Search icon

Celebrity

26th Jan 2023

Harry and Meghan documentary director claims palace tried to discredit series

Ellen Fitzpatrick

The documentary came out last month.

The director of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix documentary has claimed that Buckingham Palace officials attempted to “discredit” the show.

According to Liz Garbus, each episode gave viewers more insight to the “alleged palace mind games” Harry and Meghan endured during their time as senior royals.

“For instance, Buckingham Palace said that we didn’t reach out for comment [on the docuseries] when we did,” she told Vanity Fair.

“They did that to discredit us… and by discrediting us, they can discredit the content of the show.”

At the beginning of the series, a message appears on the screen that reads: “Members of the Royal Family declined to comment on the content within this series.”

Palace sources claimed that there were no members of the British royal family that were contacted for comment on the series ahead of its release.

Responding to the claims, Netflix sources said that both King Charles and Prince William were offered the chance to reply but never did.

Kensington Palace then said they had not been contacted by either Netflix or Archewell, but rather by a third-party production company.

A Netflix source claims that the communications offices for the King and the Prince of Wales were contacted in advance and they had been allowed time to react.

The series takes a look at the reason for the Sussexes leaving their posts as senior working royals, with Harry accusing his family of having a “huge level of unconscious bias” while Meghan discusses how she was treated by British media.

A senior source in the royal countered the written statement ,”Members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series”, which can be seen at the beginning of the first episode.

Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace both confirmed they received an email from a third-party production company from an unknown organisation’s address and admitted they attempted to verify it with Archewell Productions and Netflix but never heard back.