5 unexpected ways that Prince Harry and Meghan show their affection in the Netflix series

The Harry & Meghan documentary was released on Netflix on December 8 and is about the love story between British royal Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.

The documentary is an in-depth and intimate look at Harry and Meghan’s romantic life and displays some unexpected ways they show affection to each other.

Let’s take a look.

1) Teasing and making fun of each other

Throughout the documentary, Meghan and Harry joke around and tease each other.

They laugh, poke fun at the other and have a sharp wit about the times they’ve spent together.

They aren’t afraid to do a bit of ribbing, but then always come  back around to supporting each other in a serious way.

For example, after joking about how bizarre it was to meet and fall in love with a British prince, and how it was kind of a ridiculous joke to her and her friends, Meghan shows that she gets the funny side of the whole thing.

She’s also admitting she bought into the image of Prince “Haz” as a kind of silly bad boy.

But once getting to know him that all changed, as she notes.

2) Embracing traditional gender roles

Next up in the unexpected ways that Prince Harry and Meghan show their affection in the Netflix series is an embrace of traditional gender roles.

For a couple who has embraced many “woke” positions and shied away from the roles expected by the royal family, this may come as a surprise to some.

But in the documentary, a pillar of their way of showing affection is respecting and venerating the traditional masculine and feminine.

For example, when they camped together in Botswana early in their relationship, Meghan talks about how she let go and trusted Harry to protect them from dangerous creatures and the unknown.

Then when their life together started, she also trusted Harry to protect her from the vicious swarms of paparazzi and press hounds.

Seeing Harry as her man and not just a partner who happens to be male may not be the goal of what the series set out to portray, but it certainly does that and actually reinforces many of the most positive aspects of the masculine-feminine polarity and how that can make couples stronger.

3) Knowing when to stay close and when to give space

Another of the unexpected ways that Prince Harry and Meghan show their affection in the Netflix series is to know when to leave each other alone.

“H” as Meghan calls him, is not always around her and has many other duties and things he does.

In fact the documentary starts with Meghan secluded on a property in Vancouver Island, Canada while Harry is busy in London.

Other times the two are inseparable, holding hands and sticking together in the face of the media and social pressure against them.

They’ve also weathered many of the storms of the royal family together, but Harry has also gotten in deeper with family members and worked out his own path.

The two allow each other to have their own roles and lives and come together in the raising of their young son Archie as well, enjoying nature walks and bonding with their adorable youngster.

It’s clear that Harry and Meghan are comfortable being close and also giving each other space, as the situation calls for.

4) Allowing each other to be imperfect    

Next up in the unexpected ways that Prince Harry and Meghan show their affection in the Netflix series is that they allow each other to be imperfect.

While both clearly adore each other, they also recognize each other’s defects and needs.

Both come from backgrounds where they were idealized or castigated as some kind of “special” or especially good or bad individual.

Partly bonding over their desire to help others, volunteer and get beyond their own egos, Harry and Meghan also recognize that they are in a continual state of growth.

They respect each other’s unique journeys and the need to move at their own pace.

Harry clearly feels guilty for dragging Meghan into a racially prejudiced environment of media sharks, while Meghan clearly feels sympathy for Harry and the way he and his family and late mother Diana are hounded to death by a gossip-obsessed press.

5) Being silent and letting each other talk

Throughout the Netflix series, Harry and Meghan display a very valuable quality that many successful couples have:

They know when to shut up.

By respecting each other’s need to finish their sentences and talk, Harry and Meghan create space emotionally and verbally.

This allows them to feel seen by the other and heard by the outside world.

While the two overlap in many ways, they also clearly have very unique and different lives.

Letting each other speak unhampered during the interviews and when interacting with people is one of the ways that they respect and love each other.

When they do contribute or interrupt they do so respectfully and while waiting to see if the other is OK with it.

The interesting thing…

The interesting thing about the Harry & Meghan documentary is that it provides a surprisingly candid glimpse into their life and love.

The ways that they support and love each other aren’t out of any dating manual or self-help article, but they work.

Nobody expected this couple to be anything but a meaningless fling. Both would have had an easier time of it to hide their relationship and let it go.

But by sticking with it and going through all the ups and downs, the two have become an amazingly secure and well communicating duo who actually give me some hope for love.

Is this love?

The way that Harry & Meghan have supported each other and show their love isn’t always what you might expect of a couple.

But that’s one of the things that makes this documentary engaging: it doesn’t sand off all the rough edges and let’s you see how a real couple is, even underneath all the hoopla and controversy.

Love isn’t always like the movies full of perfection and peace, sometimes it’s a bit more like what Meghan & Harry have.