Her from marrying harry. A modern royal couple who are changing history. The couple plans to divide their time between the u. K. And north america. Redefining royalty. Queen elizabeth supports prince harry and Meghan Markles decision to step back from royal life. Tonight, a cnn special report. Royal revolution. Harry and meghan. Id never even heard about her until, heard about her until this friend said Meghan Markle and this friend said ill give you a bit of background. It is july, 2016 in london. When britains most eligible bachelor, prince harry, was set up on a blind date. Definitely a setup. It was a blind date. I was beautifully surprised when i walked into that room and saw her, and there she was sitting there and i said okay, i will have to up my game. Harry upped his game. And they begin a whirlwind romance. Just weeks later, theyre vacationing together in botswana, africa. We camped out with each other under the stars and we spent five days out there which was absolutely fantastic. In the months that follow, they date long distance. Meeting up in london, and toronto, where meghan, an actress, is filming her tv show suits. Wow, youre pretty. You hit on me. We can get it out of the way that im not interested. The whole time keeping their relationship a secret. When they first met, nobody knew about it. They are such a charismatic couple. Penny wrote a biography about harry. They kept this relationship quiet. Which is itself impressive. It is impressive. I mean the great fear about harry finding a wife was always going to be the intrusion of the press. Because that is what had killed two previous longterm relationships. Relationships with actress cressida bonas, and his first love chelsy davy. Chelsy had experienced the most horrible treatment, photographers waiting for her, call out names, bitch, whore, trying to get a reaction and i guess she looked and said do i want this for my life . And i met her just before meeting meghan, and we talked about the private life at the time. And harry tells her about a quote massive paranoia, he feels, in finding a girlfriend. I think harrys great fear was that unless he had enough time to get to know someone, if that relationship prematurely became public, they would be absolutely swamped with media interest and that would change the dynamic of the relationship. And what happens to his mother is never far from his mind. Harry and his brother still feel that, the press intrusion was partly responsible for his mothers death and thought why would anyone want to put up with this for me . Harry wants to keep his relationship with meghan private as long as he can. But just four months after that first date, the news is out. And the paparazzi pounce once again. It was a photographer who got inside meghans house in toronto. The paparazzi were camping on her mothers front lawn, and following, and harassing all members of the family. Anybody really who knew her. Despite starring in a tv show, meghan is relatively unknown. Now, the British Press wants to know who she is and if shes fit for the royal family. She was a woman who had been married, people were fascinated by the fact that she was divorced, people were fascinated by her background, her acting, a career woman, how would that work, being with someone in the royal family, thats no what weve seen before. They also have not seen someone biracial dating a member of the royal family. And some of the conversation is blatantly racist. There was one newspaper headline saying, straight out of compton, suggesting she was from a gangridden neighborhood. The journalist recently wrote a book about race, identity, and belonging in britain. Would harry be jumping her off in gangland, which was very clearly racially loaded, a whole nother issue exploded which was the number of rather horrific social media racist comments began to flood in from the darkest vialist corners of the internet. The royal family responds in unprecedented fashion. With prince harrys team releasing a statement, confronting the quote abuse and harassment meghan is facing. Very unusual for a statement to come out. No one understands this better than dickie arbiter, press secretary at the palace for 12 years. He made a point that it is not a game, it is peoples lives and he was very angry and it was a sort of backoff reminder, what they do to his mother. Why is it that you think that meghans upbringing, her race, why did that garner so much attention . In the past, members of the royal family, princes, would have married princesses, and when harrys father, prince charles, was looking for a wife, it was also a requirement that a wife should be a virgin. And a member of the church of england. You just go back a few generations, in the royal family, and everything that you can say about Meghan Markle disqualifies her from marrying harry. Kate coin is the executive editor of people magazine. This is precisely why you had edward abdicating his throne, so he could marry an american divorcee, elizabeth sisters margaret was in love with a divorced man and was not allowed to marry him. Wasnt charles and dianas marriage and wedding a wakeup call in some ways for the monarchy, you can try to have somebody perk and it has to be a chemistry and you have to love the person, and let them marry who they want. I think it was a lesson they learned. Harry is desperate for history not to repeat itself. And he is anxious to protect meghan. Harrys statement was the most romantic thing a member of the royal family has ever done. And i think engagement watch was on from that moment. It was lets wait for the ring. The ring comes. In november, 2017. Prince harry has announced his wedding engagement to american actress Meghan Markle. And the royal family welcomes meghan with open arms. The queen made an exception and break from royal protocol and invited meghan to spend christmas with the royal family and the queen at sandringham, the