The many friends and collaborators who have taken part in Harry and Meghan’s explosive docuseries

As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released the last three episodes of their explosive docuseries this morning, many of their friends and collaborators made appearances in the programme.  

Meghan’s friends, including Suits actress Abigail Spencer and tennis ace Serena Williams,  were among those to sit down in front of the camera, as well as  Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland.

Meanwhile, friends of Harry, including his Eton pal Nicky Scott and long-standing polo friend Nacho Figureras also appeared. 

Here FEMAIL reveals the many different people who appeared in the second part of the docu-series.  

Doria Ragland

Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, who lives close to Prince Harry and Meghan in California, makes several other appearances in the programme’s three new episodes. 

She appears in a number of previously unseen wedding snaps which show her cheering while standing alongside Camilla and Prince William at Windsor Castle. 

Doria was seen taking part in the launch of Together, a cookbook that Meghan worked on with the a group pf women who were involved in the supporting their community after the Grenfell Tower Fire in 2017. 

During the book launch, Doria spoke with some of the attendees, never straying too far from Meghan.

Elsewhere in the documentary, it’s revealed that Doria stayed with her daughter and son-in-law for a month after Meghan gave birth to Archie, as she confessed she had ‘never been a grandma before.’ 

Meghan’s mother stayed at Frogmore Cottage, and was present when her daughter brought Archie home from the hospital.

The Duchess said: ‘My mom stayed for a month solid, and it was great to have her there.’

Doria is shown spending time with her grandson as an infant, holding him in her arms in a selfie shared in the docuseries.  

At some point, footage shows her playing football in the Sussexes’ garden in Montecito.

Elsewhere, she broke down in tears as she said she felt she ‘couldn’t protect her’ when the Duchess experienced suicidal thoughts.

Doria wiped away tears as she said it had been hard for her to hear that her daughter was suffering from low mental health while she lived in the UK.

Speaking in a later episode, Doria also revealed she knew ‘the stress they were under. It felt like they were running.’ 

Heather Dorak

Heather Dorak runs the Pilates Platinum brand, which the Duchess started attending in Los Angeles when she starred in Suits. It is believed to be how the pair met. 

The Pilates Platinum classes are billed as an ‘inventive and aggressive’ approach to full-body fat burning and conditioning. 

In interviews published before her relationship with Prince Harry became public, Meghan gushed about her ‘amazing’ and ‘inspiring’ friend Heather. 

Heather, who originates from Texas but is now based in LA, became 40-year-old Meghan’s coach when she worked on Suits and attended the royal wedding in May 2018 with her husband Matt Cohen.

Meghan frequently shared snaps of herself and Heather on her now defunct Instagram account before it was closed ahead of the royal wedding. 

She has been a key part of her North American inner circle since Megxit, visiting Prince Harry and Meghan in Canada in January 2020 shortly after they left the UK after stepping back as senior royals.

Heather appears in the fourth episode, credited as being one of Meghan’s friends. 

On her Instagram story, the fitness professional also revealed she did the Duchess’ makeup for her face-to-camera interviews in the programme. 

Speaking of Meghan’s wedding, which she was invited to, Heather said that at the time, she ‘struggled to comprehend that she was even a part of this event.’

Earlier this year, Meghan spent the 4th of July celebrations with Heather and their respective families on the fitness guru’s Wyoming ranch. 

Serena Williams

Meghan met Serena Williams briefly in 2010, and again in 2014, explaining on her now defunct blog The Tig that the pair ‘hit it off immediately’.

The Duchess invited the sportswoman to her wedding to Prince Harry and her star-studded baby shower when pregnant with Archie in New York City in February.

Serena, who equally isn’t shy about her friendship with Prince Harry’s wife, previously advised Meghan to ‘stop being so nice’ and also praised her ‘class and poise’ in the famous Oprah interview.  

According to Mark Hodgkinson in Serena: A Graphic Biography of the Greatest Tennis Champion, the women’s friendship quickly evolved through frequent phone calls and texts.

After becoming Prince Harry’s girlfriend and then a Duchess, Markle leaned on Serena for mentoring on how to handle the paparazzi and the international media.

