Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, stick to a familiar script in a new Netflix series that chronicles the couple’s estrangement from the royal family, chastising Britain’s media and the societal racism they believe has fueled coverage of their relationship. The first three episodes of “Harry and Meghan,” released Thursday, dissect the symbiotic relationship between tabloid newspapers a nd the royal family and examine the history of racism across the British Empire, and how it persists. The storytelling relies on interviews with the couple, their friends, and experts on race and the media. The series does not include dissenting voices, and there is no response from any of the media organizations mentioned. “In this family sometimes, you know, you’re part of the problem rather than part of the solution,’’ Harry says in one of the episodes. “There is a huge level of unconscious bias. The thing with unconscious bias is that it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself, you then need to make it right.” The media’s treatment of Meghan — and what the couple felt was a lack of sympathy from royal institutions about the coverage — were at the heart of their complaints when they walked away from royal life almost three years ago and moved to Southern California. Lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify have helped bankroll their new life in the wealthy enclave of Montecito. Promoted with two dramatically edited trailers that hinted at a “war against Meghan,” the Netflix show is the couple’s lat est effort to tell their stor y after a series of interviews with U.S. media organizations, most notably a two-hour sit down in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey. Read more: Royals tour US green tech incubator, meet at-risk youth The first three episodes break little new ground on royal intrigue, leading one British-based analyst to conclude that the main audience Harry and Meghan are trying to reach is in the United States. The series is an effort by Harry and Meghan to cement their place in American society, where fame and riches await, says David Haigh, chief executive of Brand Finance, which has analyzed the monarchy’s value to the UK economy. “They are trying to become the next Kardashian family. And they are using the fame and notoriety of the monarchy as their stepping stone to get there,” he said. “No one would take the remotest bit of interest in either of them if they weren’t strongly associated with the UK monarchy.” The series comes at a crucial moment for the monarchy. King Charles III is trying to show that the institution still has a role to play after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose personal popularity dampened criticism of the crown during her 70-year reign. Charles is making the case that the House of Windsor can help unite an increasingly diverse nation by using the early days of his reign to meet with many of the ethnic groups and faiths that make up modern Britain. Harry’s 2018 marriage to the former Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress, was once seen as a public relations coup for the royal family, boosting the monarchy’s effort to move into the 21st century by making it more representative of a multicultural nation. But the fairy tale, which began with a star-studded ceremony at Windsor Castle, soon soured amid British media reports that Meghan was self-centered and bullied her staff. The new series seeks to rebut that narrative in the three hour-long episodes released Thursday. Three more are due on Dec. 15. It opens with video diaries recorded by Meghan and Harry — apparently on their phones — in March 2020, amid the couple’s acrimonious split from the royal family. It’s “my duty to uncover the exploitation and bribery” that happens in British media, Harry says in one entry. “No one knows the full truth,” he adds. “We know the full truth.” The couple then tell the story of their courtship and the initial enthusiasm that greeted the relationship. But the tone shifts as Harry recounts the intense media scrutiny faced by Meghan, reminding him of the way his mother, Princess Diana, was treated before she died in a car crash while being trailed by photographers. “To see another woman in my life who I loved go through this feeding frenzy – that’s hard,” Harry says. Read more: Duchess of Sussex gets goofy on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show “It is basically the hunter versus the prey.” Harry and the series' other narrators say the palace is partly to blame for this treatment because it has granted privileged access to six newspapers that feel they are entitled to learn intimate details about members of the royal family since British taxpayers fund their lives. Harry and Meghan said they initially tried to follow palace advice to remain silent about the press coverage as other members of the royal family said it was a rite of passage. But the couple said they felt compelled to tell their story because there was something different about the way Meghan was treated. “The difference here is the race element,” Harry said. That bias has deep roots in the history of the British empire, which was enriched by the enslavement of Black people and the extraction of wealth from colonies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, said historian and author David Olusoga in the program. It is only since World War II that large numbers of Black and Asian people moved to Britain, changing the face of the nation. Those changes aren’t reflected in the British media. While Black people make up about 3.5% of Britain’s population, they account for just 0.2% of the journalists, Olusoga said. “We have to recognize that this is a white industry…,” he said. “So people who come up with these headlines, they are doing so in a newsroom that’s almost entirely white, and they get to decide whether something has crossed the line of being racist.” King Charles III was asked if he had watched the series as he carried out an engagement on Thursday in London. He did not reply. Race became a central issue for the monarchy following Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Meghan alleged that before their first child was born, a member of the royal family commented on how dark the baby’s skin might be. Prince William, the heir to the throne and Harry’s older brother, defended the royal family after the interview, telling reporters, “We’re very much not a racist family.” But Buckingham Palace faced renewed allegations of racism only last week when a Black advocate for survivors of domestic abuse said a senior member of the royal household interrogated her about her origins during a reception at the palace. Coverage of the issue filled British media, overshadowing William and his wife Kate’s much-anticipated visit to Boston, which the palace had hoped would highlight their environmental credentials.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has made her first speech in Britain since she and Prince Harry quit as working royals two years ago. Delivering a keynote speech to the One Young World summit on Monday, Meghan spoke of her self-doubt as “the girl from Suits” when she attended the same youth event in 2014 alongside world leaders and humanitarian activists. The duchess, formerly known as Meghan Markle, was best known for her acting role in the TV drama “Suits” before she married Harry. Also read: Meghan pays respect to Texas school shooting victims “I was allowed in, to pull up a seat at the table," Meghan told about 2,000 young people gathered in Manchester, England. “I was so overwhelmed by this experience, I think I even saved my little paper place-marker with my name on it." “Just proof — proof that I was there, proof that I belonged, because the truth was, I wasn’t sure that I belonged," she said. Meghan and Harry stepped down as senior royals and moved to the U.S. in 2020. They were in the U.K. for the first time since Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in June, when the couple appeared briefly at a thanksgiving service. Also read: Meghan and Harry welcome second child, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana They travelled to the Manchester event by train from London. Their next stop is Germany, where they will attend an event Tuesday counting down to the Invictus Games 2023, before returning to London where Harry will deliver a speech at a charity ceremony on Thursday.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, made a visit to a memorial site for the victims involved in the deadly elementary school shooting in Texas. Meghan placed white flowers tied with a purple ribbon at a memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse on Thursday. She paid her respects after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Also Read: Texas elementary school shooting: What do we know so far? The Duchess of Sussex lives in California with her husband Prince Harry and their two children. She took the trip to Texas in a personal capacity as a mother to offer her condolences and support in person to a “community experiencing unimaginable grief,” according to her spokesperson. Meghan left the flowers at the memorial and stood with her arms crossed while she looked at the memorials.    

