Harry & Meghan Just Set A Huge Netflix Record
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s documentary, Harry & Meghan, is already Netflix’s most viewed documentary in a premiere week, with 81.55 million hours viewed. Deadline reports on the record-setting viewership numbers, which for any title would be eye-popping, but for a documentary, has set a record that may never be toppled. Among the entire Netflix catalog, the documentary is number two on English-language TV charts, putting it in rarified air on the streamer.
Harry & Meghan finished the week, despite debuting on December 8, a Thursday, right behind Netflix’s smash-hit Wednesday. The Jenna Ortega starring series added 269.7 million hours viewed, reaching the number one spot in 90 different countries. With that last haul of just over 369 million hours, Wednesday has also crossed the 1 billion hour threshold, making it just the third series to do so within its first 28 days of release.
The only other series to cross the 1 billion mark that fast are Squid Game and Stranger Things Season 4. Dahmer also has over 1 billion views, though it took over a month to reach the threshold, during which it also lost its spot as the number two show of all time to Wednesday, while Stranger Things still holds the top spot. For Harry & Meghan to be mentioned in the same discussion as those other highly-rated scripted programs says a lot about the voracious appetite the English-speaking world has for the British Royal Family.
Ever since Prince Harry, the youngest son of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, started dating American actress Meghan Markle, tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic have been constantly pushing their story, for what feels like hundreds of years. Essentially what happened, is that shortly after their fairy-tale wedding, Meghan started complaining of racist attacks and comments from British tabloids, and even from other members of the Royal Family. But don’t worry, with giant contracts signed with Spotify and Netflix, Harry and Meghan are still dirty filthy rich living in California instead of England.
A famous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 re-ignited the firestorm, when Harry and Meghan publicly went after the Royals, accusing an undisclosed member of the British Monarchy of asking how dark their child would come out. Public outcry reached such a high that Harry’s brother, Prince William, had to defend the family from accusations of racism. A recent incident in November involving a black domestic abuse advocate complaining about her treatment at Windsor Castle, has kept Meghan’s accusations in the limelight.
The battle between the entrenched Royal Family and the estranged couple is reaching a new fever pitch following the success of the documentary. The new King of England, Charles, is Harry’s father, and is trying hard to establish a new direction for the monarchy, highlighting William and Kate as a progressive couple. The Royals continue to paint Meghan as having a victim complex, accusing her of running to the media over every perceived slight that she ever received from her in-laws, with public opinion split between the two sides.
Harry & Meghan has only released the first three episodes, covering the couple’s history from 2015 through 2017. Part Two of the documentary will be available to stream on December 15, at 3 a.m. EST, exclusively on Netflix.
