This is the story of the rift that has grown between two brothers, the most famous princes in the world: Harry accuses, in the Netflix documentary, William of having reacted angrily to his decision to abandon the monarchy and assumes to have turned this page.
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Netflix released the final three episodes of the long-awaited documentary “Harry & Meghan” on Thursday, in which the couple gives their version of the facts about their shattering break with the British monarchy in 2020.
In these episodes, Harry particularly targets his older brother William, the heir to the throne, to whom he nevertheless seemed very close until his marriage to Meghan, an American actress, in 2018. The two brothers would not speak to each other since the duke and the Duchess of Sussex, traveled to California.
Harry dives into family intimacy when he recounts the summit meeting in January 2020 about his plans to move overseas with Meghan. He then explains that he offered to be “half in, half out” of the royal family, working for his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II but being self-financed.
“It was terrifying to see my brother yelling and yelling at me and my dad (King Charles III) saying things that just weren’t true and my grandmother just sitting quietly and absorbing it all,” Harry says.
Harry drives the knife in again and accuses William’s entourage of being behind the couple’s negative media coverage, which he says was due to him ‘stealing the show’ from others members of the royal family.
“The problem is when someone who gets married who should be a supporting role steals the show or does the job better than the person who was born to do it,” he says clearly targeting William and his wife Kate.
Prince Harry also talks about his return to the United Kingdom in April 2021 for the funeral of his grandfather Philip, the husband of Elizabeth II. It was “hard”, “especially the discussions with my brother and my father, who were very focused on the same misinterpretation of the situation”.
“I had to make peace with the fact that we’ll probably never get a real apology. My wife and I are moving forward. We are focused on what will come next,” he said.
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In the documentary, we see him in his new life in California with Meghan, in their garden, at the beach: “Home sweet home”.
“There were times when I was angry, but I can’t be because I sincerely believe that I am, and we are, exactly where we are supposed to be,” he said again.
No regrets, it seems, but shortcomings. “I miss the weird family gatherings where we’re all together under one roof at certain times of the year. (…) I miss the UK”.
In the first three episodes, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex mostly slammed the British tabloids for their treatment of Meghan. In the latest episode, Harry accuses Britain’s Daily Mail of causing Meghan’s miscarriage after it published the letter she wrote to her father.
This documentary is broadcast as royalty goes through a pivotal period three months after the death of Elizabeth II and the accession to the throne of Charles III.
The “royals” remain impassive for the moment in the face of the revelations of Harry, who will publish in January his dreaded memoir, “The Substitute”. Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, William and Kate planned to display royal family unity by attending the Royal Christmas Concert at Westminster Abbey together on Thursday.
The first three episodes totaled 81.55 million hours of views, unheard of for a documentary in its first week of broadcast, according to Netflix.
But in the UK, Harry and Meghan’s popularity plummeted again just before the documentary’s release, when they were already the most unpopular members of the royal family after Prince Andrew, at the heart of a sex scandal these last years.