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ROMANCING THE THRONE
Yes, before they even tie the knot, the story of the prince and his leading lady has been turned into a Hollywood romance
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship has been made into a TV film, just in time for their wedding – and we have the inside story
Settling into a Soho restaurant, dressed sedately for the evening in a cream dress, the woman turns to her companion and asks, ‘So, what is it you do?’ He – tall, awkward, shy and ginger – looks down at the table, blushes and utters words not typically heard on your normal blind date: ‘I’m... er... kind of the Prince of England.’
Thus begins the courtship of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Hollywood style. Yes, their love story has already had the Tinseltown treatment thanks to Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, a fictional retelling of the relationship between the prince and the actress.
Airing on Lifetime five days before the pair are married in real life, there are ups, there are downs, there are giraffes (the happy couple is randomly filmed petting one) and there is Kate Middleton, the voice of grim common sense throughout the film, who pops up seemingly with the express purpose of throwing cold water on Harry’s fun. ‘Peter Pan can’t stay in Neverland forever,’ she chides him about his gallivanting ways, advising that ‘marriage isn’t so bad’ (hubby Prince William is sitting next to her at the time), only to remark once Har ry does finally settle down, ‘She’s Americ a n . She’s divorced. Are you ready for this?’
The ‘she’, of course, is Meghan, played by Jamaican-American actress Parisa Fitz-Henley, a stunning 41-year- old whose previous credits include Netflix series Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Harry is played by 24-year-old Scottish actor Murray Fraser, who, with just two previous TV credits to his name in The Loch and Victoria, seems a tad shell-shocked to suddenly be finding himself in Hollywood, playing the sixth in line to the throne. ‘I was working in a pub in Herne Hill in London while doing auditions when I heard about the part,’ says Murray. ‘I made an audition tape with my mate Sean playing Meghan, not expecting too much, to be honest. When they told me I’d got the role, I had to fly to LA and then to Vancouver, where it was filmed. It all happened in the space of two weeks. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind.’
Much like the whirlwind romance of Harry and Meghan, which is charted here
The actors playing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in all its fairytale glory, from their introduction two years ago by mutual friend Violet von Westenholz, to their time in Botswana where they fell in love – hence the giraffe.
Things eventually heat up as the young couple are filmed seemingly naked and entwined in bed – ‘It’s all done very tastefully,’ says Parisa – until Harry can take it no more, going down on one knee in his Kensington Palace apartment (fully clothed, this time) to ask Meghan to marry him.
‘You also get to see the back story of when Harry and Meghan were younger and the paths in their lives that have led them to where they are now,’ says Murray.
‘When you see their backgrounds you can see why these two connect and feel they’ve found a real partner in each other,’ adds Parisa. She and Murray warmed to the couple, having not paid much attention to them prior to being cast. Indeed, Parisa seems to have fallen under Meghan’s spell (‘not to get too mushy but when I watched their engagement video, she seemed so present and nurturing and receptive to love’), having known little about the future bride nor the Royal Family beforehand. ‘I knew everyone loved Diana,’ she says, ‘ and I was peripherally aware of William and Kate getting married and having supercute kids. Once I got the part, though, I started watching The Crown and became completely obsessed.
‘I’d never acted with Meghan, and Suits [Markle’s most famous acting job] wasn’t a series I’d watched, so I came to her pretty fresh. But I could really relate to her. My parents are divorced, like hers. Also, my dad is of Jamaican descent and my mum is white American [Meghan’s father is white and her mother African-American], so a lot of the things
Meghan experienced, such as the question of who you are and what you represent, are familiar to me. The movie doesn’t shy away from the question of race, which was important to me.’ Murray knew more about the Royal Family, having grown up in Falkirk. ‘But I wasn’t a big royalist,’ he admits. ‘In lots of ways I didn’t see the point of the Royal Family in this day and age. But I did a lot of research on Harry’s charities and things like the Invictus Games and that really helped my performance. He and William do a lot for charity and that’s pretty admirable.’
The Scot’s biggest challenge, aside from dyeing his brown hair ginger (‘I’m one of four brothers – you can imagine the teasing I got’), was to nail the plummy accent. ‘I did it pretty much for the entire shoot, even when we weren’t filming, to keep in character,’ he says. It’s little wonder the accent occasionally veers off course, given that the dialect coach had her hands full dealing with all manner of nationalities on set. Australian actor Burgess Abernethy plays Prince William, complete with receding hairline. ‘Our hairdresser was amazing,’ enthuses Parisa.
‘I kept looking at the person playing William and thinking, “How does he have exactly the same hair as Will?”.’ New Zealand actress Bonnie Soper plays Princess Diana during Harry’s formative years, and Canadian Maggie Sullivun takes on the role of the Queen. ‘And I’m from Jamaica, so at least the Commonwealth was well represented in the movie,’ says Parisa.
The film does have its British roots, though. Director Menhaj Huda was raised in London and cut his directo- rial teeth on programmes such as EastEnders and The Bill, while the film’s script was co-written by Scarlett Lacey, daughter of historian and royal biographer Robert Lacey. ‘So I’m pretty sure a lot of the factual stuff is right,’ says Parisa.
She was particularly impressed by how quickly the project came together. ‘I’d just seen Harry and Meghan’s engagement video and I told my manager, “If they ever make a movie out of this, I’d like to audition for it” and then about three weeks later, the audition came through. I thought, “How did they write it so fast?”.’
To be frank, given some of the dialogue, it’s not so surprising. At one point in the movie Meghan implores Harry to ‘ tell me something real’, while Harry, in full Barbara Cartland mode, assures Meghan, ‘I don’t need my life to be this perfect, royal picture. I just need you.’ As for whether the most crucial bit of reallife dialogue makes it to the final cut (the real Meghan revealed in her engagement interview that she’d asked Violet von Westenholz, ‘Is he nice? Because if he wasn’t kind I didn’t really see there was any point’), Parisa won’t divulge. ‘But I will say that from our movie, you can definitely see that she’s the type of person who would ask that.’
So while traditionalists may balk at the dialogue, the generous distribution of nationalities among the cast and the fact that scenes set in Buckingham Palace were apparently filmed in Canada, the producers are nonetheless hoping that Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance will be a success like their previous offering, William & Kate. A similar reworking of that particular royal couple’s love story, it aired prior to their 2011 wedding, and while short on acclaim (one critic called it ‘pillowbitingly ghastly’), it was a ratings hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
As it stands, Harry & Meghan looks eminently watchable. As for Parisa, she is hoping that the real Harry and Meghan will take a little breather from their wedding preparations to watch it.
‘My stomach flipped at the thought they might be watching, but I hope they do, and that they turn it into a drinking game where they make a note of what we get right and what they think is silly,’ she says. So, should the couple have a drink when the film gets something right? ‘Well,’ she grins, ‘that depends on how drunk they want to get.’
Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, Monday 14 May, 9pm, Lifetime (Sky 164, Virgin 208).