Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are keeping his late mom Princess Diana's memory alive.
In the first episode of the couple's new docuseries Harry & Meghan, which premiered on Netflix Dec. 8, there's a scene where the Duchess of Sussex is holding their son Archie Harrison and showing him a photograph of the Duke of Sussex's late mother.
"Who is that?" Meghan, who also shares daughter Lilibet "Lili" Diana with Harry, asks Archie. "Hi grandma….That's your grandma Diana."
Harry then goes on to share the ways Meghan reminds him of Diana. "So much of what Meghan is and how she is is so similar to my mom," he said. "She has the same compassion. She has the same empathy. She has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her."
However, he didn't want Meghan to experience the same fate that his mother did. So in 2020, they stepped back as working members of the royal family.
"I accept that there'll be people around the world who fundamentally disagree with what I've done and how I've done it," Harry said, "but I knew that I had to do everything I could to protect my family, especially with what happened to my mom. You know, I didn't want history to repeat itself."
Diana, who'd been hounded by the paparazzi, died Aug. 31, 1997 following a car crash in Paris. In the documentary, Harry reflected on what he remembers about his mother from his early days.
"My childhood I remember or was filled with laughter, filled with happiness and filled with adventure," he said. "I don't have many early memories of my mom. It was almost like I internally blocked them out. But I always remember her laugh, her cheeky laugh. Her always saying to me, 'You can get in trouble, just don't get caught.' And I'll always be that cheeky person inside."
However, Harry said the majority of his memories are them being swarmed by the paparazzi, even when he and Prince William were children.
"My mom did such a good job in trying to protect us," he said. "She took it upon herself to basically confront these people."
And Meghan and Harry try to protect their children's privacy. "We've been really conscious of protecting our kids as best as we can," she said, "and also understanding the role that they play in this really historical family."
And if they do give the public peeks into their life, they want to do so on their terms. "As a dad and as parents, I think consent is a really key piece to this," Harry said. "That if you have children, it should be your consent as to what you share."
While the docuseries says members of the royal family declined to comment on its content, a senior royal source told NBC News that neither Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace nor any members of the royal family were approached for comment on the content of the series. However, a Netflix source told NBC communication offices for King Charles III and Prince William were contacted ahead of the docuseries' release and were given a chance to reply to the allegations presented in the content.
Volume one of Harry & Meghan is streaming on Netflix now. The couple's Archewell Productions was one of three production companies involved in the project.
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family).