Meghan Markle hosts Netflix Q&A with friend and director Misan Harriman one year after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell documentary premiered on the streaming service

It is a year since Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle took Netflix by storm after they released their bombshell six-part docuseries, Harry & Meghan.

After the show became one of the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series in 2022, Meghan, 42, is still hard at work with the streaming company through their production company, Archewell.

Meghan joined new film director and friend Misan Harriman, who had just released the live-action short film The After, at an exclusive premiere in a private residence in Montecito, California, where Markle and Prince Harry, 39, live, according to People.

Meghan joined new film director and friend Misan Harriman, who had just released the live-action short film hopeful The After at an exclusive premiere in a private residence in Montecito, California, where Markle and Prince Harry, 39, live 

The After, which is now streaming on Netflix, is about a London rideshare driver (Oyelowo) who ‘has to reconnect with himself and society after witnessing a devastating random attack in the capital.’

It is a year since Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle (pictured) took Netflix by storm after they released their bombshell six-part docuseries, Harry & Meghan

After the show became one of the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series in 2022, Meghan, 42, is still hard at work with the streaming company through their production company, Archewell

Meghan joined new film director and friend Misan Harriman, who had just released the live-action short film hopeful The After at an exclusive premiere in a private residence in Montecito, California, where Markle and Prince Harry, 39, live. Meghan joined new film director and friend Misan Harriman, who had just released the live-action short film hopeful The After at an exclusive premiere in a private residence in Montecito, California, where Markle and Prince Harry, 39, live

Misan shared the chat on his Instagram page, where he thanked the actress for her role as moderator.

Along with an album of photographs of the event, he captioned the post: ‘Here are some images from a very special screening of The after moderated by the Duchess of Sussex. It was extra special to have her and so many of my film idols watch this film. Thank you for coming to all the guests and @netflix for hosting.’

‘When COVID hit, my second daughter was born just before lockdown started and the whole process, then George Floyd was killed. And I had this moment of deep retrospection recognising that I’m not okay,’ Misan told Meghan in response to her about the new hit.

‘And I think a lot of the traumas of the little boy that’s still trying to shake hands in this man’s body came out in the summer of 2020. And when the opportunity came to go into the moving image, I felt that I had to be honest and start wearing all of our vulnerability with pride and honesty in a film that hopefully could accompany you in recognising that it’s okay not to be okay.’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex released their $100million docuseries Harry & Meghan with the streaming giant last December, which became Netflix’s second-highest ranked documentary ever – behind The Tinder Swindler.

Meghan & Harry, directed by Liz Garbus, was the first project to emerge from the multi-year deal the couple signed with the streaming giant back in 2020, shortly after they announced they were stepping down as working members of the Royal Family.

Earlier this year, the series has been nominated for a Hollywood Critics Award in the Best Streaming Nonfiction category.

Netflix reportedly paid £88 million ($100million) for Harry and Meghan’s bombshell docuseries as part of a multi-year deal with the streaming giant

Announcing the news on Twitter, the organisation revealed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are up against Prehistoric Planet 2, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, Rennervations, The 1619 Project and The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy.

Nominees were chosen using an anonymous voting process from the HCA’s TV Awards Committee, which is comprised of 27 members.

The committee is formed from a group of 180 different members of the association, and it’s unknown which 27 members made the decision with regard to the Sussexes’ nomination.

The HCA TV Awards Committee and Television Branch members voted on the winners beginning July 18, 2023.

Meghan and Harry used their $100million deal with the streaming giant to launch swipes at the Royal Family and Britain in shows being described as transatlantic ‘TV bombs’ hurled at The Firm.

The privacy-conscious couple handed over a trove of pictures and videos from their relationship, including the moment Harry proposed in 2017 and filming himself in the VIP lounge at Heathrow as he emigrated in March 2020.

The first three episodes contained a series of barbs that are believed to have upset his father, King Charles III, including Harry’s claim that he was ‘literally brought up’ by a ‘second family’ in Africa where he chose to spend three-month stints in his late teens and twenties as he came to terms with his mother’s death.

Harry also describes a ‘huge level of unconscious bias’ in the Royal Family – with reference to Princess Michael of Kent wearing an offensive Blackamoor-style brooch in front of his wife at Buckingham Palace.

There is also a suggestion that the UK is racist and more obsessed with race than the US, with Meghan declaring that she ‘wasn’t really treated like a black woman’ until she came to Britain.

And in a swipe at the choice of wives by his male relatives, viewed as an attack on his father and other senior royals, perhaps even his brother William, Harry insisted that his decision to marry Meghan sets him apart from his family because it was ‘from his heart’ and not because she ‘would fit the mould’.

He said his wife being an American actress ‘clouded’ his family’s view of her – and they believed it wouldn’t last.

The news came after sources claimed the couple were in talks to front a new Netflix documentary to see them meeting communities in South Africa.

The Sunday Mirror reported Prince Harry and Meghan will be shown helping to build houses in the villages they will visit with the series thought to take a ‘humanitarian’ focus as Meghan brings awareness to safe birthing practices.

A source told the newspaper: ‘The cameras will follow [The Sussexes] as they visit compounds and share medical education.’

They added the production will be a combined project from Netflix and the couple’s Archewell Foundation.

The source revealed: ‘Meghan is particularly keen to share information about giving birth safely with the women she meets.’

Harry & Meghan became the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series of the year this time last year, according to viewing figures.

The first episode, which told the story of how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex met and began dating, was watched by an average of 4.5 million people in the seven days after it hit screens on December 8.

Harry & Meghan became the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series of the year this time last year , according to viewing figures

It dwarfed the 2.8 million people who tuned in to watch the first episode of The Crown’s new series, released on November 9, by more than a million and a half views.

The series followed the release of the highly anticipated fifth instalment of The Crown, a fictionalised version of royal events, one month earlier in November, 2022.

Starring Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic West, the 2022 episodes touched on the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage, including the princess’s infamous BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir.

It has attracted criticism from high-profile figures, including Dame Judi Dench and former prime minister Sir John Major, who said it had begun to verge on ‘crude sensationalism’ and ‘malicious nonsense’.

Netflix added a disclaimer to the description of the trailer for series five, but reiterated that The Crown is a ‘fictionalised drama’.

It also raced in front of other big releases by Netflix including the highest-rated episodes of the latest series of Ricky Gervais’ After Life (4.1 million), supernatural thriller Stranger Things (3.9 million) and the period romance Bridgerton (3.4 million).

Stars of the cult TV show Stranger Things, including Joseph Quinn and Sadie Sink, have seen their public profiles boosted massively following the release of the climactic final episodes.

In September 2020, the couple announced a partnership with Netflix to work on a number of projects, including documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming in collaboration with their company Archewell Productions.

In an official statement released at the time, they said: ‘Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.’

They added Netflix’s ‘unprecedented reach will help [them] share impactful content that unlocks action’.

In July 2021, the duchess announced her first project with Netflix, an animated series called Pearl, in which she would take on the roles of creator and executive producer.

However, in May 2022, Pearl was dropped by the streaming platform as part of a wave of cutbacks prompted by their drop in subscribers.