Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement was ‘orchestrated’ – with rehearsal

When Prince Harry and his now-wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex first announced their engagement, the couple sat down for an official interview, and Kensington Palace released some stunning photos of the pair to mark the occasion. Harry and Meghan also took part in a photocall with the press in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, where they were living at the time in Nottingham Cottage.

Royal fans were, at large, delighted with the news that the ever-popular Prince Harry had found love and was settling down and the whole thing seemed to many to be straight out of a fairytale. However, the pair later revealed the announcement of their engagement had not been a candid affair, with Meghan calling it a “rehearsed” and “orchestrated” moment in the couple’s six-part documentary series released on Netflix.

Since stepping back as working royals in 2020, Meghan and Harry have been candid about the difficulties they faced whilst living inside the monarchy. From their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 – which levied allegations of racism against the Royal Family and claimed the royal institution had failed to support Meghan when she was suicidal – to Harry’s bestselling memoir Spare – which saw him dive into the long term issues he has had with his family and royal position since childhood – the pair haven’t held back.

In their six-part Netflix documentary series, the couple provided a deep dive look into their love story, and the journey that led them to move across the Atlantic and set up a new life in California. Starting from the early days of their courtship, exploring their fairytale royal wedding, and to their exit from the UK, the series was a comprehensive look at Harry and Meghan’s life over the last few years. In one scene, the couple broke down their iconic engagement announcement, with the Duchess calling it an “orchestrated reality show”.

The candid moment occurred in the third episode of the series, which was released in December 2022. After calling the engagement interview “orchestrated” Meghan added “it was rehearsed” and claimed that the couple had been prepped ahead of time on what to say and how to behave.

Clips of other senior royals like Kate and Queen Camilla commenting on the news of the engagement were then shown onscreen before returning to the interview of Meghan and Harry. “My point is, we weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want…” Meghan said, before her husband agreed saying: “We’ve never been allowed to tell our story.” Meghan then replied, “That’s true…that is consistent…until now.”

The journalist who conducted the interview disputed this version of events, however. Mishal Husain was on BBC Radio Four with Jonny Diamond – royal correspondent for the BBC – when she heard this claim for the first time, and audibly gasped in response to it, before saying: “We know recollections may vary on this particular subject, but my recollection is definitely very much ‘asked to do an interview, and do said interview’.”