5 headline-making moments to watch in the Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan documentary
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, made headline-making comments on everything from motherhood to mental health, grief and media scrutiny in the new documentary "Harry and Meghan: An African Journey."
The couple's comments and their candidness about their lives behind the scenes have since sparked a debate about what should be expected of them, both in their royal duties and in what they reveal publicly.
Tune into "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey," hosted by "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 10 p.m. ET, on the ABC Television Network.
In the U.K., tabloids have zeroed in on Harry's comments about his brother Prince William and suggested that Harry and Meghan should keep a stiff upper lip and go on with their work.
On social media, many people stood up for the couple and the pressure they seem to be struggling to handle, making the hashtag #WeLoveYouMeghan go viral.
"I think some of what [Harry and Meghan] were doing here was just emotional, it was just saying well this is where we’re at, and some of it was trying to do things differently," ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby, who interviewed the couple, said Wednesday on "Good Morning America." "If this documentary has an outcome, I do hope that it’s that everyone, perhaps including them, takes a really deep breath and maybe thinks really hard about how the future may play out."
Bradby described finding Harry and Meghan as "bruised and vulnerable" when he interviewed them in Southern Africa for the documentary.
"I’d seen them obviously before we left and had a pretty long chat and so I formed a certain view there," he said. "And I speak to Harry relatively often and have done over the years so, as I said, I knew that things weren’t entirely brilliant behind the scenes, but it sort of built as the tour went on really."
Viewers in the U.S. will have their chance tonight to watch "Harry and Meghan: An African Journey" and hear Harry and Meghan speak for themselves.
The documentary, that follows the Sussexes on their 10-day trip to southern Africa, airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET, on the ABC Television Network.
Here are five things to watch when the documentary premieres on ABC.
Tune into "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey," hosted by "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 10 p.m. ET, on the ABC Television Network.
1. Meghan talking about her biracial background
One of the biggest moments at the start of Harry and Meghan's tour was a speech Meghan gave to young girls in Nyanga, a township in Cape Town that is known as one of the most dangerous places in South Africa.
"While I’m here as a member of the royal family, I stand here before you as a mother, a wife, a woman, as a woman of color and as your sister," she told the girls.
Meghan, born to a white father and African American mother, reveals in the documentary how that line was added to her speech and talks about her hope that one day people can look past her race.
2. Harry as a dad
Harry and Meghan's 5-month-old son Archie joined his parents in South Africa, their first official tour as a family of three.
The couple appears at their happiest when they are with Archie, introducing him to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka in Cape Town.
Harry shows himself as a doting dad, carefully wiping Archie's drool from his mouth and cradling Archie while Meghan finishes an interview.
He also reflects on now being a dad and a husband under the media's glare, telling Bradby, "I will always protect my family and now I have a family to protect."
3. Harry's ongoing grief over Princess Diana's death
The happy moments of Harry with his son are countered with more somber clips of Harry's reflecting on the loss of his mom, Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 car crash in Paris that involved paparazzi.
Harry describes her death as a "wound that festers."
"I think [of] being part of this family, in this role, in this job every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash," he said. "It takes me straight back, so in that respect it’s the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best."
Harry spoke about his mom and the media's attention on his family today before it was announced publicly that he and Meghan have started legal action against several British tabloids.
"Everything that she went through and what happened to her is incredibly raw every single day and that’s not me being paranoid that’s just me not wanting a repeat of the past," Harry told Bradby. "And if anybody else knew what I knew, be it a father, be it a husband, be it anyone, you’d probably be doing exactly what I’m doing as well."
4. Meghan's real talk on motherhood
Meghan garnered sympathy and praise on social media after she acknowledged her struggle both as a new mom and one under a constant spotlight.
"I would say, look any women especially when they’re pregnant, you’re really vulnerable so that was made really challenging and when you have a newborn, you know, yeah, you know, and especially as a woman it’s really, it’s a lot," she said. "So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or a newlywed it’s um, yeah, well, I guess, and also thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I’m OK."
Meghan also opens up about how she "had no idea" the depth of the scrutiny she would face after becoming Harry's wife.
"I don’t think anybody could understand that," she said. "In all fairness I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand and hear, but when I first met my now-husband my friends were really happy because I was so happy but my British friends said to me, ‘I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life.’"
"And I very naively – I’m American. We don’t have that there – [said], ‘What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not in any tabloids,'" she added. "I didn’t get it. So it’s been, yeah. It’s been complicated."
5. Harry's relationship with Prince William
Harry addresses the rumors, fanned by British tabloids, of a rift between him and William, the only children of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, saying the two brothers are "certainly on different paths at the moment."
"Part of this role and part of this job and this family being under the pressure that it's under, inevitably stuff happens," he said. "But look we’re brothers. We’ll always be brothers."
Bradby told "GMA" Wednesday that he sees the brothers as having "two entirely different parallel narratives" on topics including their mother's death.
"Harry feels quite simply that the press killed his mother and is now in danger of trying to damage his wife," Bradby said. "William has a more nuanced view of that and he thinks, yes, their mother did have a very hard time but also that she made a mistake in allowing the press in and he just is absolutely adamant that that shouldn’t happen and he thinks his brother sometimes is too open and then sometimes tries to close up and that doesn’t work."
"The other thing is, Harry is essentially trying something new," Bradby added of Harry's approach to his royal duties. "He’s appealing to a new demographic as he sees it, in a new way."
"William has to play things in a more traditional way, and I think that’s where really most of the tension lies," he said.
Tune into "Harry & Meghan: An African Journey," hosted by "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 10 p.m. ET, on the ABC Television Network.
