Latest news with #HarryandMeghan
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The Mail's Royal experts react to MORE fictional portrayals of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle across TV and film on ACTING ROYAL
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are no strangers to cameras. The Duke of Sussex, 40, was brought out of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital to hordes of paparazzi just hours after he was born in 1984, while the Duchess, 43, opted for a glittering career in television and spent seven years starring in the legal drama Suits. But not all of their appearances on the silver screen have been particularly welcomed by the couple, who stepped down from frontline royal duties in 2020. From The Windsors to Spitting Image and South Park, the Mail's Royal experts sat down to react to fictional representations of Harry and Meghan across TV and film on the new series Acting Royal. Rebecca English, the Daily Mail's Royal Editor, was joined by Richard Eden, the Daily Mail's Diary Editor, and Charlotte Griffiths, the Editor at Large of the Mail on Sunday, for the second episode of the hit show, which is available on the Daily Mail Royal YouTube channel. Spitting Image (2021) First broadcast in 1984, Spitting Image was a British satirical television puppet show which often featured (and made fun of) the Royal Family. In an episode from 2021, an overjoyed Meghan shows her husband Harry an invite to the 'Obama Foundation Awards Gala'. The Duchess explains that the event may be her 'chance to convince' Michelle Obama that she can 'play the lead' in the blockbuster movie based on the former First Lady's biography Becoming. 'This really did happen,' Charlotte said. 'They really did try and go to events in Hollywood to try and get Meghan a job in the industry.' Later in the episode, the puppet-version of Harry attends the glitzy event, suggesting to Disney CEO Bob Iger that Meghan would be 'great' in the role of Michelle. 'I do love resuscitating has-been's careers but I'm not a f***ing magician,' Bob replies. 'That's exactly what happened,' Charlotte said. 'Harry went up to Bob Iger and said, "Meghan would be great in your next film." I actually can't believe it happened now. 'God bless Spitting Image. They just get these things so right,' she added. Prince William (2002) Set at Balmoral Castle in 1997, the film opens with a young Prince William and Prince Harry finding out their mother Princess Diana has passed away in a car crash. The boys are seen scrambling around the royal residence looking for someone to explain what's going on. 'Has something bad happened?' a young Harry, played by Eddie Cooper, asks a staff member. The princes are eventually told by their father Prince Charles that Diana 'is gone' and they collapse into his arms crying. 'This clearly didn't happen,' Rebecca said. 'As we know from Harry himself, both he and William were asleep and their father woke them up. 'In Spare, Harry talked about how his father did impart the news to them personally but they didn't get any hugs and that's what they needed as children.' She added: 'There are things that are very basically wrong such as the idea that William and Harry were woken up by noise in Balmoral Castle and staff had warned them that something was going on. 'My understanding certainly from Harry's own account is that's not what happened,' she added. 'They were woken up personally by their father.' Harry In Court (2024) While watching the court reenactment clip from Sky News, Rebecca described it as 'one of my favourite depictions of Harry on film ever.' 'The trouble is in the UK we don't actually allow cameras in our courtrooms apart from very rare circumstances which is a judge, for example, delivering a sentencing in a particularly unique case.' 'This is one of Harry's many court cases,' Richard explained to the cameras. 'I think this was one of his cases against the Daily Mirror newspaper where he had been pursuing them over illegal methods used in the past. It was a case which he largely won. 'So this is an actor repeating Harry's words to give a sense of what it is was like when he was giving testimony in court. 'I think this actor frankly was more impressive than Harry himself,' Richard added. 'I think the way he speaks and carries himself. 'I'm sure his testimony is much more convincing than Harry's actually was in court.' Saturday Night Live (2018) Just hours after Harry married Meghan at St George's Chapel on May 19, 2018, Saturday Night Live put their own spin on the royal wedding in their season finale. 