first time a royal fiance has actually done that before marrying into the royal family. A powerful sign the monarchy and the queen are modernizing and changing. The royal family now is trying to at least be much more part of society and the queen first and foremost wants her grandson to be happy. And that happiness is something that harry has been searching for most of his life. When we come back, the moment that changes everything. He didnt really deal with what life without her meant. It destabilized him and caused chaos for years. Man, im thinking tacos. Hey hey you guys look like foodies. Would you like to try our trashy back ribs . Oh, that sounds great. Everything is locally harvested, farm to dumpster to table. Uhhh, what do you. What else do you got . stammering wwe have a melon rind stew. Comes with a pork and bean reduction. Yeah, were going to just do a lap and well come back. Okay. Well, well be here. Man why isnt this working . My mouth is watering. I think thats just your rabies flaring up. With geico, the savings keep on going. Just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. We got gristle pot pies we dont need to do anything special for valentines day. Okay. Even if she says she doesnt need a thing show her you care, make her heart sing make this valentines day mean more. Jared. Hey allergy muddlers. Achoo . Do your sneezes turn heads . Try zyrtec. It starts working hard at hour one. 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Ee guaranteed we say that too youve gotta use these because we dont mean it. Buy any pair at regular price, get one free. Really visionworks. See the difference. September 15, 1984. Prince Henry Charles albert david is born. Harry came into the world very different to his brother who was heralded as the next in line to the throne of england. Harry was the spare. Paul berrel was princess dianas butler. So all through harrys formative years, he always knew he was second. He was always referred to as the spare. Just always second best. And i think that had a profound effect on harry. His childhood was also impacted by his parents marital troubles. Harry grew up in a very tricky household. The prince and princess were never happy together. In a marriage that had failed before it even began. I remember the times when diana was shut away and quiet, and crying, and the boys would write messages, please dont cry, mummy, and they would put it under the door. When charles and diana divorced, it hit harry hard. Then, one year later, his mother is killed. Harry is just 12 years old. This incredibly loving figure who had given him so much warmth and comfort and what was a very difficult childhood and extraordinary upbringing, was suddenly gone. I remember harry coming back to kensington palace, shortly after the funeral, and he ran down the corridor and flung himself into my arms and cried. And his tears wet my shirt through. He was devastated. Harry later admits to itv, he has deep regrets about his final phone call with his mother. I cant really necessarily remember what i said, but all i do remember is, is probably, you know, regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was and if i had known that was the last time i was going to speak to my mother, the things that i would have said to her. Looking back on it now, it is incredibly hard. I have to sort of deal with that for the rest of my life. Guilt and grief he never expresses at the time. I think it was a classic case of dont let yourself think about your mum and the grief and the hurt that comes with it, because its never going to bring her back and it is only going to make you more sad. People deal with grief in different ways. And my way of dealing with it was by just basically shutting it out, locking it out. Prince harry arrives here, at eaton, the prestigious boys boarding school, the year after his mothers death. And though he moves into the same house as his older brother william, harry reportedly struggles academically, and is miserable. Diana always said that she never wanted harry to go to eaton. Because he would be compared to his brothers success. And she thought this would be the undoing of harrys confidence. Prince harry said that he decided that he was going to be a bad boy. Journalist angela leven interviewed harry last year at kensington palace. So that the reason he didnt do well there was partly his fault. It was deliberate. In 2002, headlines emerge, of harrys drinking and marijuana use. For the first time, harry is facing the public pressure that comes with his famous family. Did it seem to brits that it was more than just typical teenaged antics . Teenagers do drink too much, they do behave badly. Its all part of the growing up process, but i personally was worried that there was something deeper. There was a touch of self medication going on. After graduating from eaton, harry escapes to africa during his gap year for humanitarian work. It was an escape from this heavy duty world of royalty, always being watched, always being photographed. He could be very ordinary. He spends two months in lesotho with children in need and others whose parents died from aids. He could see that there were holes there in their lives. And i think absolutely, he saw in them something that he felt was missing in his life. Care, love and attention, the loss of his mother. Harry not only falls in love with the children and the country, he begins a serious romance with a wealthy girl from southern africa, chelsy davy. She is very freespirited. Not someone who felt bound by world protocol, or tradition, and also shared his love of africa, and you know, which they had traveled extensively through africa together. Chelsy remains a constant in harrys life for years to come. She also came into his life at a time when he was missing that female figure, to support him, and i think chelsy did that, and understood him, and she could understand that