Meghan Markle calls engagement interview an ‘orchestrated reality show’

Meghan Markle has referred to her 2017 engagement interview with Prince Harry as an “orchestrated reality show”.

On Thursday (8 December) morning, the couple released the first part of their explosive new Netflix documentary series Harry and Meghan.

The third episode begins with Harry and Meghan’s engagement, which the couple announced on 27 November 2017 with a photocall in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.

They then sat down for a televised interview, in which the Duke of Sussex said the “stars were aligned” when they fell in love and he was “thrilled” by the news.

However, in the episode, Meghan said that the interview felt like an “orchestrated reality show”.

“It was rehearsed,” Meghan said. “We did the thing out with the press, then we went right inside, took the coat off and did the interview. So it’s all in that same moment."

Asked if she meant that they were told how the interview would play out, she explained: “Yeah, but also like, ‘Then there’ll be a moment where they’ll want to see the ring, so show the ring’... We weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want [it].”

“We’ve never been allowed to tell our story,” Harry echoed, laughing.

The couple also spoke about Meghan’s first walkabout post-engagement and how well received she was by the public.

“I thought to myself, what a dream,” Harry said. “I’ve found a woman that not necessarily finds this easy, but is able to do it and make it look easy.”

Harry and Meghan is directed by Liz Garbus and features archival footage and interviews with the couple’s friends, family, and historians.

The pair said that they hoped the documentary would go beyond “one couple’s love story” but rather, “[paint] a picture of our world and how we treat each other”.

Harry and Meghan is on Netflix now.