Serena advised her to ‘stop being so nice’, according to the author.

More recently, Meghan invited Serena onto the first episode of her Archetypes podcast.

In the Netflix series, Serena makes several appearances throughout the show to talk about Prince Harry and Meghan’s relationship. 

Talking about the wedding, the athlete said her friend was ‘courageous’ for choosing music from her culture.

At the nuptials, The Kingdom Choir gospel group performed Stand By Me and This Little Light Of Mine.  

Speaking briefly in the Netflix documentary, Serena said: ‘To have her [Meghan’s] culture represented at that wedding was amazing. I loved it.

‘And I thought it was really courageous and breaking boundaries without trying to.’

Serena is also seen attending Meghan’s New York 2019 baby shower.    

Abigail Spencer 

Abigail, 41, spent years appearing alongside Meghan in Suits – with the two forming a close friendship during their time on-set together.

That friendship was made incredibly apparent in the docuseries, with Abigail revealing that she was one of the first people to learn about Meghan’s then-secret relationship with Harry.

‘It was 2016, Meghan and I met up in New York,’ she recalled.

‘We really enjoyed going to have tea and champagne at Bergdorf Goodman. We’d be like, ‘Let’s meet at the tea room at Bergdorfs.’

‘She’s like, ‘Um yeah, I think I met someone and I’m in love. It’s Prince Harry.”

Like several of Meghan’s other friends who feature in the Netflix show, Abigail was full of excitement over the earliest stages of their relationship.

‘I could just feel everything in her body vibrating,’ she shared. ‘We have a photo from that moment. I was screaming because I could tell it was different.

‘It was very clear from the moment she told me about him that they were in love and they were going to go to the ends of the earth to be together.’

However, Abigail was also quick to make clear how much Meghan had sacrificed in order to make her relationship with Harry work, particularly under the burning glare of public scrutiny.

‘She had a whole life before she met H,’ she said. 

In the latest release, Abigail said she ‘wasn’t allowed to say anything’ and didn’t know how to help the Duchess when she suffered with her mental health.

The actress said she had no idea how to help Meghan when she was struggling with suicidal thoughts, as she spoke in the fourth episode of the docuseries, which was released on Netflix this morning.

She claimed she wasn’t allowed to say anything about Meghan’s situation and said her friend and Prince Harry lived in a ‘complex organism’ that she didn’t know anything about.

In the documentary, Meghan said it felt like her and Harry’s lives were ‘controlled’ by the Palace and that she couldn’t even ‘text her friends a photo’.

Abigail says in the docuseries: ‘That was a really dark… That was a really dark time.’

The actress began tearing up as she went on.

‘And I didn’t know what to do. Like, that’s the thing, they are in this complex organism that I don’t know anything about or how to help or what to do,’ she said.

‘And I’m not allowed to say anything. Like I was not allowed to say anything,’ she added, nodding gravely. 

Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Figueras

Prince Harry’s long term friend Argentine polo player Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Figueras also appears in the docuseries.

In the final episode, he spoke about the couple’s desire to live a ‘normal’ life in Los Angeles.  

The father-of-four was among a handful of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s closest confidantes who have appeared in the show. 

The Argentinian, 45, has been a vocal supporter of the Duke and Duchess, and was there in the early days of the couple’s romance and later a guest at their wedding

Nacho, whose personal wealth is reportedly $30million, has a selection of six fragrances released in 2019, including one named ‘Windsor’, which hinted at a ‘brotherhood of kindred spirits’ with the Duke.

He was among the first to meet the Meghan and Harry’s son Archie in 2019, who features heavily in the new series about the Royals.

Over the years, Nacho and Harry have not been shy about their bromance, particularly while celebrating at polo matches.

They put on a particularly tactile display while playing polo together at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club – where they are teammates in the Los Padres squad.

The handsome professional player has also been dubbed the ‘David Beckham of polo’, and is one of the top polo players in the world.

He holds a 6-goal handicap, and alongside his success in the field has been modeling for Ralph Lauren since 2000.

But modeling was never the goal for the athlete, who began his career to earn some extra cash and bring more attention to his beloved sport.