'What's up? It's your boy Harry Windsor aka Ron Sleaz-ley,' comedian Mikey Day says as he stands in a ballroom in military uniform. 'When I knew Harry very briefly, he was actually like this,' Charlotte revealed. 'He was really fun and really silly and he would be like, "what's up?" 'So spot on, I would say.' Adding her own opinion, Rebecca said: '[Day] almost had an Australian twang to the way he spoke I thought in that. 'This clip depicts what we all would have loved to have seen in person and no one had a chance to which is what it was like inside the wedding of Harry and Meghan. 'The one thing that did ring true is the Harry character,' she added, 'wearing a very lifelike uniform, I have to say.' Spitting Image (1993) At the 'height of the breakdown of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's relationship', Spitting Image released a skit featuring puppet versions of Harry and William 'joyriding' with their aide. After crashing into the gates of Buckingham Palace, puppet William tells the police officer: 'It's not our fault.' To which Harry adds: 'We come from a broken home.' Richard found the crash to be 'a bit tasteless' given what we know happened to the boys' mother Princess Diana four years later in 1997. But drawing on her 20 years of experience reporting on the royals, Rebecca said: 'An actual fact, they had ordered a member of staff to take them out joyriding. 'This does tie in with what some of the police protection officers said from the time is that when they got caught out after crashing into the gates at Buckingham Palace, they were like, "oh no, you can't blame us. We're just poor little princes from a broken home." 'Very funny, very smart, pretty cruel, but according to people at the time, pretty spot on too.' The Windsors (2020) Introducing The Windsors as the 'greatest royal spoof programme', Charlotte said she has 'been addicted to it for years. First broadcast on Channel 4 in 2016, it is a parody of the British Royal Family and the House of Windsor. In the episode watched by the Mail's Royal experts, Prince Harry, played by Richard Goulding, is gifted a colouring book to which he exclaims: 'I love this series and I am getting really good at staying inside the lines.' 'I love The Windsors' Rebecca said. 'Don't just take my word for it, this has royal approval. 'The programme is adored by the staff within Buckingham Palace, I can promise you that. 'I know it has even been watched by more than one member of the Royal Family as well.' She added: 'It is cult viewing within both the Royal Family and Buckingham Palace because they can see how genuinely funny it is.' South Park (2023) Broadcast in February 2023, The Worldwide Privacy Tour episode of depicts a visit to the town of South Park by the 'Prince of Canada' and his wife, who say they are seeking privacy and seclusion. Arriving on the set of Good Morning Canada with a book to promote, the prince holds aloft a placard reading 'We want privacy', while the princess's banner reads: 'Stop looking at us.' 'I remember when this came out,' Charlotte said, 'it really summed up what everyone was thinking about Meghan and Harry but weren't yet particularly saying so much which is the hypocrisy of Megxit and leaving the Royal Family. Agreeing with Charlotte, Rebecca said: 'The South Park Worldwide Privacy Tour episode was actually a seminal piece of royal reporting. 'It summed up in one kind of devastatingly brilliant episode how much their lives had changed, how much Harry and Meghan had fallen in public opinion. 'I would argue that it did more to seal their reputation with the general public than any piece of journalism that we have seen in the last few years. 'At the time Harry and Meghan tried to put a brave face on it and suggest that they understood as public figures they found it funny and they should take it in their stride. 'But from everything we heard, they were absolutely devastated by it because it had cut through with the public in a way that we had not seen anything else have. 'The makers of the cartoon really got to the crux of what people were feeling that this couple were storming out of the Royal Family because they said they couldn't handle the public attention and needed more privacy at the same time as effectively selling themselves on a global stage to the highest bidder. 'It captured that hypocrisy brilliantly,' she added. Richard said: 'Even in America, his adopted home, he has been someone who is, let's be frank about this, being laughed at on television programmes. 'I'm not sure that's what Harry and Meghan envisioned at all when they moved to the USA.'
