surge of media attention she experienced.

She said when she got her first death threat “things changed because I needed to have security”.

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Prince Harry on ‘race element’

Harry revealed that members of the Royal Family questioned why the Duchess of Sussex should be “protected” when the couple raised newspaper headlines about her.

“The direction from the Palace was don’t say anything,” he says, adding that his family would ask why Meghan should receive “special treatment”.

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

Meeting the Queen

In episode two, Meghan says she did not know what meeting the Queen would consist of and describes it as “all a bit of a shock”.

The Duchess of Sussex says: “I didn’t realise I was about to meet Queen, on way to a lunch and Harry asked, ‘You know how to curtsey right?'”

FILE - In this Tuesday, July 10, 2018 file photo Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, and Meghan the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft pass over Buckingham Palace in London. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to no longer use their HRH titles and will repay ..2.4 million of taxpayer's money spent on renovating their Berkshire home, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday, Jan. 18. 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
Image:
Meghan and Harry with the Queen in 2018

She goes on to say: “Now I’m realising this is a big deal, talks about curtseying and meeting the Queen, it was so intense.”

Speaking about introducing Meghan to his family, Harry says: “I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed, some of them didn’t know quite what to do with themselves.

“I think they were surprised. They were surprised a ginger could land such a beautiful woman, and such an intelligent woman.”

But he says his family’s judgement may have been clouded by the fact Meghan was an American actress, and thought, “this won’t last”.

Episode 3

Engagement interview

In the third episode, Meghan describes her engagement interview as “an orchestrated reality show”.

She said: “It was, you know, rehearsed, so we did the thing out with the press and then we went right inside, took the coat off, sat down and did the interview. So it was all in that same moment.”

The couple announced their engagement in 2017.

Adapting wardrobes

Meghan explains in episode three that she “rarely wore colour” during her time in the UK as she understood you could not wear the same colour as the Queen in a group event.

“But then you also should never be wearing the same colour as one of the other more senior members of the family. So I was like ‘well, what’s a colour that they’ll probably never wear?'”, she says.

Screen Grabs taken from Harry and Meghan  Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan
PIC:NETFLIX
Image:
Meghan and Harry met in 2016. Pic: Netflix

“Camel, beige, white. So I wore a lot of muted tones, but it also was so I could just blend in.

“Like, I’m not trying to stand out here. So there’s no version of me joining this family and trying to not do everything I could to fit in. I don’t want to embarrass the family.”

Unconscious bias in Royal Family

The Duke of Sussex reveals in episode three there is a “huge level of unconscious bias” in the Royal Family, before the documentary refers to when Princess Michael of Kent wore a Blackamoor-style brooch to an event the Duchess of Sussex attended in 2017.

He says: “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias.

“The thing with unconscious bias, it 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.”

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Prince Harry takes aim at family

Nazi uniform ‘biggest mistake of my life’

Harry says wearing a Nazi uniform to a private party was “one of the biggest mistakes of my life” and that he felt “so ashamed afterwards”.

In 2005, Harry made headlines when he was pictured wearing a Nazi uniform with a swastika armband to a fancy dress party.

The pictures was published on the front page of The Sun newspaper under the headline: “Harry the Nazi”.

Clarence House later issued a statement which read: “Prince Harry has apologised for any offence or embarrassment he has caused. He realises it was a poor choice of costume.”

Googling the national anthem

Meghan opens up about her experience joining the Royal Family, the protocols and how she came to learn the British national anthem.

She says: “Joining this family, I knew that there was a protocol for how things were done. And do you remember that old movie The Princess Diaries, with Anne Hathaway?

“There’s no class, and some person who goes ‘sit like this, cross your legs like this, use your fork, don’t do this, curtsey then, wear this kind of hat’. It doesn’t happen”.

When asked how she learned the national anthem she says: “I googled it, and I’d sit, there, and I’d practice and I’d practice”.

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Peter Kay forced to postpone gigs for a second time because of arena issues

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Peter Kay forced to postpone gigs for a second time because of arena issues

Peter Kay says he has been forced to postpone two shows at a new arena in Manchester again – this time for almost a month.

The comedian was due to perform at the Co-op Live in Manchester, which is set to become the UK’s biggest arena, on 23 and 24 April.

Behind-schedule power tests and safety concerns meant both gigs were initially pushed back to 29 and 30 April – but now, the dates have been delayed until 23 and 24 May.

Co-op Live’s general manager, Gary Roden, resigned yesterday following a series of problems and delays at the new venue.

Kay wrote: “To everybody with tickets, my apologies once again… I know I can’t believe it either.”

He added: “It’s very disappointing but your safety is important and I won’t compromise that.”

The £365 million arena’s general manager announced his resignation after a slew of issues led to a delay in the opening of what will be the UK’s biggest indoor arena.

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In an X/Twitter post today, comedian Kay apologised to fans for the cancellations.

The 50-year-old Phoenix Nights star wrote: “To everybody with tickets, my apologies once again but unfortunately the Co-op Live still isn’t ready and so, as yet, remains untested for a large-scale audience.

“Consequently, they are having to reschedule my two shows yet again (I know I can’t believe it either).”

Today it also emerged that The Black Keys gigs due to be at the venue this month have also been pushed back.

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys performs live on day 2 of the Isle of Wight Festival 2015, Seaclose Park, Isle of Wight
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Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Pic PA

Headaches for Co-op Arena became patently clear after capacity for a test event last Saturday was reduced with just hours’ notice.

