“Harry & Meghan”: the explosive documentary that castigates the British press, the royal family and racism

Prince Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, and his wife Meghan criticize the “unwritten contract” between the royal family and a British press that “exploits” them, in a controversial documentary released Thursday that also denounce latent racism and which has revived tensions and accusations of greed against the couple.

“We weren’t allowed to tell our story because they didn’t want to,” says the former American actress, 41, in one of the first three episodes of the ‘Harry & Meghan’ documentary series released by Netflix.

“We’re not allowed, it’s always been like this, until now,” they add together. And they explain, as they have done since their first joint interview, on November 27, 2017, after the announcement of their engagement, all their statements and behaviors have been “a reality show orchestrated” by the palace.

“The royal correspondents pack is essentially an extended public relations branch of the royal family, an arrangement that has been in place for more than 30 years,” says Harry, 38, who continues to hold the tabloids accountable for his mother’s death. , Princess Diana, in 1997, when she was being chased by the paparazzi.

“This family is ours to exploit, their trauma is our story and we control the narrative”, think the British media under that “unwritten contract”, adds the prince, emphasizing a negative advertising campaign against them when they resisted the harassment that spread to Meghan’s friends and family across the United States.

History and shots at royalty

The series begins with the romance between the prince and the actress, an ardent mixed-race feminist raised in the laid-back nonchalance of Hollywood, and progresses through its first three chapters leading up to the eve of their wedding in May 2018.

The next three episodes, which will appear on December 15, are expected to be more damaging to the royal family, for including details about why the couple left the monarchy in 2020 to live in California.

Having just recovered from the death of Elizabeth II in September, the royal family prepares for this potentially explosive charges at a time when it seeks to modernize its image, promoted by the new monarchs Carlos III and Camilla, and their heirs William and Kate.

Buckingham Palace did not comment ahead of the series premiere, but royal family sources cited the paper Daily mail This weekend they assured that the monarchs are “a bit fed up” with the constant attacks.

racism and prejudice

This first episode already alludes to the racism that Meghan denounces having suffered, from the black-headed brooch worn by the wife of a cousin of Elizabeth II at the first Christmas dinner with the actress in 2017 to the images and comments on the colonial past of the British Empire.

“There’s a very high level of unconscious bias,” says Enrique, who says he had to correct his upbringing as a child.

This comes at the worst time for the British royal family, rocked last week by a racism scandal involving William’s godmother, who had to step down as bridesmaid after making hurtful comments to a black guest at Buckingham Palace. .

In a shocking interview last year with American TV star Oprah Winfrey, Harry and Meghan previously accused an unnamed member of the royal family of worrying about their future children’s skin colour.

The series, with the testimonies of friends and collaborators of the couple but without any criticism of them, explains, for example, how the former British colony of Jamaica has been at the center of a profitable Slave tradewhose ships were financed for centuries by the English kings and whose profits built the “greatest empire the world has ever seen”.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s unpopularity in the UK, where they are accused of profiting financially from the monarchy without attending to their obligations, doesn’t appear to be improving with this documentary.

“They are hypocrites, on the one hand they say they want privacy and on the other hand they watch what they post,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, who has worked for outlets including Britain’s BBC and CNN in the US, told AFP .

In his view, “they do it for two reasons: to earn a lot of money and to give their version, as a form of revenge”. But they are not aimed at the British public but “at the whole world with the US at its centre”, he considers.

Source: AFP

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