It was the Meghan hour Thursday on the talk show of her friend, Ellen DeGeneres, as the Duchess of Sussex helped welcome a special guest, hit the studio lot to prank vendors and said she'll be cooking Thanksgiving dinner herself. “I love to cook. We'll be home and just sort of relax and settle in,” Meghan said of her second Thanksgiving in California with Prince Harry and, now, their two kids. Meghan and DeGeneres, who met at a pet store more than a decade ago, chatted about Halloween (Archie was a dinosaur and baby Lili a skunk), and more serious issues like Meghan's work to push for federal paid family leave. And she said Harry has taken nicely to the California lifestyle in Montecito, where Ellen is one of their neighbors. Also read: William, Harry to unveil Diana statue as royal rift simmers “He loves it,” Meghan said. “We're just happy.” Meghan got Ellen-style goofy when she donned an earpiece so Ellen could tell her what to say and do as she perused the wares of three vendors on the studio lot. Meghan mewed in cat ears, devoured hot sauce on crackers like a chipmunk and held a huge crystal to her face — all after a pretend assistant told the trio of sellers to treat her just like everybody else. They could barely keep from laughing. “Let Mommy taste some. My boo loves hot sauce,” Meghan told one seller with a table full of hot sauces. “Mommy wants some heat.” Later on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Ellen and Meghan welcomed Brittany Starks, a Tennessee mother and hairdresser who gave back after being helped herself through hard times by braiding the hair of schoolchildren for free. Since, she has started a charity, A Twist of Greatness. Also read: Queen beams as she returns to Ascot after COVID-19 hiatus The show and philanthropy partner TisBest donated $20,000 to her cause. Meghan and Harry matched it with another $20,000. “We were so touched by your story,” Meghan told Starks, giving her hug.