The arena announced on Monday that Kay’s performances would instead take place on 29 and 30 April, with Kay saying he was “truly gutted” by the delay but the comedy gigs will now move to 23 and 24 May 23.

He wrote: “Tickets will be transferred, or refunds given if the new dates aren’t suitable. It’s very disappointing but your safety is important, and I won’t compromise that.”

In a post on X/Twitter, Co-Op Live Arena said: “Since making the difficult decision to postpone the live shows at Co- op Live due to take place this week, we have been undertaking an extensive protocol of testing critical procedures to ensure all areas are ready for fans.

“To ensure that we can run all shows safely, regretfully we have now had to take the decision to reschedule the planned The Black Keys and Peter Kay shows.”

The US rock band will now play at the venue on 15 May.

Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester
Pic: Cover Images/AP
Image:
Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester
Pic: Cover Images/AP

A spokesperson for the venue posted: “Rescheduling Peter Kay and The Black Keys will give us the extra time we need to continue testing enhanced emergency communications thoroughly.

“This is vital to satisfy the rigorous set of guidelines and protocols that are necessary for a venue of this size to ensure that our fans, artists and staff have the safest experience possible.”

Over the weekend, a preview concert starring Rick Astley was also hit by delays, with ticket capacity slashed just hours before his gig was due to begin.

Astley fans who had their tickets cancelled have instead been offered seats to see US rock band the Black Keys play next week – but now that show has been cancelled.

Organisers said one problem in particular related to the power supply that was the cause of the cancellation.

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A spokesperson said: “It is critical to ensure we have a consistent total power supply to our fully electric sustainable venue, the completion of which is a few days behind.

“Rescheduling gives us the extra time we need to continue testing thoroughly. This is vital to satisfy the rigorous set of guidelines and protocols that are necessary for a venue of this size.”

Once fully open, the arena next to Manchester City’s ground will have a capacity of 23,500, overtaking the size of the existing Manchester Arena which can hold 21,000 spectators.

Built at an estimated cost of £365m, the arena counts former One Direction singer Harry Styles as one of its investors, with the pop star also advising on some elements of the arena’s design.

Other stars that were due to play at the venue include Take That, Liam Gallagher, Olivia Rodrigo and Eric Clapton.

Peter Kay has been on a comeback tour since December, appearing in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham – his first tour since 2010.

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Jack Whitehall reacts after Prince William calls his jokes ‘dad-like’

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Jack Whitehall reacts after Prince William calls his jokes 'dad-like'

Jack Whitehall says he’s been the victim of “outrageous shading” after the Prince of Wales described his jokes as “dad-like”.

The next in line to the throne was asked by a group of school kids to tell a “dad joke” – and responded by saying he was “channelling” the 35-year-old comedian.

On X, Whitehall quipped: “There goes my knighthood.”

In a light-hearted, split-screen video, Whitehall reacted to the prince’s comments – but flattery after being name dropped turned to mock offence after William critiqued his jokes.

“Rinsed by the future King,” the comic said.

William made a surprise visit to a school in the West Midlands yesterday after a pupil requested he come and learn about their mental health campaign.

During the trip, William was asked to join children from St Michael’s Church of England School in Sandwell for the “dad joke” segment of their radio show.

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He said: “I’m trying to channel Jack Whitehall, because most of his jokes are pretty dad-like.

“I think what I’ll do is I’ll say a joke which is Charlotte’s favourite joke at the moment, she keeps telling me.”

The Prince of Wales during a visit to St. Michael’s Church of England High School in Sandwell
Pic Kensington Palace
Image:
The Prince of Wales visits a school in Sandwell. Pic: Kensington Palace

The royal began with “knock knock” – and when pupils replied “who’s there”, William said “interrupting cow”.

As the kids tried to ask “interrupting cow who?” he made them laugh by saying “moooooo” before they could finish the sentence.

Whitehall shook his head with disapproval while listening to the joke – but then picked up a notebook and scribbled it down, as if he planned to use it in a future set.

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Prince William surprises student

Whitehall – who welcomed his first child with his partner Roxy Horner last year – has written a Netflix special called Settle Down about becoming a father.

He is known for his sarcastic and self-deprecating stand-up comedy, starring in the sitcom Bad Education, and his long-running travel show with his father Michael.

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Orpheus Pledger: Home and Away star accused of assault arrested after manhunt

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Orpheus Pledger: Home and Away star accused of assault arrested after manhunt

Former Home and Away star Orpheus Pledger has been arrested following a three-day police manhunt for the actor, according to Australian media reports.

The 30-year-old was due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday accused of assaulting a woman, Sky News Australia said.

The actor had been granted bail on Monday for a court-ordered hospital assessment and had been ordered to return to court the next day.

When he failed to show up – Victoria Police issued a warrant for his arrest and asked the public to help find him.

On Thursday night, Victoria Police confirmed Pledger had been found and arrested, ABC News and Sky News Australia reported.

He is facing four assault charges for allegedly assaulting a woman.

Pledger’s manager Craig McMahon told the Sydney Morning Herald he had not been in contact with his client this week but that he had been shocked by the assault allegations.

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Pledger starred in Neighbours, another Australian soap, in 2011.

He joined the cast of Home and Away in 2016 and played Mason Morgan for three years.

Earlier in his career, he appeared in other TV shows, Silversun and CrashBurn.

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