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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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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Bernard Hill: Lord Of the Rings cast pay tribute to co-star after his death aged 79

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Bernard Hill: Lord Of the Rings cast pay tribute to co-star after his death aged 79

Elijah Wood and other Lord Of The Rings cast members have paid tribute to their co-star Bernard Hill, who died on Sunday aged 79.

Hill played King Theoden in the Oscar-winning fantasy franchise directed by Sir Peter Jackson.

Wood, who played Frodo Baggins, said on X: “So long to our friend, our king. We will never forget you.”

He also shared a quote from JRR Tolkien‘s novel, on which the films are based, writing: “For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning.”

Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry Brandybuck in the trilogy, wrote: “The Broken king has passed to the grey havens but he will always be remembered. #ripbernard.”

Hill joined the franchise’s cast for the second film in the series, 2002’s The Two Towers, which won two Academy Awards for best sound editing and best visual effects.

He returned to the franchise for 2003’s The Return Of The King, which picked up 11 Oscars, including best picture and best director for Sir Peter.

The actor had been due to attend Comic Con in Liverpool over the weekend but the event announced on Saturday that he had to withdraw at the last minute because of his partner becoming “very ill”.

The post on X added: “He sends his sincere apologies and thanks you all for your understanding.”

Later footage from the event shows Hill’s co-stars paying tribute to him on stage, with Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, saying: “He was intrepid, he was gruff, he was irascible.”

Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin “Pippin” Took, said: “We were watching the movies and I said to Dom, I don’t think anyone spoke Tolkien’s words as great as Bernard did.”

Actors (L to R) Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill and Elijah Wood pose for photographers as they arrive at the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures 2003 annual awards gala in New York City, January 13, 2004. The group from the film "Lord of the Rings" and was presented the award for Best Acting by an Ensemble. REUTERS/Jeff Christensen PP04010037 JC
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Lord of the Rings stars (L to R) Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill and Elijah Wood in 2003. Pic: Reuters

Hill first made a name for himself as Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale’s BBC drama series Boys From The Blackstuff, about five unemployed men, which aired in 1982.

The role earned him a BAFTA TV nomination in 1983, the same year the show picked up the BAFTA for best drama series.

He went on to play Captain Edward Smith in the Oscar-winning 1997 epic Titanic, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Hill as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic. Pic: Shutterstock
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Hill as Captain Edward Smith in Titanic. Pic: Shutterstock

In the 2015 BBC adaptation of the Hilary Mantel novel Wolf Hall – about the court of Henry VIII – he played the Duke of Norfolk, uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

He can currently be seen in the second series of BBC drama The Responder starring Martin Freeman, which began on Sunday night.

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Bernard Hill dies aged 79

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, described him as an “incredible talent” who “blazed a trail across the screen” during his career.

“From Boys From The Blackstuff, to Wolf Hall, The Responder, and many more, we feel truly honoured to have worked with Bernard at the BBC.

“Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this sad time.”

Hill in Return of the King. Pic: Shutterstock
Image:
Hill in Return of the King. Pic: Shutterstock

Actress and singer Barbara Dickson, who starred with him in a musical based on The Beatles, described him as a “marvellous actor”.

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Alongside a picture of them together, she wrote on X: “It’s with great sadness that I note the death of Bernard Hill.

“We worked together in John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, (by) Willy Russell marvellous show 1974-1975.

“A really marvellous actor. It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x.”

Meanwhile, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “Boys from the Blackstuff was massive in my early life. God love you, Bernard Hill.”

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Bernard Hill: Lord Of The Rings and Titanic actor dies aged 79

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Bernard Hill: Lord Of The Rings and Titanic actor dies aged 79

Actor Bernard Hill, who played roles in Lord Of The Rings and Titanic, has died aged 79, his agent has confirmed.

Hill also featured as Yosser Hughes in the iconic drama series Boys In The Blackstuff.

He was given a number of awards for his role as King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic.

The actor was born in Blackley, Manchester, in 1944 and graduated with a diploma in theatre in 1970.

He was married to fellow actor Marianna Hill, with whom he shared a son. His agent Lou Coulson said he died in the early hours of Sunday.

Hill will return to TV on Sunday night starring in the second series of Martin Freeman’s The Responder.

Fans have already started to pay tribute to him on social media.

Scottish musician Barbara Dickson wrote of their time working together: “It’s with great sadness that I note the death of Bernard Hill. We worked together in John Paul George Ringo and Bert, Willy Russell marvellous show 1974-1975.

“A really marvellous actor. It was a privilege to have crossed paths with him. RIP Benny x.”

At a London premiere in 2005. Pic: PA
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In London in 2005. Pic: PA

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Madonna plays biggest-ever show to 1.6 million fans on Rio’s Copacabana beach

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Madonna plays biggest-ever show to 1.6 million fans on Rio's Copacabana beach

Madonna has played her biggest-ever gig to an estimated 1.6 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

It was the last show in her Celebration tour and she performed hits such Like A Prayer, Vogue, Hung Up, Into The Groove and Like A Virgin.

The Brazil city was buzzing ahead of Saturday’s free two-hour show, with hotels and Airbnb’s packed and about 170 extra flights expected into the city.

Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

The famous Rio beach was packed with fans. Pic: AP
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The famous Rio beach was packed with fans. Pic: AP

Helicopters and drones buzzed over the beach as the Queen of Pop took to the stage at 10:37pm, nearly 50 minutes late.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna told the crowd as she pointed out Rio’s famous mountains and Christ the Redeemer statue.

The 65-year-old opened up with Nothing Really Matters from 1998’s Ray of Light album.

Eighteen speaker towers were dotted along the beach to ensure everyone could hear the US star’s vocals.

Brazilian musicians and people from local samba schools were involved in the show – with many fans dressing up in Madonna-themed outfits.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who wore a version of Madonna’s iconic gold cone bra.

Many fans had staked out a spot many hours – or even days – before the show, while others took in the spectacle from yachts or apartment balconies.

Madonna’s website said it was the biggest she had ever done – more than 10 times the 130,000 she played to in Paris in 1987.

However, Rio is used to huge shows – The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart have played to similar-size crowds there.

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

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Flight nightmare causes Murs to cancel gig with Take That
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Thousands of police were on duty for Saturday’s show, which city authorities estimated drew a crowd of 1.6 million and would earn the local economy about 293 million reals (£46m).

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For Madonna, it was the culmination of an 81-date retrospective tour that began in London in October and moved across Europe and North and South America.

The singer embarked upon the tour a few months after being admitted to intensive care with a serious bacterial inaction in June 2023.

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