Prince Harry has spoken of a “dirty game” that potentially implicates the royal palace and UK media in a campaign against his wife Meghan Markle, as new clues emerge of the contents of the couple’s new documentary series.
An updated clip from their much-awaited Netflix series has dropped ahead of the show’s release this week, and it does not bode well for harmony within the British monarchy.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex in an image released by Netflix.Credit:AP
It confirms an official release date of “Volume 1” on December 8, with a follow-up December 15.
The accompanying trailer of Harry & Meghan opens with Harry reflecting: “It’s really hard to look back on it now and go, ‘What on earth happened?’.”
Royal heir Harry and wife Meghan stepped down from royal duties two years ago and moved to California where they have been critical of their treatment by the media and members of the royal family.
Allegations of racism, made in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, have only worsened their rift with the rest of the family – most notably with Harry’s father King Charles and elder brother, Prince William. The death of monarch Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t seem to have led to a rapprochement.
Markle’s “rock star” reception on Harry’s announcement of his engagement is contrasted with newspaper headlines that followed their 2018 marriage. In a series of edited vignettes, there is a reference to a “war” against Markle “to suit other people’s agendas”.
“Everything changed,” Harry states. “There is a hierarchy of family,” he says as members of the extended royal family are shown on screen. “There is a leaking but also a planting of stories.”
“It’s a dirty game,” Harry states, after which comparisons are brooked between Markle and his mother Princess Diana who is shown jostling through a media pack. “The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution … It was a media frenzy.”
He later added: “I was terrified. I didn’t want history repeating itself.”
The focus on Harry and Meghan comes as William and Kate returned to Britain from the United States, their first international trip since the death of Queen Elizabeth and with their new titles of Prince and Princess of Wales.
Last week Prince William’s 83-year-old godmother, Susan Hussey, stepped down from her honorary role in the royal household after repeatedly asking a black woman, Ngozi Fulani, at a high-profile Buckingham Palace function, “What part of Africa are you from?”
Both Buckingham Palace and William were quick to condemn the incident, with the prince’s spokesperson saying “racism has no place in our society”.
But Harry’s closing statement would likely send chills through the royal family ahead of their traditional Christmas gathering: “No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth.”
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