He was approached by photographer Bruce Weber at a party in The Hamptons hosted by Calvin Klein’s ex-wife Kelly, who encouraged him to get his start in modeling.

While that his career has made him instantly recognisable as the face of polo brand Ralph Lauren, the sport has always been his true passion.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he started playing the game at the ripe age of nine years old after his father introduced him to the sport.

He went professional by the time he was just 17 and after a stint in Europe, he ended up at the White Birch Polo Team based in Bridgehampton, New York.

His love for both polo and investing in charity work is what brought him and Prince Harry together, with the pair sharing these some common interests.

They have been playing alongside each other in charity matches for the past decade, ultimately moving them to becoming close friends.

Both Prince Harry and Nacho played in Sentebale’s charity match earlier this year in Rome to raise funds for Sentebale, an organization co-founded by Prince Harry that supports children and young people affected by HIV in southern Africa.  

Clare Waight Keller

As the artistic director of the fashion house Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress – a minimalist silk outfit without lace or other embellishments. 

It was the former actress’ gown that truly made Clare a household name, after Meghan tied the knot with Prince Harry in May 2018 in front of the world while wearing one of the British designer’s creations. 

Appearing on Episode Four of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary, she said: ‘Looking at the design of the dress, there were many conversations about how you want to present yourself to the world.   

‘Most of us have a wedding with 70 to a hundred people. This was billions of people watching. It has to be flawless, it has to be perfect.’

Last April, Clare revealed she was leaving Givenchy. 

The 49-year-old, who was the first ever woman to head up the couture designer label, has risen to even greater prominence outside of the fashion industry over the past few years. 

Dhru Purohit  

Meghan’s friend, Dhru Purohit, an entrepreneur and podcast host, also spoke of the event in the fourth episode of the docuseries. 

Mr Purohit is a contributing author of two New York Times Best-Sellers and a partner and CEO at Dr. Hyman Enterprises.

It is not known how Meghan knew the author, but he was among the guests at her 2018 wedding, and even snapped a selfie with Oprah. 

He said: ‘We had this massive moment where myself, Oprah, Idris Elba, his partner…We all looked at each other for a brief moment and had a little bit of a chuckle.

‘Nobody needed to say anything because everybody knew exactly the layers of symbolism that were taking place that day.’

Silver Tree

Producer Silver Tree is one of Meghan’s most vocal advocates in the programmes, and makes several appearances throughout.

The 45-year-old was among a handful of close friends who spoke about their relationship with Meghan.

Silver, from Petaluma, California, worked as executive producer on Suits while Meghan was starring in the hit legal drama between 2014 and 2018.

In May 2021, Silver referred to Meghan as one of her ‘nearest and dearest’ friends and said she ‘loved her madly’ in a gushing Instagram post.

She said: ‘On her [Meghan’s] wedding day she checks in on me in the morning. It’s her day, the world is standing by, it’s a lot-but she wants the day to be special for me.’

James Holt

James Holt is a former palace spokesman who was one of Harry’s longest-serving members of staff, and is currently working as executive director of the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation. 

He appears several times throughout the series to explain the inner workings of the Firm and to open up about event he saw unfold behind closed doors. 

Mr Holt formerly led communications for the Royal Foundation, the charity headed by the Cambridges, and for the Liberal Democrats.

He is said to be passionate about many of the causes championed by Harry and Meghan.

Munira Mahmud 

As Meghan Markle discusses the first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, the documentary hears from Munira Mahmud who started cooking in the local mosque ‘just to feel normal again’ following the tragedy. 

She would cook for members of the community twice a week – ‘up until the Duchess came’ she said.

Munira, 38, talked about how Meghan walked in to the Hubb community kitchen, put her gloves on and helped them cook – five kilos of basmati rice.

And over the course of the next eight or nine months, Meghan kept going back and visiting their community.

Munira lived in the tower with her husband Mohamed Rasoul, father-in-law Ahmed Abd El Rasoul, and two young children.

She has previously spoken about the night of the fire, saying she took her children down the stairs while her husband stayed behind to help her father-in-law, who was suffering from dementia, heart problems and diabetes. CCTV footage showed her leaving the tower at 1.27am.