Edinburgh Live
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Live
Meghan Markle's honest one-word response when asked about meeting Kate Middleton
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Meeting the in-laws can be nerve-wracking, and for Meghan Markle, that meant getting to know Royal relatives when her romance with Harry bloomed. The Duchess of Sussex shared her initial thoughts on Kate after a private dinner hosted by Kate and her then soon-to-be husband. Harry first noticed Meghan on Instagram in 2016, leading to that fateful dinner at Soho House in London. Their relationship quickly progressed with more dates and a week spent in the great outdoors together. Following their engagement in 2017, they sat down with BBC's Mishal Hussein to reminisce about Meghan's introductory encounter with Kate. During the conversation, Harry enthused, "It was exciting I mean I've - you know I'd been seeing her for a period of time when I literally didn't tell anybody at all." He added, "And then William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine, so you know, being our neighbours, we managed to get that in a couple of - well quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely..." To which Meghan succinctly interjected: "Wonderful.", reports the Mirror. Meghan fondly remembered how the Royal Family had extended a warm welcome to her, and she also harked back to the memorable occasion when she met the late Queen for the first time. Meghan reflected on her admiration for the Queen, saying: "I think, you know, to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother, all of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we've had a really - she's - she's an incredible woman." Initially, there were expectations that Meghan and Kate might form a close bond due to their similar experiences of marrying into the Royal Family. However, it appears that their differing personalities prevented a strong connection, and Meghan later described experiencing a 'jarring' moment upon first encountering Kate. In the second episode of the six-part Netflix series 'Harry and Meghan', Meghan recounted her first meeting with William and Kate: "When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger. I've always been a hugger, I didn't realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits." She went on to express her surprise at the persistence of formality within Royal life: "I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go 'You can relax now', but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me." In his revealing memoir 'Spare', Prince Harry delves into the complex dynamics between his wife, Meghan, and his sister-in-law, Kate. He shares anecdotes of the early stages of tension, including a dispute over bridesmaid dresses before his wedding that reportedly left Meghan in tears and a moment where Kate "grimaced" at the borrowing of her lip gloss. Additionally, Harry recounts an instance when Kate demanded an apology from Meghan after being accused of having "baby brain" in the aftermath of Prince Louis's birth. Harry also describes a particular dinner where he sensed a potential mismatch between Meghan and Kate. In 'Spare', he notes how Meghan prepared the meal and the conversation flowed smoothly, covering topics like Wimbledon and 'Suits'. He observes: "The only possibly discordant note I could think of was the marked difference in how the two women dressed, which both of them seemed to notice. Meg: ripped jeans, barefoot. Kate: done up to the nines. No big deal, I thought."
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The 'perfect alibi' Jason Knauf used to get out of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's trip to Australia
or many Australians, the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Sydney on October 14, 2018, was cause for great excitement. Not only did it mark Harry and Meghan's first major international tour since their wedding but it also came shortly after the Palace announced Meghan Markle's pregnancy.
