Harry & Meghan is an American documentary series streaming on Netflix, starring Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. The series has six parts and covers the couple's relationship from their early courtship to their decision to step back as working members of the British royal family and their subsequent activities. It also includes interviews with family, friends, historians, and journalists.
The series was released in two volumes: three, one-hour episodes on December 8, 2022; and three more, one week later on December 15. It received mixed reviews from critics. According to BARB, it was the most-watched premiere for a Netflix show in 2022 in the United Kingdom. It holds the record for the biggest debut for a Netflix documentary with a total 81.6 million hours watched on its first four days of release, amounting to more than 28.7 million households.
Cast Starring Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
Notable cameos
Doria Ragland, Meghan's mother Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's niece Afua Hirsch, British writer and broadcaster David Olusoga, British historian and writer Kehinde Andrews, British Black studies academic Silver Tree, American writer, producer and director Abigail Spencer, American actress Jill Smoller, American sports agent and former professional tennis player Serena Williams, American professional tennis player Misan Harriman, Nigerian-born British photographer and entrepreneur Nacho Figueras, Argentine polo player and model Prince Seeiso of Lesotho Tyler Perry, American actor and comedian Christopher Bouzy, American tech entrepreneur
Episodes
Production In September 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a private commercial deal with Netflix "to develop scripted and unscripted series, film, documentaries, and children programming for the streaming service". Garrett Bradley was initially attached to the project as director, but reportedly left due to differences of opinion with the couple. Lana Wilson was also considered by Netflix as another possible director though she was never formally attached to the project. All interviews featured in the docuseries were completed by August 2022.
In an interview published in October 2022, Meghan announced that she and Harry were working on a docuseries focused on their life, directed by Liz Garbus. Garbus had been recruited for the project in 2021 by Chanel Pysnik, head of unscripted for Archewell Productions. Garbus had previously worked with Meghan on the development of a children's show. As of October 2022, Netflix had not confirmed the release of any documentaries by Harry and Meghan, and the release date for the docuseries was reportedly pushed back following the negative reaction to the fifth season of Netflix's The Crown. Meghan said of the docuseries that it was "... nice to be able to trust someone with our story" and described Garbus as a "seasoned director whose work I've long admired". Meghan conceded that allowing Garbus to direct meant that the series "may not be the way we would have told it. But that's not why we're telling it. We're trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens". In response to the question of whether they reached out to the British press to get their side of the story, Garbus said the idea was "a nonstarter" as they were trying to keep the project "under wraps".
On December 1, 2022, the title of the docuseries was announced as Harry & Meghan. Despite initial assumptions that the docuseries had been partially filmed at the couple's Montecito home, it was later reported that the couple sat down for their interviews at 888 Lilac Drive, another mansion in Montecito.
Reception Audience viewership The series has received the highest UK viewing ratings for any Netflix show in 2022. According to BARB, its first episode recorded 2.4 million views during its first day on Netflix. This figure not only marks the biggest one-day audience for any Netflix show since BARB began monitoring the streaming service in October 2022, but it is also over double the viewership of The Crowns first episode of its fifth season (1.1 million). The second episode had 1.5 million streams, while the third installment managed 800,000. The docuseries holds the record for the biggest debut for a Netflix documentary with a total 81.6 million hours watched on its first four days of availability, amounting to more than 28 million households. It was watched for 97.7 million hours between December 12–18, during which its second volume became available. The show amassed 1.27 billion minutes of viewing time in the United States during its premiere week, followed by 1.69 billion minutes for the week of December 12–18. It ranked fourth on Nielsen's weekly streaming rankings during its first week before rising to the second position in the following week. In January 2023, the series was announced as Netflix's second-highest ranked documentary ever.
Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 45% approval rating with an average rating of 5.7/10, based on 31 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Harry & Meghan is one of the most intimate glimpses yet into the famous couple, this overlong docuseries offers more overexposure than genuine illumination." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 56 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Zach Schonfeld, writing in The Guardian about the way controversial documentaries about celebrities were increasingly being suppressed in favour of dull, sanitised, authorised versions, said "Netflix's Harry & Meghan, a six-hour exercise in brand management, made with their own production company, may represent the nadir. As Edelman put it, viewers are 'being served slop'."
