It’s been more than four years since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal family and it seems the writing was on the wall for the couple as far back as their engagement in 2017.

Harry popped the question a year after the pair started dating – and a short time later, they sat down for their first joint interview to celebrate their upcoming marriage. 

They spoke to Mishal Husain in Kensington Palace on the day the happy news was announced but, according to expert Ashley Pearson, that was when “things really started to sour”. When Harry and Meghan stepped down in January 2020, they spoke about struggling with the level of intrusion and interest in their lives. And it was clear during the interview that Meghan was somewhat unprepared.

She was asked by Mishal whether her family had “worried at all about the scale of what you’re getting into?” In response, the bride-to-be said: “Well, I’m sure at the onset, both of my parents and my close friends were concerned. I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like.”

Meghan added: “I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the Royal Family and so while I now understand very clearly, there’s a global interest there. 

I didn’t know much about him [Harry], and so the only thing that I had asked her [mutual friend who set them up on a blind date] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, I had one question. I said: ‘Well is he nice?'”

Later in the interview, Harry said: “[I] tried to warn you [Meghan] as much as possible but I think both of us were totally surprised by the reaction after the first five, six months (which) we had to ourselves, with what actually happened from then. I think you can have as many conversations as you want and try and prepare as much as possible. 

But we were totally unprepared for what happened after that. I still have to have some pretty frank conversations with her to say, you know: ‘What you’re letting yourself in for … it’s a big deal and it’s not … easy for anybody’.”

Meghan later spoke about the engagement interview in the couple’s 2022 Netflix docu-series. She described the chat as an “orchestrated reality show”, with sources claiming that Meghan felt the BBC presenter was “not empathetic enough and not warm enough” to be the one to conduct the interview.

When asked if they were told the questions beforehand, the Duchess said: “Yeah. But then also like ‘and then there’ll be a moment when they’ll ask to see the ring.'” She continued: “My point is we weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want [it].” 

At the time the Netflix show went out, BBC royal correspondent Jonny Diamond was on air with Mishal on Radio 4. And when asked about Meghan’s surprising comments, she insisted that from her side, everything seemed fine.

She said: “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.” Meghan echoed her comments about her lack of knowledge about the Royal Family during the couple’s now-infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey. She told the chat show host: “I never looked up my husband online. 

I just didn’t feel the need to, because everything that I needed to know, he was sharing with me — or everything we thought I needed to know, he was telling me.” But royal fans were quick to question her claim, citing Meghan’s pre-royal blog, The Tig, which featured an entry mentioning Prince William and Princess Kate’s wedding in 2011.

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