Newsweek
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Meghan Markle on Why She Got Blamed for Harry Changing Goes Viral
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Meghan Markle said in a viral social media clip that people were "angry with her" because Prince Harry changed after their relationship. The Duchess of Sussex told her December 2022 Netflix show Harry & Meghan "most people need to find someone to blame" but argued the prince was already "on his own path." A clip of the moment has gone viral on TikTok and has been liked 8,600 times and viewed 240,000 times. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle give a joint interview for their original Netflix biopic 'Harry and Meghan,' released in December 2022. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle give a joint interview for their original Netflix biopic 'Harry and Meghan,' released in December 2022. Duke and Duchess of Sussex/Netflix What Meghan Markle Said on Netflix Meghan said: "In any relationship, oftentimes, when a guy falls in love with a girl, his buddies are like 'Oh my God, he changed I don't see him anymore. He's always with her.' And you blame the girl. They're angry with her, because she's the thing that took him away. "And that's whether you're in a small town or a big city or in the royal family. He wouldn't ever have been attracted to or interested in me if he hadn't already been on his own path." Meghan's comments in Episode 5 were positioned as the couple were packing their bags at Frogmore Cottage in preparation for relocating to America in 2020. "Most people need to find someone to blame to try to, like, reconcile how you're feeling because something's changed and it doesn't feel good and you don't like it and what's the thing that's different," Meghan said. "'Well, it all changed when you got here. So it's your fault.'" "But you blame me... because also if you can blame me then you have no fault. So that last week, it was bitter sweet," she said, in reference to their last week in London in March 2020. "I thought, the public, if they've been fed these lies for two years what do they think of me? They must hate us…no, the people were just so embracing. They were sad that we were leaving. We were sad that we were leaving." Wider Context It is not clear if Meghan was talking about Harry's friends or his family. There have been stories in the past suggesting tension between Meghan and Harry's friends over politically incorrect jokes. Biographer Tom Bower wrote in his Meghan and Harry book Revenge about a shooting weekend at Sandringham with 16 friends: "All of them were employed by international banks and auction houses or were estate owners and racehorse trainers. All were bonded by common assumptions, principles and loyalties. "Like other shooting weekends, Harry was looking forward to endless banter, jokes—and a lot of drinking. He had not anticipated Meghan's reaction. "Their jokes involving sexism, feminism and transgender people ricocheted around the living-rooms and dining rooms. Without hesitation, Meghan challenged every guest whose conversation contravened her values. "According to Harry's friends, again and again she reprimanded them about the slightest inappropriate nuance. Nobody was exempt." However, the positioning of the quotes during a chunk of the episode set in March 2020 would suggest a more royal angle. Whatever reservations Harry's friends might have had, by then it was the palace that Harry was crashing out of. That January, Harry at down with Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and Prince William at the "Sandringham Summit," a crisis meeting in which they thrashed out the terms of the royal exit. Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page. Do you have a question about Charles and Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Sad truth behind Meghan and Harry's wedding picture
COMMENT Even after all this time, it seemed unequivocally magical. If you'd pitched the idea in a Disney boardroom – an American actress with her own working copy of Gloria Steinem's collected speeches and ripped jeans meets handsome, kinda lost British prince, great love ensues, he makes her royal – you would have been laughed out of there. But seven years ago, that's exactly what happened when the world gathered around TV sets and exhaled at the sheer bloody Cinderella-ness of it all. What a crock. When it comes to Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's 2018 wedding, we were all sold what, it is now clear, a sham. On May 19, Meghan Markle walked down the aisle of St George's Chapel in Windsor on then Prince Charles' arm and into the history books. Even now, in 2025, new details are still coming out about what a load of flimflam it all was. The image of the royal family banding together to welcome the Californian into their midst, joyous at the addition of modernising zeal: Not real. The collection of celebrities who filled the pews, like George and Amal Clooney, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Carey Mulligan, suggesting a plethora of starry royal friendships: Reportedly not real. Even the bride's choice to have floral emblems of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth embroidered onto her five metre veil, suggesting she was like dead keen and all that on upholding everything Crown Inc stood for: Not real. Looking back, besides Harry and Meghan's adoring, smitten love for one another which is still on display today, was there anything about May 19 that has not been shown up to be something of a ruse? The