For Harry, returning to London to attend Prince Philip’s funeral last month meant once more facing a place where he felt trapped and hunted by cameras. It would be a test of his ability to cope with the anxiety that was bubbling up again. “I was worried about it, I was afraid,” Harry told The Associated Press during a recent joint interview with Oprah Winfrey to promote a mental-health series they co-created and co-executive produced for Apple TV+. He was able to work through any trepidation using coping skills learned in therapy. Also read: Prince Harry thought about quitting royal life in his 20s “It definitely made it a lot easier, but the heart still pounds,” said Harry, the Duke of Sussex and grandson of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband Philip. In “The Me You Can’t See,” which debuted Thursday night on Apple’s streaming service, Harry reveals that he first saw a therapist approximately four years ago at the encouragement of then-girlfriend Meghan. They’d had an argument and she recognized his anger seemed misplaced. The series is another chapter in the unprecedented openness that Harry has brought to his life and his royal family relationships since stepping away from his duties and moving with his wife to California. In March, he and Meghan gave a headline-making interview to Winfrey that elicited a rare public response from the palace. Harry’s self-work may be relatively recent but he and older brother William, The Duke of Cambridge, have long championed the importance of mental health. In 2016, Harry, William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, launched Heads Together, an initiative to speak up and not be ashamed to ask for help when mental well-being is at stake. Their collective work led to interactions with people across the globe, from all walks of life, and they recognized a common thread. “Sharing your story in order to be able to save a life or help others is absolutely critical,” said Harry. Harry is practicing what he preaches and laying bare his own struggles with trauma and grief. He describes in “The Me You Can’t See,” the instances of feeling helpless as a young boy while riding in the car with his mother, Princess Diana, who cried as they were surrounded by paparazzi and she struggled to drive. Years later, Diana was killed in Paris after the car she and friend Dodi Fayed were riding in, crashed during a high-speed chase to flee cameras. Harry was 12 and suppressed his own feelings to meet the mourning public gathered outside Kensington Palace. Cameras rolled and snapped away as he walked behind her casket to Diana’s funeral, alongside William, father Prince Charles, Philip and Diana’s brother Charles Spencer. Harry’s revelations coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s official confirmation a few months ago that he and Meghan will not return to their senior royal positions within the family, following a one-year trial period. Also read: Royal funeral offers chance for William, Harry to reconcile The couple now lives about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles in an exclusive area near Santa Barbara called Montecito. They count Winfrey, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom as neighbors. The paparazzi still lurks but it’s less intense than in Los Angeles. This new, outspoken prince who shares his emotions is a contrast to the “never complain, never explain,” “keep calm and carry on” mantras that are part of the prototypical British way. The British tabloids have had a field day picking apart his statements. Some royal commentators have also cried foul over a contradiction between seeking a private life yet granting interviews and revealing family strife. Harry appears to be cautious in choosing what he wants to speak about, and neither he nor Meghan seem interested in sharing their every move with the world. They do not operate a social media account. He is undeterred by naysayers, he says, because there’s a greater good in being honest about his struggles. “I see it as a responsibility. I don’t find it hard to open up,” he said. “Knowing the impacts and the positive reaction that it has for so many people that also suffer, I do believe it’s a responsibility.” Winfrey was already working with Apple to develop a series on mental health when a conversation with Harry sparked the idea to join forces.  “We were having a conversation and I asked him, ‘What are the two most important issues you think facing the world today?’ And he said immediately, ‘climate change and mental health.’ She mentioned the project and Winfrey recalls him later saying , ‘Oh, by the way, if you ever need any help with that … give me a call.’ And I went and turned around and said, ‘What’s your number?’” Winfrey’s existing partnership with Apple created a rare opportunity to reach the vast number of people who use the company’s devices, Harry said. “If that’s in a billion pockets on a billion screens, then maybe we can really start a global conversation about this,” he said. Winfrey recalls some of her own childhood traumas in “The Me You Can’t See.” In addition to her and Harry’s stories, the series also features accounts from both regular people and celebrities including Lady Gaga and Glenn Close, who speak candidly about their own experiences with mental illness. Winfrey said Harry pushed to present a global perspective. “This has got to be a world thing and not just a U.S. thing,’” she recounted him saying, adding: “I think we’ve accomplished that really well.” Harry jokes he’s “slowly catching up” to Winfrey’s decades of inner-work and encouragement of others to do the same whether on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” or her “Super Soul Sunday” interviews on OWN. Even Winfrey said she’s had a lot to learn. “I have dealt personally with one of the girls from my school (Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa), who had schizophrenia,” Winfrey said. “Only after hearing the doctor say that ‘it’s a diagnosis. It’s not your life, it’s not who you are,’ that I had my great awakening about it. ... ‘That is not you. You are a person who has a diagnosis of schizophrenia.’ That is powerful.”

Prince William defended Britain’s monarchy Thursday against accusations of bigotry made by his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan, insisting the family is not racist.

Buckingham Palace said Tuesday that allegations of racism made earlier this week by Prince Harry and Meghan were “concerning” and would be addressed privately by the royal family.

Racism. Bullying. Insensitivity.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive TV interview divided people around the world on Monday, rocking an institution that is struggling to modernize with claims of racism and callousness toward a woman struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Britain and its royal family absorbed the tremors Monday from a sensational television interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, in which the couple said they encountered racist attitudes and a lack of support that drove the duchess to thoughts of suicide.