Times Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance Lied To You
Obsessed with Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance? Who isn't a fan of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's love story — even a fictionalized version! On May 13, 2018 — just days before Harry and Meghan walked down the aisle — Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance premiered on Lifetime. As the film's IMDb page highlights, A Royal Romance details the "meeting and courtship of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle" — and all that entails.
Although the film is based on the real Harry and Meghan, it's not exactly a biopic. Many liberties were taken to transform the couple's romance into a Lifetime-worthy film. "We tried to be really truthful," co-screenwriter Scarlett Lacey explained in an interview with Elle. "We used our imaginations in places, but there was so much available, from Meghan's own words [via her interviews and blog] ... There were so many things we knew to be true, if not in words, then in spirit." Despite trying their best to retell true events, here are all the things in A Royal Romance that didn't actually happen.
Note: this article contains spoilers.
Harry probably wasn't late to the couple's first date like he was in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance
When Prince Harry arrives to meet Meghan Markle on their blind date, he's 40 minutes late (via Time). He may be a prince, but Meghan can still be peeved at his tardiness, right? In Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Meghan ribs him for not being on time and jokingly shows him how to use his watch. While it's technically possible that the real prince could've shown up late to the couple's first date, it's not likely.
"As they say in the movies, they had each other at 'hello,'" royal biographer Andrew Morton detailed in his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. "[Meghan] was immediately sensitive to [Harry], aware that this was a man who, beneath the banter and the surface chatter, was looking for a safe harbor." Morton further described their first date as "intoxicating" and revealed that Harry and Meghan were "mesmerized by one another." There's no indication that their date initially got off to a rocky start.
Harry wasn't still a party boy, unlike what Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance showed
In the first ten minutes of Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Meghan is depicted as a hardworking actress and Harry is seen as a party boy. The film even includes a date and time — London in 2016 — for reference. It's true that Harry had a reputation for partying during his bachelor years. In 2012, Harry "was photographed gallivanting naked in Las Vegas after a rollicking game of strip billiards" with similarly naked guys and gals, Biography.com revealed. But Harry's party boy days were long behind him by 2016.
As The List previously reported, Harry transformed after joining the military and serving two tours in Afghanistan. In 2014, he became a staff officer in London and began aligning himself with charities. By the time Harry was set up on a blind date with Meghan, he was no longer a party animal, but a charitable and responsible member of the royal family.
Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance presents Kate Middleton as unsupportive
When fictional Prince Harry tells Prince William and Kate Middleton all about Meghan Markle in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Kate reminds her brother-in-law, "She's American. She's divorced. Her mum is black." She continues, saying, "She makes Wallis Simpson look like Dame Judi Dench." Kate explains all of the backlash she and William received because of the prince's decision to marry a "commoner." Her intentions are pure — she wants to make sure her brother-in-law is ready for what the world may throw at him — but there's no evidence that this conversation, or any other like it, actually happened.
We don't know what conversations took place behind closed doors, that is true, but Kate has always been publicly supportive of the couple. When asked about Harry and Meghan's engagement back in November 2017, Kate told the Associated Press that she and William were "absolutely thrilled" upon hearing the news and "wish them all the best."
No, Meghan and Harry didn't break up like they did in Lifetime's A Royal Romance
Before the breakup scene in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, the fictionalized Meghan Markle attempted to break up with Prince Harry — via FaceTime! — only to have him show up on the Suits set where she was currently working. Meghan thought it best to view her Botswana trip with Harry as a fling because she and Harry lived so far apart. In the Lifetime movie, Harry's surprise appearance apparently convinces Meghan to immediately change her mind. According to Hello! magazine, the real Harry did end up visiting Meghan on set before their relationship went public. Being a prince and all though, it's hard to imagine Harry pulling this visit off as a surprise. It's even more farfetched for his visit to have coincided with an almost breakup.
Later in the film, Meghan breaks up with Harry after he issues a statement about their relationship. In true Lifetime fashion, she runs to his plane to stop him from leaving and they, of course, get back together. This dramatic made-for-TV moment was likely just that: made for TV. There's no record of Harry and Meghan ever breaking up.
