Meghan Markle Reveals British Friends Warned Her Not to Marry Prince Harry

In the new documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, Meghan Markle reveals that her British friends warned her not to marry Prince Harry.

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  • As perfect as their royal love story might seem from the outside, Meghan Markle admits that life married to a prince isn't always easy.
  • In the new documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journeythe duchess revealed that life under the scrutiny of the British press isn't easy.
  • Meghan also said that her British friends even went so far as to warn her against marry getting involved with Harry.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave some of their most candid interviews ever in their new documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, which aired on ITV in the UK tonight.

In one particularly raw moment, Meghan admitted that her British friends warned her against getting involved with Harry early in the relationship.

"It’s hard," Meghan told ITV News at Ten anchor Tom Bradby of living under the intense scrutiny of the British press. "I don’t think anybody could understand that."

Meghan went on to explain that she was "naive" about the reality of being covered by British tabloids:

"In all fairness I had no idea, which probably sounds difficult to understand and hear. But when I first met my now-husband, my friends were really happy because I was so happy but my British friends said to me, 'I’m sure he’s great but you shouldn’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life.'

"And I very naively—I’m American. We don’t have that there—[I said], ‘What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not in any tabloids.' I didn’t get it. So it’s been, yeah, it’s been complicated."

Harry & Meghan: An African Journey airs in the U.S. on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 10 p.m. ET, on ABC.

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Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.