Inside their world! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle offered fans never-before-seen glimpses of their children throughout their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
The Suits alum, 41, and the duke, 38, pulled back the curtain on their lives — both before and after their royal exit — in the eye-opening documentary, which dropped its first three episodes on Thursday, December 8. As the pair reflected on their relationship journey, they shared details about raising son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 18 months.
During episode 1, Harry emphasized that he and his wife are “really conscious” of keeping their two kids safe and somewhat out of the public eye. “As a dad, and as parents, I think consent is a really key piece to this,” he explained. “That if you have children, it should be your consent as to what you share.”
The episode goes on to show footage of Meghan holding Archie as an infant in his nursery, introducing him to a photo of the late Princess Diana hung on the wall. “Who is that?” she asks her baby boy. “Hi, grandma. That’s your grandma Diana.”
Before the show hit the streaming platform, the prince and the former actress had only given rare updates on Archie and Lilibet’s milestones. The couple released the first official photo of their daughter, who was born in June 2021, when she celebrated her 1st birthday.
Archie, for his part, joined his parents on a handful of royal engagements before Harry and Meghan announced in January 2020 that they were stepping down from their senior duties. The toddler, born in May 2019, famously met the late Desmond Tutu during the Sussexes’ first trip to South Africa in September 2019.
The Spare author and the California native have been raising their little ones on the West Coast since making the move to the United States in 2020. “What’s most important for the two of us is to make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that perhaps our parents made,” Harry said in episode 2 of the docuseries, reflecting on his and Meghan’s individual journeys as the children of divorce.
Since stepping away from the royal spotlight, the former military pilot has been candid about wanting to protect Archie and Lili — as well as Meghan — after experiencing intense public scrutiny during his own childhood.
“My biggest concern was history repeating itself. … What I was seeing was history repeating itself,” Harry said during the duo’s bombshell CBS sit-down interview in March 2021, referring to the pressures and negativity faced by his late mother before her 1997 death. “I took matters into my own hands.”
The BetterUp CIO has also been outspoken about wanting to give his son and daughter a different life than what he experienced within palace walls.
“Isn’t life about breaking the cycle?” he pondered during a May 2021 episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast. “There’s no blame. I don’t think anyone should be pointing the finger and blaming anyone. Certainly, when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain and suffering because of the pain and suffering that perhaps my father, [King Charles III], or parents suffered, I’m gonna make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on.”
Scroll down to see all of Archie and Lili’s cameos in Harry & Meghan: