With the help of friends, employees, historians, and of course director Liz Garbus and her team, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told the story as they saw it.

The result is a moving tale of a royal love story exacerbated by prejudice, racism, and relentless tabloids.

Here is everything we learned from this unprecedented documentary and what you may have missed.

All interviews were filmed before the Queen's death

A disclaimer before the first episode states, "All interviews will be completed by August 2022. Members of the Royal Family have declined to comment on the content within this series."

This is significant given the extra criticism the series received for its existence after the Queen's death in September.

Harry & Meghan privately documented the royal exit in case they one day wanted to tell their story and counter misinformation

Suggested by a friend, the series prepared them for their departure to Canada in March 2020 and all the emotional journey that would accompany it, It uses footage shot on the royal couple's cell phones.

Princess Meghan has two sweet nicknames for Harry,

she calls him "Haz" and "H."

When Princess Meghan met Harry, she "really planned to stay single."

Princess Meghan explained that she was very excited to be single for a few months in July 2016 and travel the world with her girlfriends. However, she said, "And then H came along."

Harry and Meghan met through Instagram

. When you think about it, one would think that a royal would have a private social media account, but it never actually occurred to me that Harry would have one. But he did have one, and that was his first connection to Meghan. He saw a picture of Meghan on a friend's feed and asked who she was.

The friend sent Meghan an email, essentially bringing the two together. The Duchess liked his photos of animals and nature from his conservation work in Africa and they got into each other's DMs. It is truly a modern fairy tale.

He was late for their first date and she was late for their second. But as he arrived in a rush, caught in traffic, bright red, and covered in sweat, she realized it wasn't an act.

To even the situation, Megan was five minutes late for their second date the next night.

Harry had a list of things he was looking for in a woman,

and he asked Megan if she would be interested in him. Harry refused to answer, gesturing toward Meghan and smoothly saying, "Here's the list."

Harry implied that Prince Charles had married Princess Diana because she "fit the mold."

He said that he was "a bit of a wimp,"

and that he was "a bit of a wimp. He said, "I think for many people in the family, especially obviously men, there is a temptation or urge to marry someone who fits the mold, as opposed to someone who is perhaps destined to be together."

This is most likely a reference to Harry's parents' marriage, but it could also be interpreted as a dig at William and Kate. Of course, Harry did not go that far, so it is up to us to draw our own conclusions.

Harry was worried

that he would cause any wife to suffer. Heartbreakingly, Harry did not know how to find a partner who would date the royal office. His first few girlfriends were hounded by the press, and the women he met afterward seemed to avoid dating him because of it. He was "afraid" that the media would keep Princess Meghan away from him.

Harry said that the people of Lesotho "brought him up"

and that he was "raised" by them. After his mother's death, he found solace and purpose in the community of Lesotho, where he co-founded Sentebale with Prince Seiso. There, Prince Seiso gave Harry the nickname "Mahale," which means "warrior" in Sesotho.

Harry is clearly upset because he is being followed by paparazzi

Episode 2 begins with Harry and Meghan getting into a car in New York City, where Harry is clearly worried and nervous that he is being followed by paparazzi. Meghan holds his hand in a reassuring gesture.

Meghan as a child

Meghan once wrote a letter to the principal, promising that she would tell him about herself when she became rich and famous. The principal appears in this documentary, which is quite touching.

The Duchess also explained that she was very "nerdy" as a child and that being of mixed race was a difficult part of her identity.

The Royal Family did not understand how much of a role race would play in welcoming Meghan

When Meghan began her public relationship with Harry, the Royal Family felt that the press attention she received was normal and a "rite of passage" that would subside quickly. However, they did not realize how important race was to Harry in all of this, nor how many racial nuances were included in the tabloid reports about the two.

Harry said, "Some of the family members were like, 'Yeah, but my wife went through that, your girlfriend should be treated the same way.'" These words were played over the video of Fergie and Princess Kate being photographed. And I said, "The difference here is the racial element," Harry recalled."

Harry and Meghan did not want to repeat their family's mistakes

. The documentary shows a sweet scene of the parents watching hummingbirds with Archie. Both Meghan and Harry talk about how their parents' divorce affected them and how they tried to avoid the mistakes their parents made when raising them.

Meghan was struck by how formal William and Kate were behind closed doors

. Megan recalled the first dinner with William and Kate, when they greeted her in torn jeans and bare feet and gave her a big hug. She said, "I've always been a hugger, so I didn't realize how shocking that really is to a lot of Brits."

She also recalled her surprise at having to bow to the Queen and how Princess Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank, and Fergie told her she had done well the first time.

How Harry proposed

Harry revealed how he proposed and made some funny jokes. The interviewer asked, "What was your position?" the interviewer asked, to which Harry replied, "Well, downward facing dog," with a blank look on his face.

But the truth is that he got down on one knee and Meghan said "yes" in a really excited way.

Samantha Markle's daughter tells her side of the story

The biggest bombshell of the episode was the appearance of Ashley, Meghan's niece and daughter of her estranged sister Samantha Markle. Ashley and Meghan hit it off when they were young and became the best friends they both always craved in life.

Sadly, however, due to the optics involved with Samantha not being invited, the royal family thought it best not to invite Ashley to the wedding.

Meghan called the engagement press conference a "staged reality show."

Both Harry and Meghan recalled the rehearsal of the official press conference, reminiscent of the part of Oprah's interview where Meghan said she was "silenced."

According to Harry, Diana and Princess Meghan are "thick as thieves."

Harry believes that mother and wife will get along like a house on fire.

Both Harry and Archie are big fans of Elton John

In one scene, Meghan asks Harry to DJ and Harry plays Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets." Megan then said that Archie, who was 2 years old at the time, loved the song and always said, "Bennie. Bennie. "

The Royal Family's History of Racism and What It Means for Black Duchesses

This documentary focuses heavily on the Royal Family's history of colonial rule and racism and how it affected the significance of black women joining the Family [4 Many black Britons were overjoyed, but they were also surprised when the racism against Princess Meghan began.

In it, Harry also expresses his deep regret that the Nazi costume he once wore to a party became a worldwide scandal. He said he hopes that many lessons will be learned from this mistake.

Meghan had to Google the British national anthem

Of course, since Meghan is American, she did not know the words to "God Save the Queen." She practiced by Googling it before the official event, she recalled. She also called "The Princess Diaries" an "old movie," which I personally find very insulting.

Harry blames himself for Princess Meghan losing her relationship with her father

At one point, Harry says that she would not have lost her relationship with her father Thomas Markle if she had never met him. Princess Meghan and Thomas lost contact after Thomas repeatedly spoke to the media and staged photo shoots before the wedding.

From the preview, it appears that the next installment will cover everything after Harry and Meghan's royal wedding, focusing especially on their tumultuous royal exit.

In this regard, Meghan said, "This is when the family and the family business go head-to-head."

Harry added, "Everything that happened to us always happened to us. There was no other option at this point. I said, 'I need to get out of here.'"