The Surprising Way Prince Harry Is Following In Meghan Markle's Footsteps

Much has changed for the royal family since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose to leave the United Kingdom for life in California (via E! News). Since making their exit, a multitude of allegations and rumors about the family and their relationships have circulated in the press. Some of the allegations stemmed from the couple's interview with Oprah Winfrey. For instance, Meghan claimed that there were "concerns and conversations about how dark [their son Archie's] skin might be when he's born" (via CBS News). The pair refused to say who was involved in the conversations, which reportedly did not include Meghan. 

Many fans of the royals pointed their fingers at his wife for influencing Harry to leave the U.K. However, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand questioned those claims in their book "Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of A Modern Royal Family," according to E! News. "Meghan simply emboldened him to make the change," they wrote. All of the various rumors have led to questions about Harry's relationship with family members including his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William. 

Of course, there has also been speculation about how Harry has seemingly changed in recent years. For instance, royal expert Rebecca English claimed the prince seemed to be in a better place since moving across the globe (via Palace Confidential). Now fans are wondering if Harry is pulling inspiration from Meghan's former life as an actress thanks to a new video. 

Before she was the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle famously worked in Hollywood as an actress. Her resume included projects such as "Suits" and "Castle" (via IMDb). Now it looks like her husband might have caught the acting bug from her. You read that correctly: Prince Harry, recently made an acting appearance himself.

According to the Daily Mail, Harry appeared in sketch video to promote his eco-friendly travel organization Travalyst. You can check out the nearly 5-minute clip on YouTube. The nonprofit organization encourages travels to think about their impact on the world, which served as inspiration for the skit (via Harper's Bazaar). In it, Harry is given a rating of his own for a previous trip to New Zealand. There are a couple of clever quips about him possibly being a litterbug and some fun back and forth between Harry and his co-stars. While there was some comedy mixed in, the majority of the video was informative and helped viewers better understand his new project.

Harry first introduced the concept of Travalyst on Instagram in 2019. "We believe in the power and importance of travel. We also have a shared responsibility to our planet and to each other," he wrote in a caption that accompanied the announcement on the couple's now inactive Duke and Duchess of Sussex account.

Two years before taking part in the skit for Travalyst, Prince Harry took part in another video celebrating the 75th anniversary of "Thomas & Friends." Recorded just before the move to California (via USA Today), the royal gave a special on-screen introduction to a special episode called "Thomas and the Royal Engine." The story follows Thomas as he takes the railway controller, Sir Topham Hatt, to Buckingham Palace to receive a royal honor. It also features animated versions of a young Prince Charles accompanied by Queen Elizabeth.

In a small snippet from the 22-minute special (via YouTube), Harry gives a glimpse of his talent for reading stories to his children as he sets up the episode for young listeners. He also shared his "fond memories" of growing up with the series himself, sharing his experience of "being transported to new places through [Thomas'] adventures" as a child. Harry has certainly been a longtime fan of the children's show, having been pictured in 1987 carrying a "Thomas the Tank Engine" bag to his first day at nursery. A couple of years later, he was photographed walking with his mother, Princess Diana, wearing a Thomas shirt (via Hello!).

Outside of acting, Prince Harry has also taken part in more documentaries since meeting Meghan Markle — especially following their departure from their roles as senior royals. Before meeting Meghan, Harry took part in a fair few specials, including "Harry's South Pole Heroes" and other features. But after leaving the royal family — and the United Kingdom — in January 2020, he's since collaborated with Oprah Winfrey on a docuseries for Apple TV+ called "The Me You Can't See." 

Featuring interviews with celebrities and people dealing with mental health issues, Harry opened up to Winfrey about his own problems, including his use of alcohol and drugs to cope with the death of his mother. He was also very candid about Meghan's struggles during her first pregnancy and his sadness regarding Archie not being able to meet his mother, Diana Spencer.

It seems that Harry isn't slowing down anytime soon regarding documentaries, as he and Meghan are currently filming "The Heart of Invictus," a docuseries co-produced by their company Archewell Productions and streaming giant Netflix (via RadioTimes).