he had been through a very difficult time, and was still going through a very hard time. A very hard time that harry struggles to overcome. When we come back prince harry got so low, that he decided at one point that he might leave the royal family. And then, Meghan Markles struggle with her biracial identity. She has heard the names from others, and she is well aware that is happening for one reason only and that is the color of her moms skin. Apps are used everywhere. Except work. Why is that . Is it because people love filling out forms . Maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much Vacation Time they have. Or sending corporate their expense reports. Ill let you in on a little secret. They dont. By empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. To learn more, visit paycom. Com [ fastpaced drumming ] Meghan Markle grows up a world away from the pomp and circumstance of royal life. You hear that someone grew up in los angeles, and you think about swimming pools and palm trees, and Beverly Hills, and Meghan Markles childhood in l. A. Was not that. Born in 1981, she is the only child of Doria Ragland and thomas markle. Meghans father was a lighting director for a number of shows in the los angeles area. Most notably married with children and eventually became the director of photography, and that was the sort of behind the scenes less glamorous side of hollywood. Meghan recounts spending time on the set with her father on the late, late show with craig ferguson. I grew up on the set of married with children every day for ten years. Wow. I know. It is a very perverse place for a little girl who went to Catholic School no less to grow up. Meghan had every reason to be dazzled by tv, film, the whole oncamera experience, from a very young age, because she grew up around it. We all knew she wanted to be an actress. Christine knudsen is meghans former teacher. She was in the musicals. She was in the plays. Should he would sparkle when she got on stage and i think it was just kind of in her blood. She loved it. Despite two loving parents, meghan struggles with her biracial identity. I think she was kind of grappling a little bit with this sense of her identity and trying to understand who she was. Josh is a Senior Writer for vanity fair who has covered meghan. Her father was white. Her mother was black. She says when she would fill out forms there wasnt always a bubble that fit her to fill in. She didnt want to circle the one that was implying that her mother, you know, was more important than her father, viceversa. Meghans parents go out of their way to make sure she does not feel different. But special. Her dad gave her a sort of barbie doll family, in which there was a black mom, barbie doll, and a white dad ken doll, and then a baby barbie doll in each color. But even that kind of points to how difficult it is to be meghan at that age, because the children were still either black, or white. And there was no biracial barbie baby doll for meghan. While the markle household deals with race headon, years of builtup racial tensions in the country explode. Right in meghans backyard. She was driving i think with her mom, and i think there was like debris and she thought it was snowing and she realized it was actually a riot. Riots erupt when four White Police Officers are acquitted in the beating of a black man, rodney king. A moment meghan says impacted her at a young age. It definitely opened meghans eyes to the fact that this was a world that was not always going to treat her fairly. And was not always going to be kind to her or to her family. I was teaching here at the time, and i think it destroyed kinds of that feeling that l. A. Is just a wonderful place to live, and you have all of these different kinds of people, and we all get along, and then this just kind of smashed that. Its a grim reality for an 11yearold to face. And one that would always be present. Meghan witnessed her mother experiencing racism. She has heard the names her mother has been called. And she is well aware that that is happening for one reason only and its the color of her moms skin. Meghans Early Experiences with discrimination are not isolated to race. While watching tv advertisements, for a class project, one commercial stands out to her. Women are fighting greasy pots and pans. In the ad, they implied that the product was just for women, who were going to be at home doing the cleaning. 11yearold meghan tells nick news what she thinks. I dont think its right for kids to grow up thinking that just mom does everything. She was irate. Because she thought, you know, my dad does dishes. Its not just women who do dishes. Why would it be women across america . And she wrote a letter. So i was wondering if you would be able to change your commercial to people all over america. And wouldnt you know it, it worked. The gloves are coming off. People are fighting greasy pots and pans with ivory clear. It had to have been such wonderful reinforcement for her, at such a young age, that she could make a difference, that she could take a stand, and have her voice heard, and not be dismissed. When we come back, prince harry and the burden of royalty. She really did love him, but being with harry, and the huge circus that came with it was overwhelming for her. She didnt want to be a princess. I dont think any sane person wants to be a princess. Ever since we moved here, ive been noticing it. I think the house is changing him. [ gasps ] up and at em . Into his father. [ eerie music plays ] is it scary . [ gasps ] its in eco mode. So dont touch it. Mmhmm. I cant stop this from swinging. Must be a draft in here. But he did save a bunch of money bundling our home and auto with progressive. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Hello . Sorry, honey. [ telephone beeps ] butt dial. And my side super soft . Hello . 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