Volume I
Upon the release of its first volume, the series received mixed reviews from critics in the United States and the United Kingdom. Writing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan liked the sweet moments between the couple and their children "being charming and funny together", but added that the audience is left with "exactly the same story we always knew, told in the way we would expect to hear it from the people who are telling it." In her review for The Independent, Jessie Thompson described the series as "intimate, self-aggrandizing, and wildly entertaining", but found the couple's expression of love for one another frustrating, while questioning some of the claims made with regards to their lack of knowledge of royal protocol: "Did Meghan really think it was 'a joke' that she had to curtsy to the Queen of England? It might be an outdated request, but it surely can't have been an unexpected one." Camilla Tominey of The Daily Telegraph described the documentary as an "unashamedly one-sided story" and "a completely partisan and overly dramatic interpretation of real life events" which "used slick propaganda, thinly-veiled jibes and a Sussex squad of loyal troops to do battle against bigoted Britain and its racist press."
Henry Mance of the Financial Times was critical of the show's pace, stating "This is a show that makes you grateful that the streaming platform has the option to watch at 1.25x speed." He also added that compared to past appearances by members of the royal family on television, the show was lacking any interesting content. Writing for The Times, Carol Midgley believed the show was "beautifully shot but it was repetitive, whingy and boring." In her review for Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury found the series lacking in terms of interesting content, saying that the audience would be "feeling shortchanged by Volume I." Writing for Variety, Daniel D'Addario believed the series suffered from "a sort of narrative stuckness, an inability or lack of desire to find the next thing to say that we haven't yet heard." He added that "speaking in their own voice about issues other than their personal experience would have represented a good start." In a review for CNN, Peggy Drexler wrote that the couple was "less interested in staying out of the spotlight than in staying in complete control of how that spotlight makes them look," and added that "the documentary strives to portray them as 'more grounded' than the rest of the royal family. In reality, they may be the most out of touch of them all." Writing for Fox News, Neil Sean was critical of the inconsistencies within the "boring" docuseries: "Even how they first met has radically changed like so many inconsistencies in the dire podcast she hosted, which took years to make."
Volume II The second volume also received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for The Independent, Jessie Thompson described the second volume as "an almost unendurable three additional hours of grudge-rehashing." While acknowledging their difficulties with the press, she believed "their Netflix show gives the impression of a narcissistic, curiously thin-skinned pair" that are "trapped in a royal soap opera of their own creation – feeding the exact beast they so longed to escape from." In her review for the i, Emily Baker wrote that the series contained "cringey (but admittedly sweet) stories of their self-described 'fairy tale'" that were aimed at "painting Meghan as a victim of both the tabloids' venom and the royal family (or rather, their PR teams)." She argued that the viewer could sympathize with their views but "we would all do well (Harry and Meghan included) to close the entire book." Leila Latif of The Guardian believed the series did not "really provide much in terms of new information," but it "still lands a punch because there are so many unlikely twists." The BBC writer Katie Razzall called the series "heavily one-sided and selective," additionally stating that the couple might still have wanted "to battle royal institutions and the media," but that it might "turn out that their real battle" would be "with ongoing relevancy."
In her review for The Times, Carol Midgley stated that Harry "casts his brother as ego-driven and his father as a liar in this narcissistic exercise." She noted that the couple gave "a persuasive account of how they felt attacked and bullied by sections of the media and certain palace aides," and advised her readers to "ditch the first four hours (boring!) and just watch the last two" as "two wealthy adults frame their lives like a fairytale in the style of a soppy Tui advert." Writing for The Guardian, Stuart Heritage jokingly pointed out the documentary's effort to paint Prince William as the villain: "When Megxit was announced, William apparently 'screamed' at Harry. William put out a joint statement from the brothers without consulting Harry first. William grew a twirly mustache and tied a helpless villager to some train tracks. William invented Covid. William exists on nothing but a diet of fresh orphan blood." In a review for Slate, Louis Staples expressed sympathy for Meghan as a victim of "racist and misogynistic bullying", but found the documentary "annoying," noting that the couple comes off as "out-of-touch, self-absorbed and cornier than a Hallmark movie." Camilla Tominey of The Telegraph was critical of Harry's claim that media tactics are "a dirty game," as he has now become "one of the contestants as soon as he took $90 million from the game show host that is Netflix." She also argued that Harry hardly seems to champion women's empowerment as he suggests "the late Queen Elizabeth II, a royal matriarch for more than 70 years, was somehow hoodwinked by her own (male) advisers," and despite his mental health advocacy he potentially inflicts damage on the mental health of others by "effectively gaslighting his own father and brother simply for doing their duty."
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominee Result 2023 Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards Best Streaming Non-fiction Series Harry & Meghan
Responses