Who features in the first episode of Meghan Markle's Netflix 'Live to Lead'?

At the start of the trailer for the new Netflix docuseries 'Live to Lead' (which premiered today) Prince Harry said that the programme was “inspired by Nelson Mandela who once said ‘What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived.” Meghan Markle continues the sentence by saying… ‘It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.’

The man behind the documentary series 'Live to Lead' is Geoff Blackwell. On his website , it says that the “I know This To Be True, a series made in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation focused on leaders that became the basis for the Netflix documentary series 'Live to Lead' that he also created and directed.”

At the start of the docuseries 'Live to Lead', Meghan Markle begins by relaying to the audience that the interview with Ruth Bader Ginsberg took place at the US Supreme court on August 2nd 2019. It had been originally scheduled a few weeks later, but it was brought forward at Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s request.

Meghan relays that it transpired that a cancerous tumour had been found on Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s pancreas and three days after the interview, she began radiation therapy. Meghan then informs the viewers that this was one of Ruth’s last interviews.

After Meghan’s introduction, Ruth Bader Ginsberg begins discussing her career and being pregnant before Prince Harry appears on our screens to talk about Nelson Mandela and other world leaders. Obviously the docuseries is presented by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but at this point in the programme, it felt unnecessary for Prince Harry to come on our screens.

Following his appearance of Prince Harry, it was back to the interview with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which I found fascinating to watch as I am completely in awe of the impact this lady has had on generations of women.

It was interesting to hear Ruth Bader Ginsberg talk about how hard it was for her (as a woman) to be a lawyer. “I did very well in law school but there wasn’t a single firm in the city of New York that would offer me a job,” she revealed.

This statement had particular resonance for me as my mother (also a lawyer) has spoken to me numerous times over the years about the similar prejudices she has had to face at the start of and during many points in her career.

There were many important quotes that I could highlight from the Ruth Bader Ginsberg interview but one of my favourites is when she was talking about her late husband. “He was the first boy that I ever knew who cared that I had a brain,” she revealed.

When Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away at the age of 87 on 18 September 2020, hundreds of people gathered outside of the US Courthouse in White Plains, New York, to remember her.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex couldn’t have chosen a more inspirational lady to profile in the first episode of their ‘Live to Lead’ docuseries.