‘I kept questioning why I had left them and thought I was a bad wife because I had left my husband,’ she said.

About 15-20 minutes later she was ‘relieved’ to see them both walking towards her.

In the statement, dated June 2018, she said the family had been living in a hotel room for almost a year, and this has made caring for her father-in-law more difficult.

‘His dementia means that he cannot remember the fire, and is confused more often,’ she said. ‘He looks around and sees a room he does not know surrounded by boxes and suitcases. Sometimes he refuses to eat.’

‘His wandering off has got so much worse. I would say that almost every day he tries to leave and walk off on his own.

‘He will say “I’m going home”. Sometimes that means Egypt, sometimes that means Grenfell Tower.

‘Most of the time we can stop him, but he has gone out of the room 20 to 30 times even when we are there.

‘He can be very quiet and it is upsetting to see him deteriorating.’ 

Natalie Campbell 

Natalie Campbell, who worked for the royal family for a number of years, appeared briefly in the documentary.

She was poached to work for Prince Harry and Meghan from Kate and William’s foundation and was instead employed by the Sussexes as ‘director of insight and innovation’.

The ‘social entrepreneur had worked closely with Meghan on her cookbook designed for the survivors of Grenfell fire.

Speaking at the time, sources close to the Cambridges said: ‘Her loss will be keenly felt by the Cambridges.’

In 2019, she stood down from her role. Companies House documents showed Natalie, who is one of Meghan’s so-called ‘wise women’ left her posts with the charitable foundation on August 22. 

Buckingham Palace refused to comment, but a royal source claimed she was only given director status temporarily for legal reasons.

In January 2020, diversity campaigner and social entrepreneur Natalie left the Sussexes for a new job after just five months. 

Ms Campbell – who was heralded as Harry and Meghan’s big hire to lead the foundation – became the chief executive of water company Belu. 

At the time, she said: ‘It is a career highlight to be joining Belu at such an exciting time for the business and the social enterprise movement more broadly. 

‘I have been an admirer from afar for the last 10 years; leading Belu into the next 10 – continuing purposeful growth and changing lives as a result – is a privilege and honour.

‘The world needs more businesses that put the environment, human rights and sustainable practice at the core of their values and operations, I can’t wait to get started’.

 Lucy Fraser

Fraser, who was invited to the couple’s celeb-studded wedding and was previously hired by the Duchess to promote her now closed lifestyle blog, also made an appearances in the new episodes released today. 

In today’s episodes, Lucy said that: ‘[The palace] would feed stories on her, whether they were true or not, to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.’ 

Elsewhere, she appeared in previously unseen photographs from the couple’s wedding.  

The former PR, whose real name is Lucy Meadmore, left many viewers baffled about her identity when she featured in the docuseries.

However she appeared to have a close bond with the former Suits star, 41, telling interviewers that she advised her on how to deal with the British press.

She was also seen enjoying ‘single girl summer’ in Europe with Meghan in 2016, as sun-soaked social media snaps showed the pals drinking Campari soda and Aperol Spritz together and posing on a huge hotel bed with Lindsay Jill Roth.

Lucy – who has in past been pictured enjoying the British social scene as she partied with Sinitta and Christopher Biggins – seemed to have developed a close relationship with the Sussexes over the years. 

On screen, Lucy is described as a friend and discussed Meghan’s plans for having a ‘single-girl summer’ in 2016 – where she travelled around different countries.

In one photograph posted on social media, Lucy is described by Meghan as her ‘London bestie’ as they lay on a bed together giggling in a hotel room.

‘Those late nights when your London bestie comes to keep you company at your hotel,’ the caption read. ‘Thanks @luc7m for keeping my bed warm.’

In another, Meghan is pictured in Greece on her now closed The Tig lifestyle blog with Lucy and Lindsay – who also appeared in the Netflix documentary.

Other 2015 photos show her and Lucy in London as they pose on a street wearing Miu Miu sunglasses, and all three are in another picture on a hotel bed in Greece.

Lucy – who has worked for several PR firms including Freuds, before branching out and starting her own firm – was also pictured at Harry and Meghan’s Windsor wedding, walking into St George’s with the duchess’s other close friend’s Abigail Spencer and Priyanka Chopra.