Only some parts surrounding Harry's statement in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance were real
As previously highlighted, the breakup in Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance all came down to Prince Harry's statement, which addressed his and Meghan's relationship and essentially demanded people — especially the media — leave Meghan alone. The statement in question is 100 percent real and it can be found on the royal family's official site. As in the film, Harry did, in fact, call out "social media trolls" for their "outright sexism and racism." Nevertheless, it's very unlikely that Meghan would've been kept out of the loop regarding the statement. After all, it directly concerns her. Since she probably knew about the statement, this breakup wouldn't have happened in real life.
In reality, William was also briefed of Harry's statement. At the time, it had been reported that William didn't approve of Harry's decision to issue it, but Kensington Palace put that to rest. In a statement provided to Express, Kensington Palace said, "The Duke of Cambridge absolutely understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him." This is fairly close to how William reacted in the film.
What about the Hillary Clinton and frog masks in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance?
You might think Prince Harry's time in Toronto — and those Halloween party scenes — were totally fabricated for Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, but, for the most part, they weren't. "It was definitely a cloak and dagger visit," royal expert Omid Scobie told Good Morning America (via ABC News). "Harry had been planning this for some time and made sure it was done totally undercover arriving at the airport with one security guard and going straight to her apartment." Scobie continued, saying, "He got to meet her friends, spend time at her house, bond with her dogs. It was just like a couple just hanging out at home." According to Scobie, that included walking Meghan's dogs, buying Halloween decorations, and cooking together.
Though Toronto's The Star revealed that the two attended a Halloween party together, there's no proof that Meghan rocked a Hillary Clinton mask and that Harry was spotted in that embarrassing frog costume. And, uh, you can bet we would've heard all about that.
Meghan wasn't "benched," as Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance said
After Lifetime's Harry and Meghan break up and get back together, a downtrodden Harry attends the wedding of Kate's sister, Pippa Middleton. In an exchange between Harry and Kate, the prince explains, "Meghan took a redeye from Toronto so she could be my date to this wedding. Suddenly, she was benched." Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance's Kate responds, "It's no ring, no bring. That's all." She further explains that Meghan's appearance would've "totally eclipsed" her sister's big day.
In reality, Meghan wasn't suddenly barred from attending the wedding. She just simply wasn't invited from the get-go. The "no ring, no bring" bit is mostly true, however. Although Myka Meier, etiquette expert and founder of Beaumont Etiquette, told People ahead of the wedding that it's not an official royal rule, she added, "Pending how intimate Pippa wants to keep her wedding, she may very well follow the 'no ring, no bring' rule." In lieu of the wedding ceremony invitation, Meghan was invited to attend the reception — and that's just what she did.
The story behind the blackamoor brooch in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance
We wish this part weren't real, but the blackamoor brooch does exist. BBC News reported that many view Blackamoor figures, which were popular in the 1800s and 1900s, as racist. As Harry explained in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, it is a symbol of European "imperialist domination in Africa." Unlike what took place in the Lifetime movie, a Blackamoor brooch wasn't worn to Pippa's wedding and it wasn't worn by a "Lady Victoria" as she is a fictional character.
In late 2017, Princess Michael of Kent was photographed wearing a blackamoor brooch ahead of her visit to Buckingham Palace. Although wearing the brooch would've been seen as inappropriate no matter when it was worn, the princess donned the brooch to a Christmas banquet — where she would be meeting Harry's then-fiancée Meghan. As such, many thought it was worn as a personal affront. Spokesman Simon Astaire insisted that "the brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before." The princess' spokesman also told BBC News that the royal was "very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence."
Meghan had already met Prince Charles before the wedding
After Prince Harry confronts Lady Victoria in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Prince Charles tells his son to go ahead and invite Meghan Markle. "Bring her here. I want to meet her. We both do," Charles says, speaking for himself and his wife, Camilla. As previously stated, Meghan was already invited to the reception, so this already isn't in line with true events. Charles continues, telling his son, "And If anyone has a problem with that, they can talk to the first in line." This may make for a touching moment in the film, but, um, what about Pippa? You know, the bride? Charles is indeed the first in line to the throne, but we'd hope the bride would have a say in who was invited to her reception.
It's also inaccurate that Charles and Meghan meet at Pippa's reception. Us Weekly reported that Meghan actually met Charles much earlier at Harry's 32nd birthday event in 2016. By Pippa's wedding in May 2017, Meghan and her future father-in-law would've been pretty familiar with each other.
