6 Things We Learnt About Harry & Meghan's Secretive Life In Canada In Their New Netflix Doc

Meghan loved Toronto

In the early episodes of Meghan & Harry, Markle and her friends talk about her life in Toronto before she met the prince.

Despite starring in the hit TV show Suits, the former actress expressed having limited interactions with the tabloid press and the paparazzi before meeting Harry.

One of her Suits co-stars explains how Markle loved her life in Toronto, where she had "a core group of friends" and was outgoing and "super social."

Meghan talks about living in a "great little residential community" with her two dogs, where she regularly went for walks and hikes and said her life was "easy and low-key."

"She had such a beautiful life before everything exploded," one of her friends said.

U.K. media 'descended on Toronto'

In episode two of Harry & Meghan, Markle talks about how she was hounded by paparazzi during the early days of her relationship with the prince.

She claims her neighbours were offered money in exchange for camera access to her backyard, and that it felt like "all of the U.K. media descended upon Toronto."

The former actress says her life was becoming "so much more insular," as she began pulling closed all of her curtains and blinds every time she was at home.

"It was scary," she said. "My house was just surrounded. Just men sitting in their cars all the time waiting for me to do anything."

Toronto police didn't do enough

During the second episode of the series, Markle makes it clear that she doesn't think Toronto police did everything they could to protect her from the paparazzi during the early days of her relationship with Harry.

“I would say to the police, if any other woman in Toronto right now said to you, ‘I have six grown men who are sleeping in their cars around my house and following me everywhere that I go and I feel scared,' wouldn’t you say that it was stalking?"

"They said, ‘yes but there’s really nothing we can do because of who you’re dating,'" she explained.

She said she was told that she would just have to "live like this." However, things changed when she received a death threat, after which she was finally given security.

Vancouver Island was 'amazing'

In episode five of the documentary series, the couple talks about their time in Canada in December 2019.

They describe it as a "getaway" from their controversial lawsuit against the British tabloid press for the publication of a private letter between Markle and her father.

The couple and their young son, Archie, spent the holiday period on a snowy Vancouver Island – a time which Harry describes as "absolutely amazing."

In a series of behind-the-scenes clips, Meghan can be seen decorating a huge Christmas tree, taking Archie and their dogs outside to see the snow and watching dreamy sunsets, while her husband takes a chilly dip in the ocean on January 1.

"I just loved being there," she said of her time on the island. "It was just so peaceful. You could breathe for a minute."

They also spoke of their relief to get a short break from reporters, cameras and the paparazzi.

"There wasn't a single paparazzi that lives on Vancouver Island," Harry said. "That was the reason we chose it. It's an island."

The family were able to live on the island for around six weeks before the British press found out their location and publicized it globally.

They wanted to move to Canada forever

After having a taste of family life in Canada during their stint on Vancouver Island, the couple say they came up with a plan to make the Great White North their home permanently.

In episode five of Harry & Meghan, the prince says he contacted his father, King Charles III, and told him of their goals to relocate to Canada – a country within the Commonwealth.

They say their plan was to do work on behalf of the royal family and the queen, but fund their lifestyle themselves.

"We really wanted to remove the supposed public interest argument that the press had over every element of our lives," Harry explained.

"Their argument was, 'If you have even 1% of public funding any part of your life, then [the press] [...] can invade your privacy on everything.'"

Harry says he put their plans in writing to then-Prince Charles, but made it clear that they would be willing to relinquish their royal titles if a compromise couldn't be found.

The Canada move was cancelled — and the couple stepped back

The couple's plan to relocate permanently to Canada went up in smoke when it was publicized "on the front page of every newspaper."

In Harry and Meghan, the prince alleges that the royal institution leaked the couple's intention to move abroad, prompting them to make good on their promise to step back from royal duties and relinquish their titles.

It was then that a private family meeting took place — without Meghan — between Prince Harry, Prince William, then-Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II. It was during this conversation that William "screamed and shouted" at his younger brother for stepping away from his royal duties.

"The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother so that he's now on the institution's side," Harry said.