Ashleigh

After speaking on camera for the first time in the earlier part of the series, Ashleigh Hale made a number of appearance in the final episodes. 

In the final episode of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s six-part Netflix docu-series, the mother-of-two explained how she reached out to her relation again at the end of 2021.

Never-before-seen footage shows Meghan’s niece arriving at the Duke and Duchess’ Montecito mansion and enjoying some quality time with their two young children, Archie and Lilibet.

The first clip shows Ashleigh Hale – who is the daughter of Meghan’s estranged half-sister Samantha Markle – giving her aunt a kiss on the cheek before cuddling Lilibet.

The docu-series then jumps to another clip of Ashleigh helping Archie to make some courgette muffins in the couple’s kitchen.

Speaking to camera, Ashleigh says: ‘I missed so much of Archie’s life but I don’t necessarily feel like it.

‘I feel like we immediately had this bond. To experience them growing up and to feel like I’m in their life for that has been really good.’

After showing a photo of Ashleigh watching over Lilibet next to the couples Christmas tree, the documentary then plays a video of Meghan and her niece picking some tomatoes with the two children.

Meghan then said: ‘Part of what is beautiful here is the freedom to have family moments out in the world.

‘I want our kids to be able to do that and be able to travel and to fall in love. I just want them to be happy.’  

Describing herself as an immigration attorney in the show, her LinkedIn profile says she was based in Richmond, Virginia, before moving to San Francisco last May where she is now an associate at a firm called Fragomen.

Nicky Scott

In the fifth episode of the series, Harry’s childhood friend Nicky Scott makes an appearance.

Earlier in the Netflix series Nicky was introduced as a ‘childhood friend’, with the pair meeting during Harry’s time at Eton.

The businessman has never spoken publicly before about his friendship with Harry. 

In the new episodes, Nicky said: ‘Harry’s respect for his grandfather was monumentally deep. and I think a lot of the characteristics that, you know, I love in Harry are slightly grandfather related. 

‘You know, that ability to put people at ease, to be fun and to not be stiff and serious I think come from him.

‘I know the admiration was huge. To be walking behind the coffin again must have brought up some other stuff as well. 

‘I don’t have the qualifications to unpick that, but it must have been a lot.’

Nicky joined the elite public school the same year as Harry and features in their class photographs.

While Harry scraped an A-level pass and later joined the army, he went to Leeds University to study management and history of art.

He trained as an accountant before becoming a Portfolio Manager for a company that invests in projects across the tropics, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

This work he says encouraged him to improve rural communities and push sustainable agriculture.

Four years ago he co-founded a company called Pollinium whose mission is to revive and regenerate Indonesian forests and communities, while fighting climate change.

Nicky, who was born in Scotland, is married to the daughter of billionaire Kenshin Oshima.

The Korean-Japanese is said to be worth over £1bn from his finance company called SFCG.

While he was friends with Harry at Eton, he has not been photographed with him since leaving the school.

Nicky is the chief executive of Pollinium, which aims to ‘revive and regenerate Indonesian forests and communities’. The company was contacted for comment.

Vicky Tsai

Beauty entrepreneur Vicky Tsai also appears in the fourth episode of the series and gives insight into the relationship between Harry and Meghan. 

She revealed she was also among the friends and loved ones who were invited to Prince Harry and Meghan’s nuptials, and said it felt like ‘the world paused and celebrated love.’

She said the moment moved her to tears.  

‘I remember watching him look at her, and I almost started to cry, and I was like “no Vicky, don’t cry,’ she added. 

The beauty guru launched her skincare brand Tatcha in 2010 she was inspired by the traditional products used by geisha.

Ms Tsai sold the company, which was known for its cruelty-free and ethical products, to beauty giant Unilever for an estimated $500million in 2019.

She is reported to own a villa in Montecito, which is close to Santa Barbara in California, where Harry and Meghan have laid down their roots in the United States.

In an earlier episode of the docuseries, she said told the cameras that when Meghan and Harry started dating it ‘looked like a fairytale’.

