Recap 3, again in (at least) two parts. My apologies for the length, but these last two episodes had a lot in them, and I didn't want to bias discussion by leaving out context.
List of those interviewed in Episode 3 (aside from Harry and Meghan): David Olusoga, Author Black and British. Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author, Brit(ish). James Holt, Executive Director of Archewell. Daniel Martin, Meghan's makeup artist and friend. Mandana Dayani. Interestingly, she is identified on screen as only "friend" but until recently, she was the President of Archewell.
Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell and Vice Chairman, Teneo. Lindsay Roth, Meghan's friend. Susan Willinger, Meghan's childhood friend. Ashleigh Hale, Immigration Attorney and "Meg's Niece". Nicky, Harry's childhood friend. Serena Williams, Meghan's friend and tennis superstar. Kehinde Andrews, author, The New Age of Empire. Lucy Fraser, Meghan's friend.
Not So Brief Recap: This episode opens with footage of their formal engagement interview, which Meghan describes as an orchestrated reality show. She says it was very rehearsed. Media reaction is covered, including a line about how Prince Harry is probably the most popular member of the royal family. Footage of their engagement interview continues, and public reactions from the royal family sharing that they are thrilled for the couple are included. The part of the engagement interview where they specifically highlighted Catherine as being "absolutely fantastic" and the bit where Meghan says his family have been very welcoming are replayed. The question about if the combination of their backgrounds represent something new for the Royal Family is juxtaposed against images of the Queen visiting Commonwealth countries and being cheered by people of color. Meghan says that her point (re: the engagement interview being staged) is that they weren't allowed to tell their story, and Harry says they were never allowed to tell their story, that's the consistent thing. Then they say until now, and the director says "I guess that's why we're here" and the couple agree.
David Olusoga, author of Black and British, shares that no one would dream they could have a Black British princess. He says it was a hugely improbable conclusion to history and was astonishing. He discusses the role Britain played in modern history, going into the empire and the cost of colonialism. Afua Hirsch, Journalist and Author of Brit(ish), talks about how the British empire was just as brutal and enslaved more Africans than the American South and the United States. She points to the history of the Caribbean and Jamaica and says that it was out of sight and out of mind despite the major economic impact on the British empire. They talk about slavers being personally financed by Queen Elizabeth I, and talks about the history of the Royal Family financing and supporting slavery up until George III when the slave trade was abolished by Britain. Olusoga talks about how in school in Britain, he only learned about the abolition, not the more difficult aspects of history, including that slave owners were compensated at the time of the abolition. He says the memory of British slavery has been airbrushed out of Britain's story.
James Holt discusses how he was oblivious to the history and legacy and talks about the celebration of colonial power and Britain's history of global importance. Olusoga says that Black and Brown people did not come to live in Britain in large numbers until the post-World War II labor shortage when many were recruited from Caribbean countries. Olusoga felt Harry and Meghan's engagement could be the moment when the Royal Family caught up with the rest of Britain as multicultural and multiracial.
Coverage of Meghan and Harry's first official walkabout is shown. Meghan says she did not know what a walkabout was and had never seen any photos. Harry says he could help with some of it, but could not advise her about the style and presentation women in the family need to know. Their first engagement was chaotic behind the scenes. They share interviews with many Black women who came specifically to see Meghan and Harry discusses how excited and pleased people were and says they thought of Meghan as a breath of fresh air. Harry says "I thought to myself, what a dream. I have found a woman that not necessarily finds this easy but is able to do it and make it look easy." More positive headlines are shown.
Meghan shares behind the scenes of her in New York being made up for an event by her friend, and shares that Archie loves "Bennie and the Jets" by Elton John. Mandana Dayani and Meghan discuss prep for something, which involves discussing accounts that say negative things about her. (Personal note- It seems very staged as a conversation.) Meghan says "Mostly 'royal experts'" and Dayani responds that she doesn't know what that means. She opines that "someone can just call themselves a royal expert" and Harry explains it's the same as being a royal correspondent which newspapers use to establish credibility about stories on the family. Harry says the only point of it is to lead legitimacy to those stories and says royal correspondents are part of the PR of the royal family. He says there's been an agreement there for over 30 years.
Tim Burt, Strategic Advisor to Archewell, explains a "special relationship" between the tabloids and the royal family and says there's an unwritten contract between the press and the royal family. He goes into taxpayer money funding the family and describes it as "we pay, you pose." Harry says if someone is part of the royal rota, they have priority to stories over everyone else. Harry says the royal rota believes the royal family is theirs to exploit and their narrative to control. Footage of Charles talking about the press is shown. Afua says that Harry and William are the first generation to grow up under that tabloid contract and that being born into a contractual relationship with the British media isn't fair. James Holt says that photographers told them that Harry didn't perform for them anymore, and he regrets telling Harry and Meghan to play the game. Holt says if you don't "play the game" you fall out of favor, and any opportunity to highlight the negative is taken. Holt says "Imagine all these people who have published horrible things about you, you have to perform for them." Holt says with Meghan there was no limit, anyone was fair game. This segues into her friends talking about how media would reach to people close to her.
Doria felt unsafe and couldn't walk her dogs or go to work unfollowed. She felt stalked by the paparazzi. Meghan says she believed that the U.K. media wanted her mom's side of the family to be difficult, but her mom is classy and quiet. The other side of Meghan's family though, " is just acting differently. My half sister who I haven't seen for over a decade and that was for a day and a half, and all of a sudden she was everywhere." It covers the Samantha headlines and Doria and Meghan say that Meghan has no real childhood memories of Tom's kids. Ashleigh Hale, Meghan's niece and Samantha's daughter is then interviewed. She describes Samantha as her "biological mother" and notes that she was raised by her grandparents from age 2 years old and she was ultimately adopted by them. Ashleigh has not seen Samantha since she was six, but they reconnected later in life in 2007. Ashleigh and Megan connected via email and developed a relationship. They were quite close when Meghan was on Suits and they went on vacation to New Orleans together. They talk about how important their connection was and Meghan says she wanted to protect Ashleigh from the media. Ashleigh says that Samantha resented Meghan and she seemed to get angrier, until they stopped talking.
They then move to Meghan's first Christmas at Sandringham and Harry's comment that the family was like the family she's never had. Meghan says she remembers calling her mom and telling her it was amazing. She said it was a big family like she always wanted, and there was constant movement and energy and fun. "At dinner, I sat next to H's grandfather, and I thought it went really well and later H was like 'You had his bad ear, he didn't hear anything you said' and she laughed because she'd thought it had gone really well. Then they go into the headlines about Princess Michael's "Blackamoor" brooch and the racial undertones. Afua Hirsch says the story did not surprise her because "one of the realities of life in Britain is that if you go into a palace or stately home or anywhere that represents tradition, you are likely to be faced with racist imagery. There are murals on the wall and carvings on the ceiling that depict enslaved people in a way that glorifies the institution of slavery." She says you could say it's a small thing, a brooch, and she didn't mean anything by it- but that it's a skeleton in the closet.
Harry says "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 it's no one's fault, but once it’s been pointed out, you then need to make it right. It's education. It's awareness. And it's a constant work in progress for everyone, including me." This is how they lead into past stories of Harry's Nazi uniform, which he describes as one of the biggest mistakes of his life that he felt so ashamed about after. He talks about meeting with the chief rabbi in London and meeting a Holocaust survivor and he says he learned from that. The implication is that his family has not.