Kate wasn't pregnant at Pippa's wedding like she was in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance
When Kate orders a virgin drink at Pippa's wedding in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, she admits to Meghan that she's pregnant with baby no. 3. She confesses that her ladies-in-waiting don't even know yet, which makes Meghan among the first to be informed of the pregnancy. This scene worked well in the Lifetime movie, but it would've been physically impossible in real life.
Let's do the math. Pippa's wedding took place on May 20, 2017. Kate's third child, Prince Louis, was born on April 23, 2018. Even if Kate became pregnant on the day of her sister's wedding and somehow knew and told Meghan about it, that would've made her over 11 months pregnant by the time Louis was born. Had she waited a month to break the news to her future sister-in-law, that would've made for a year-long pregnancy. Either Kate is superhuman or this scene didn't actually take place in real life. We're going to go with the latter.
About those lions in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance...
Lions play a bigger role in Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance than you probably would've expected going in. In the film, Harry's first experience with a lion is in Africa after the death of his mother, Princess Diana. Harry did really go to Africa at that time. "I first came in 1997, straight after my mum died," the prince said in an interview with Town & Country in 2017. "My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags — we were going to Africa to get away from it all."
Among the many things Harry told the publication about his love for the continent, he revealed, "This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world." However, Harry never mentioned preventing his father from shooting a lion like he does in the film. This more than likely would've come up in his interview with Town & Country as he helped replace two lions' tracking collars during his time with the interviewer. In the film, Harry believes lions embody his mother's spirit, but there's no evidence to support that Harry actually feels this way IRL.
Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance said Harry's been to Disneyland
In a bit of a throwaway conversation in Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Meghan tells Harry that their trip to Botswana has so far been better than the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. Harry reveals to Meghan that he went to Disneyland when he was 8 years old. "[I] rode Splash Mountain like 14 times. Bloody love that place," he says. He also tells Meghan that it was his mother's idea to take him and William there.
There's no record of Prince Harry having ever been to Disneyland, but this conversation is adapted nearly word for word from an interview Harry gave to Good Morning America. "It's one of my very, very happy memories, of going to Disney World with my mum," Harry revealed. "I went on 'Space Mountain' 14 times. I was like, 'This is absolutely fantastic. This is the best thing ever.'" It's a relatively minor change — Disney World to Disneyland and Space Mountain to Splash Mountain — but it does make you wonder why the change was made.
Is Queen Elizabeth II really "of mixed-race" like Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance claimed?
When Meghan Markle meets Queen Elizabeth II in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, she immediately bonds with the queen's corgis, which is completely true, and the meet-and-greet as a whole goes off without a hitch. We have no reason to doubt that, either. However, the next scene is what gives us pause.
The Queen says she wants to show Meghan something down the hall. Revealing a painting, Queen Elizabeth tells Meghan and Harry, "I've always loved this portrait of our ancestor Queen Charlotte because the painter, Ramsey, didn't try to hide her African heritage." With confused expressions, Harry and Meghan look over at the queen. "Oh, yes. You're of mixed-race, Harry. So am I," she says. "Many of her portraits tried to hide that fact, but this one is most authentic." She adds, telling Meghan, "Much like you."
It's a touching moment, but not all of it is true. Or, at least it hasn't been confirmed. Queen Charlotte was the great great-great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth. And Ramsey — that is, Sir Allen Ramsey — did indeed paint the most realistic portraits of Queen Charlotte, but the late queen's heritage isn't fully known. As Time reported, "historians aren't really sure."
The truth about the first proposal in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance
In Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, we get not one but two proposals. Harry first proposes to Meghan in bed while in Botswana (via Time). Meghan immediately says yes, but, as the proposal was a spur-of-the-moment thing, Harry doesn't present her with a ring.
Harry's second proposal is still informal, but official. This time around, the movie repeats events as they happened in real life. There's a chicken dinner, a beautiful ring, and a happy couple. During the couple's first official interview with BBC News (via Today), Harry said he proposed at his apartment in Kensington Palace while the couple was preparing dinner. "It was just an amazing surprise," Meghan explained. "It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee." She added, "As a matter of fact, I could barely let you finish proposing. I said, 'Can I say yes now?'"
While the second proposal is depicted accurately in the Lifetime movie, there's really no reason to believe that Harry proposed to Meghan twice. As far as the public knows, the London proposal is the only time Harry asked Meghan to marry him. Plus, it likely wouldn't have been a "surprise" if he'd already proposed.