There are not one, not two, but three Lifetime biopic movies about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. All of them take place during different stages of the royal couple’s relationship and in each one, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are portrayed by different actors.
Markle was recently asked about her thoughts regarding an actor one day portraying her in a movie. Hilariously, her response seemed to indicate neither she nor the Variety article author had any idea that the Lifetime movies exist.
So if you’re morbidly curious, here is our ranking of every Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Lifetime channel original movie, based on their IMDb scores.
3. Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace (2021) — 2.9/10
The third movie in Lifetime’s trilogy, which arguably had the most conflict in its premise ripe for turning into a dramatization, is ironically the lowest-rated film in the entire franchise. Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace boasts the dishonor of holding a 2.9 out of 10 on IMDb. As you probably could’ve guessed, the film’s plot follows “The couple’s decision to step back from the duties of the British monarchy following the birth of their son Archie,” as the synopsis puts it.
Starring Sydney Morton as Meghan Markle and Jordan Dean as Prince Harry, the film was released on Sept. 26, 2021, more than a year after the real-life event of the Duke and Duchess stepping away from their royal duties back in Jan. 2020.
Just why is the movie rated so lowly? Perhaps the user reviews can shed light on that. Some of the user review titles for the film include “That was nauseating;” “All lies only. I literally vomited;” and “What a load of garbage.”
2. Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal (2019) — 4.4/10
The middle entry in the franchise turns out to have the most middling reviews of all three films. 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal has a 4.4 out of 10 on IMDb and stars Tiffany Smith as Meghan Markle and Charlie Field as Prince Harry. The film follows the newlyweds’ first year of marriage, according to its synopsis.
Based on the user reviews, it seems a lot of fans of the first film missed the original actors who played the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Murray Fraser, and Parisa Fitz-Henley. Some of the user review titles included “What happened to the Harry and Meghan from the 1st movie?,” “Chemistry is off,” and a positive review that still noted the film’s flaws: “Still fascinating but some miscasting.”
1. Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance (2018) — 5.5/10
When it comes to the Harry & Meghan cinematic universe, it turns out the first film was as close to paydirt as possible in terms of critical success. We say “success” very loosely, however. With a 5.5 out of 10 on IMDb, 2018’s Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance is the only film in the franchise to have a score above the halfway mark. If it were a homework assignment, it would still be a failing grade, but credit where credit is due nonetheless.
Per the movie’s synopsis, the first film follows the initial “meeting and courtship” of Prince Harry, played by Murray Fraser, and then-TV star Meghan Markle, played by Parisa Fitz-Henley.
This royal romance origin story also proved to be the only installment in the series that actually garnered review entries on Rotten Tomatoes, albeit too few to actually generate a critical score on the site. Still, the four reviews listed for the film were generally positive. For instance, the New York Post said the film’s “inherent cheesiness” and “historical overreach” was balanced out by a fine performance by Fraser. And a Cosmopolitan reviewer proclaimed that although it’s “slightly ridiculous” the movie is still “not a terrible way to spend two hours of your life.”
If you want to experience the very best installment in the franchise, Lifetime’s YouTube channel currently has the full movie Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance available to watch for free.
Will there be a fourth Harry and Meghan Lifetime movie?
Now that three Lifetime channel original movies have been made tracing the romance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, it raises the question: Will the franchise continue with a fourth installment? The last update we got on this topic was from a Town & Country Magazine interview with the franchise’s executive producers, Michele Weiss and Merideth Finn. According to the article, the pair said they’d be open to making a fourth film but did not have specific plans in place at the time.
“We don’t know if there’s more story,” Weiss said back on Sept. 7, 2021. Weiss’s producing partner, Finn, elaborated on her thoughts about a fourth installment at the time:
“We’re not already planning on it, we’ll say that. We feel complete with the trilogy. We did want to do a third one. We knew that there’d be more story, so it was satisfying to do the third. Do I think that there will be more movie-worthy material from this couple? Absolutely. We’re not sure what the appetite of the audience will be, or of the network. But we’ll be paying attention.”
Since that interview, more drama in the royal family has indeed come to pass. Specifically, the death of Queen Elizabeth II last month saw Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the funeral alongside their royal relatives. Does that mean we can consider the Lifetime channel premiere of Harry & Meghan: Tears of the Kingdom an inevitability? Only time will tell.
