Tolerance for Meghan and Harry is wearing thin across the Pond. That’s saying something, because there was little tolerance to begin with. But after the latest trailer of their Netflix documentary was released online, even the staunchest Sussex fans are feeling fed up.
However you feel about the pair, their latest theatrics have opened them up for criticism. The trailer, which has been drip-fed over the last week is, in true Sussex style, chock full of inaccuracies that they must deem the British public too stupid to notice.
Harry & Meghan. A Netflix Global Event.
Volume I: December 8
Volume II: December 15 pic.twitter.com/WpFzVEC7Yx— Netflix (@netflix) December 5, 2022
“There is a hierarchy of the family,” Harry declares, sullen and more melodramatic than we’ve seen him before, apparently surprised to have learned there’s a rank order to a royal family whose members are literally in line for the throne. I guess he’s practiced for the camera. His obsession with being the “spare” is nothing new, but the rabbiting on about it might lead us to believe that the visceral hatred for the institution he was born into stems from the fact that he wasn’t at the top of it.
His disdain for his older brother is clear in even this tiny clip of what is yet to come. Never mind the fact that they released the first look on the day that the Prince and Princess of Wales were touching down in Brooklyn for the Earthshot Prize. Talk about timing!
Sprinkled through the trailer are stock images and video of Meghan and Harry’s “truth.” In case you haven’t heard it before, Harry reminds us that they are the only ones with the “truth” — but I wouldn’t hold your breath. If their tales are anything like the pair’s previous truths, we can expect a mish-mash of hyperbole and outright lies.
In fact, the couple have already been rumbled for trying to pass off stock footage from a Harry Potter premiere as a clip of them being hounded by paparazzi. Not only was the video recorded five years before the couple met, but not one member of the British royal family was even in attendance of the premiere. Some “truth!”
The Sussexes are putting more at stake than they think. The photos that they have included to suggest press intrusion are actually the result of a meticulous system that’s been in place for decades. The Royal Rota — the press pool that covers the family — was created to alleviate any intrusion and to make the family feel as comfortable as possible at public events. As Robert Jobson, the royal editor of the Evening Standard, said, Harry and Meghan agree the position of the press themselves.
At another point in the trailer, the Sussexes have used footage of Princess Catherine being hounded by paparazzi. You know, William’s wife, the one that had it so easy. It was reported that filmmakers are said to have examined coverage of the princess and the duchess with the aim of “demonstrating the different treatment” they faced. I wonder if the “Weighty Katie” or “Duchess Doolittle” headlines splashed over tabloids will feature. Probably not.
The palace sent a message in Britain’s Sunday papers — which was that they were ready. Their intention, which would do the Queen proud, is to put their head down and plod along. Sources claim that they’re relying on the fact that the Sussexes don’t exactly have a good reputation in telling the truth and the British public are aware of that.
My one question is whether Meghan and Harry were planning on releasing this documentary as it was if the Queen were still alive. It has now been revealed that she was likely suffering with a particularly painful and aggressive cancer, something which they would have been made aware of.
Americans often ask me what palace sources or royal watchers think about the Sussexes. The truth is, you don’t need to dig that deep to find out. Mention Harry and Meghan in any British boozer and you’ll be met with eye-rolls. Public sympathy has truly been exhausted.
