Meghan Markle Says She Learned Reality of Royal Life After Hug with Kate Middleton and Prince William

December 9, 2022

“Like I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” Meghan Markle said in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. “I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits”

Meghan Markle says she learned the realities of royal life from Kate Middleton and Prince William.

“When Will and Kate came over and I had met her for the first time, they came over for dinner,” Meghan said in Harry & Meghan, the couple’s new Netflix docuseries that premiered on Thursday. “I remember I was in ripped jeans and barefoot.”

“Like I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” she added. “I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”

“I guess I’d start to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside, carried through on the inside,” she continued about the multiple etiquette rules followed by the royal family, which she mistakenly believed were only observed in public.

“There is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and you relax now,” she added about how she expected the etiquette to be left at the door once the work day had finished. “But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

“It’s so funny if I look back at it now because now I know so much,” she continued about her inside knowledge of royal life. “And I’m so glad I didn’t then because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness.”

In episode one of the docuseries, Meghan also details how life in the royal family led to some tough moments for both her and Prince Harry.

The series begins with Harry talking to the camera via a self-taken video in the days after he and Meghan officially stepped back from royal life in February 2020.

A flurry of newspaper headlines then spread across the screen detailing the couple’s bombshell decision, before Meghan speaks to the camera from the US.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” said the Duchess of Sussex.

The camera cuts back to footage of Harry, who says: “My job is to keep my family safe.”

Prince Harry talked of the “level of hate that has been stirred up in the last three years, especially against my wife and my son.”

He said, “I’m generally concerned for the safety of my family.”

The first trailer for the docuseries showed several personal photos of Meghan and Prince Harry, ranging from a never-before-seen snap taken at their wedding reception to the duo kissing in the kitchen. But the trailers also shared some less happy moments, including Harry looking at Meghan as she wipes away tears during an interview. Another shot showed Meghan holding her phone while covering her face with her other hand.

Meghan hinted at what expect to expect from the docuseries in an October interview with Variety.

“It’s nice to be able to trust someone with our story — a seasoned director whose work I’ve long admired — even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it,” the Archetypes host said of working with director Liz Garbus, the Oscar nominee behind Love, Marilyn and Becoming Cousteau. “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.”

“It’s interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before,” she continued, referencing the entertainment business. “For me, having worked on Suits, it’s so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That’s been really fun.”

In her August interview with The Cut, Meghan was vague when asked if the upcoming show would cover the couple’s love story.

“What’s so funny is I’m not trying to be cagey,” she said. “I don’t read any press. So I don’t know what’s confirmed. I will tell you Liz Garbus is incredible.”