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry played a central role in the final three episodes of Meghan and Harry’s docuseries, in which he revealed how he ended up offering the couple his $18 million Beverly Hills home when they needed a place to stay in March 2020. 

The director and actor explained that he reached out to Meghan ahead of the Sussexes’ May 2018 wedding.

‘I’m not a royal watcher, I don’t really pay attention to a lot of stuff,’ he said. ‘But I saw something about her father [posing for the paparazzi]. I found it to be hurtful if he were my father.

‘And I couldn’t even imagine this woman finding the man that she loved, the man of her dreams, and him being a Prince, and then to walk into all of that madness and need the security of family and then have your father do some horrible things.’

Although the pair did not immediately connect, Meghan says she ultimately turned to Tyler two years later when she and Harry found themselves in need of a home, having decided that they needed to leave their temporary residence in Canada amid the COVID pandemic.

‘That’s where Tyler came into the picture,’ she recalled. ‘I had never met him before. He sent me a letter before the wedding just saying he was praying for me. And that if I ever needed anything he would be there.

‘Months and months and months went by. And then one day when we were in Canada I had called him. Finally, after years at that point.

‘[It was] the first time we ever spoke. And I was just a wreck, I was crying and crying. Like sometimes it’s easier to just open up to someone who knows nothing at all. And that was that moment with me and Tyler.’

He said in the programme: ‘They just wanted to be free. They wanted to be free to love and be happy. 

‘They didn’t… They did not have a plan. Everyone’s like, “Oh, there’s this…” There was no plan.’

Elsewhere, he explained how he was ‘honored’ to be asked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to be Lilibet’s godfather – while admitting that he told the couple he would not agree to travel to the UK to take part in a christening ceremony with the royals.

Perry suggested that he didn’t want to take part in the pomp and circumstance of a traditional royal ceremony, telling the couple’s bombshell Netflix docuseries that he didn’t want to ‘do all of that in the church with them and figure all of that out.’

The director added that he would rather have done a private ceremony in California.

Speaking of the moment that Harry and Meghan asked him to serve in the role of godfather, Perry recalled: ‘They were pretty serious on the phone and I am like, “OK what’s going on”, and they said, “Well we would like for you to be Lili’s Godfather.”

‘I had to take a minute to take that in and I thought I’d be honored, absolutely be honored.’

However, after thinking about what his role as godfather might mean, Perry says he made clear to the couple that he didn’t want to travel to the UK in order to take part in a traditional christening ceremony with the royals.

‘I got off the phone and took it all in and then I called them back and said, “Hold on a second, does that mean we have to go over there and do all of that in the church with them and figure all of that out? Because I don’t want to do that.”

‘Maybe we can do a private ceremony here and let that be that and if you have to do it there then that’s ok.’  

Misan Harriman

Misan Harriman, a long-time friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, also appeared in the documentary. 

He spoke about the moment the couple revealed they were expecting their daughter Lilibet and asked him to be the person to share the news with the world. 

The photographer’s recent work includes photographs from the Black Lives Matter protests in London last year.

Mr Harriman, who only became a professional photographer in 2016 following a career in finance, is the first black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover – and the first to shoot its September issue – in its 105-year history. 

Mr Harriman’s work has also featured in Vanity Fair, Harpers Bazaar and People Magazine, a biography on his website states.

As well as Meghan Markle, the Nigerian-born photographer has pictured celebrities including actors Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman and singer Rihanna.

He is a self-described activist supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as a mental health campaigner with an interest in dyslexia.

In 2019, Mr Harriman also captured a black and white image of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi to accompany the announcement of their engagement. 

Tim Burt 

Tim Burt, the vice-chairman of the City PR firm Teneo, 57, who has been working as a ‘strategic adviser’ to Archewell, the couple’s charitable foundation, also made an appearance on the show. 

He has described Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the media throughout the programme. 

He described the ‘special relationship’ between ‘tabloids and the taxpayer-funded royals’ as a ‘we pay, you pose’ scenario. 

He also explained what the royal rota is and how it works behind the scene. 

“The Royal Rota is a system in which certain media are allocated spots to cover members of the family.

‘And however aggressive their previous coverage might have been, they still get the right to be on the rota,’ he added. 

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