royal family might be in the business of image but what took place on that spring day really takes the cake for an elaborate set piece of playacting. The full extent of all this is still coming out. This weekend Diana, Princess of Wales' biographer Andrew Morton revealed that back in 2016, within a week of Suits star Meghan being outed as Harry's newest squeeze, things were going pear-shaped between them and the wider royal family. Only a week after it was revealed he was dating the actress he 'broke the code' of the royal family, according to Morton. On November 8, 2016 Harry put out an unprecedented, cymbal clash of a statement volubly condemning the 'wave of abuse' Meghan was receiving from the press – only he did it while Charles was in the middle of a high-wire tour of the Middle East, thus blowing coverage of his father's trip out of the water. 'That was something which broke with the code of the royals,' Morton told The Times. 'When a member of the royal family is abroad the focus is on them, not on the domestic royals. For Harry to give that fairly hysterical statement while his father was in the Middle East was seen as self-indulgent.' From there, things hardly improved behind palace gates. As the duke would later scribble in his bestselling burn book slash memoir Spare, Prince William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales took to Meghan with about as much enthusiasm as the late Queen would have to oat milk or manifesting or Candy Crush. Hugs were not reciprocated. (Meghan's attempt at a friendly embrace of William at their first meeting in 2016 'completely freaked him out,' Harry wrote.) Lipgloss was, painfully, not shared. Things really went from nippily chilled between Kate and Meghan to outright GHDs at 50 paces when it came to the issue of the bridesmaids dresses, the infamous incident, even all these years later, still being dissected and interpreted like Dead Sea Scrolls. Versions vary. In 2019 it was reported that Meghan had made Kate cry; then the duchess did Oprah and said that actually it was her who had been left scrabbling for tissues, so to speak. Ready for a new version? Veteran royal biographer Tom Quinn recently released Yes Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants with a whole new account. A former member of palace staff told him: 'Meghan said a few things she regretted and Kate said a few things she later regretted but it was all in the heat of the moment. Both women were crying their eyes out!' All of this had happened, all the emotions and 'freaking outs' and tears and code-breaking before the first trumpeterer was warming up on May 19, 2018. There is still more about that day that has been called into question. Call it the Clooney Conundrum: Hollywood A-listers, on that day in May, took their seats alongside liver-spotted dukes and old Etonians called Bunter and Chucker, promising the glorious union of the worlds of Hollywood and the Holyroodhouse. However in the years since then, many of the duke and duchess' starry A-list friendships have blinked out. The Clooneys were later revealed to have admitted to a fellow wedding guest they didn't actually know the couple; David and Victoria Beckham were soon on no-speaks with the Sussexes and these days pal about with King Charles; and guest and reception DJ Idris Elba last year joined forces with His Majesty for a King's Trust event. Others like Oscar nominee Mulligan and Mad Max's Hardy have never been seen in the same postcode as the Sussexes since. Zoom out and what the Sussexes' wedding day stood for was promise – so much fat, juicy promise. Of a monarchy revitalised by a passionate cool girl member who was champing at the bit to muck in and work for Crown Inc. But was Meghan ever going to be happy with her royal lot? Would she, I wonder, have ever truly been content plugging away at hosting Association of Commonwealth Universities roundtables and giving speeches at dog's homes and occasionally slipping the palace yoke to guest edit Vogue and to wear black nail polish? Would she ever have been okay with tamping down her entrepreneurial and creative instincts? As far back as 2019, the Sussexes were in talks with billion-dollar US streaming service (the long since shuttered Quibi), the Telegraph has reported. Also, as a royal staff member has told Quinn that 'she expected a billionaire and she got a millionaire'. To join the royal family is to acquiesce to being squeezed inside a prescribed box and being HAPPY to stay there until you get the palace call up to open the Chelsea Flower Show or whatnot. Given what we now know of Meghan, her natural ambition (said with great admiration) and her hunger to put herself out there (even if the results are sometimes watching her make ice cubes) – was she always doomed when it came to her royal future? Look back at those photos of May 19 and they have the same poignancy and heart tugging quality as seeing a shot of the Titanic tied up at the dock at Southampton. On that day, everyone wanted us, the public, to believe something – that it could work out, that the royal family was jazzed to have inveterate hugger Meghan on board; that she was willing to subsume herself in aid of a hoary institution; that George Clooney actually has Harry's mobile number. On Monday, the duchess marked the day by sharing a shot of a pinboard full of sweet photos of Harry and their children, including of the tots as babies, with the head, 'our love story'. At least we can definitively say, seven years on, the Sussexes' love for one another is the realest of real deals.
