Prince Harry has recalled the moment his royal relatives first met wife Meghan Markle - and claimed that they believed it wouldn't last as she was an American actress.
He made the revelation in the first part of his explosive docuseries, which dropped on Netflix, today and in it he and Meghan talked about their early days of their romance.
Harry says that his family seemed "incredibly impressed" upon meeting Meghan for the first time and were probably surprised a "ginger could land such a beautiful woman".
However, he accused the family of having their judgment clouded by Meghan being an American actress, with his wife adding that her then profession was "the biggest problem".
Speaking in the second episode of the series, Harry said: "I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed, some of them didn't quite know what to do with themselves.
"Because I think they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman.
"But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning, 'oh she's an American actress; this won't last'.'
"The actress thing was the biggest problem, funnily enough. There is a big idea of what that looks like from the UK standpoint - Hollywood - and it's just very easy for them to typecast that."
His comments came after the couple also recalled Meghan's first meeting with the Prince William and Kate as well as the late Queen.
The duchess said she found the “formality" of being in the royal family "surprising" and recalled being in ripped jeans when she met Harry's brother and sister-in-law for the first time.
She said: "“I was a hugger. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.
“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.
“There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
Meanwhile Harry also claimed his relatives of asked why Meghan should be "protected" from media speculation, alleging he was told it was something all royal women - including Princess Diana and Kate - have to go through.
He tells the camera that his relatives said their wives had to endure press intrusion in the early days of their relationships, so when he started dating Meghan she shouldn't expect any special treatment.
As he speaks, a montage of photographers taking snaps of his mum Princess Diana, Sarah Ferguson and the then Kate Middleton plays over his voice.
Harry says: "The direction from the Palace was don’t say anything.
“But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well.
“So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like ‘my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?'”
“I said ‘the difference here is the race element’.”
Since quitting the royal family in 2020, Meghan and Harry have spoken about their troubles in the royal family several times.
Harry was first to reveal details, opening up to his old pal James Corden during an open top bus top of LA.
When Corden asked why he walked away from the royal family, Harry was quick to correct him. He replied: "It was never walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down.
"It was a really difficult environment, as I think a lot of people saw. We all know what the British press can be like."
But most famously, both Meghan and Harry sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a bombshell interview, in which the Duchess said she had suicidal thoughts during her time in The Firm and accused an unnamed member of the family of asking questions about Archie's skin tone.
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Harry accused his father of cutting him off financially, saying they were forced to rely on his inheritance from his late mum Princess Diana. He also described his father and brother of being "trapped".
But as well as sharing negative experiences, the couple have used their freedom to share heart-warming personal details about their family.
Meghan spoke about how welcoming the Queen was when she joined the royal family, gifting her a pair of diamond earrings ahead of their first joint engagement. Harry has also shared adorable updates on his children, revealing Archie's first word was crocodile and saying he's "hilarious".
