In the first three episodes of
Harry & Megha
n, which aired on Netflix on December 8, the Sussexes lashed out at the royal family for saying how close they were to the tabloids that harassed them, and that she had no nothing to protect them.
But no one was named.
The load goes up a notch in the following three episodes, available since December 15, which tackle Megxit, the couple's installation in California, and the shock interview granted to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. With attacks clearly directed against Prince William, distilled over each section.
Scandals, Meghan and Harry: chronicle of an announced storm
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Episode 4: a media betrayal
In episode 4, Prince Harry denounces the Firm's "unhealthy game" with the tabloids, which no one at the Windsors puts an end to.
And has been for decades.
"Nobody wants to tell publishers, 'Enough.'
My dad said, "Damn, son, you can't handle the media. But they'll never change."
And I said, 'I don't agree'.
The Duke of Sussex continues: “I have been seeing behind the scenes for 30 years, seeing how this system works and is managed.
These are constant briefings (within Buckingham's communication services, editor's
note
), on other family members, on services rendered, invitations to the press.
It's an unhealthy game.
There are leaks but some are intentional.
If your communications team wants to get rid of a negative article about their employer, they're going to have to give something in return, about another.
The offices (members of the royal family,
Editor
's note ) work against each other.
It is a strange agreement, a tacit agreement.
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In recent years, a new member of the royal family has given in to this “dirty game”.
And it's none other than Prince William.
Much to Harry's chagrin.
"With William, we saw what was happening in my father's office and we made an agreement: it would never happen in ours," says the youngest son of Charles III.
“I would a thousand times rather be destroyed in the press than continue to play this game or participate in this trade”, he continues, implying here the participation of Prince William in this perverse system.
“Seeing my brother's office do exactly the thing we promised ourselves we would never do.
It broke my heart.”
Scandals, Kate and William 4/4 - Hurricane Meghan Proof
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Episode 5: a stormy reunion
In episode 5 of the documentary, Prince Harry looks back on an emergency meeting held between him, his father Charles, his brother William and Queen Elizabeth II, in Sandringham, on January 13, 2020. A meeting intended to discuss the "Megxit" and its future within the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex affirms that he was not informed of this exchange until after the departure of Meghan Markle in Canada, so that the latter did not attend the interview.
This meeting would have taken place in a very tense atmosphere.
“I arrived with the same proposal as before, now public, explains Prince Harry.
But, once there, I was given five options.
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He explains: “The first being 'no change', the fifth, 'total withdrawal'.
During the meeting, I chose option three, 'half and half': we would have our job, but we would also work in support of the queen.
However, it would quickly become “clear” that the purpose of the meeting “was not to discuss or debate”.
“It was terrifying to see my brother yelling at me and my dad telling me inaccurate things and my grandmother sitting there silently cashing in,” Prince Harry continued.
A meeting that would have ended “without a real defined project”
.
At the time, the Palace published a joint press release, signed by Princes William and Harry, denying rumors of a princely estrangement.
An official message which the Duke of Sussex maintains that he had not been informed, and that he would never have approved.
Prince Harry later said he was "saddened" that Prince William had sided with the "institution".
“Finally, the saddest thing is this bridge that has been erected between my brother and me, he is on the side of the institution and me… But I understand, he declares.
It's part of his legacy.
In a sense, it is already part of him, he is responsible for the survival and continuity of this institution.
Episode 6: an impossible reconciliation?
We will never know the content of the text that Prince William sent to Harry after the interview that the latter and Meghan Markle granted to Oprah Winfrey, on March 7, 2021. All that we see in the documentary is is Harry handing his phone to Meghan to read.
The reaction of the latter: a “wow” impressed, but not outraged.
Harry, meanwhile, looks stunned: “I wish I knew what to do,” he whispers, as his wife hugs him.
And advises him to take a break, to get some fresh air, before deciding anything.
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Outraged message or olive branch?
We will never know what Prince William wrote to his brother, but everything suggests that their relationship, following the broadcast of
Harry & Meghan
, is now permanently damaged.
A month after the famous interview, the Duke of Sussex travels to England for the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip.
He sees William and the one who is still only Prince Charles: "It was difficult", he says in the documentary.
“Mostly spending time and chatting with my brother and dad, who were still struggling with the same wrong thoughts about the situation.
So neither of us really wanted to talk about it at my grandfather's funeral, and we did.
And I had to accept the fact that we would probably never get a sincere apology."
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The latest attack against Prince William is part of the trial that opposed, for several years, Meghan Markle to Associated Press, the publishing company of the Daily Mail.
The subject of the dispute: a handwritten letter, addressed by the latter to her father, whose publication in the tabloid, in 2018 constituted, according to the Duchess, an invasion of privacy.
If Meghan Markle won the lawsuit in December 2021, lawyers for the Associated Press had, in their defense, argued that Prince Harry's wife had knowingly caused the letter to leak to the media.
An argument supported by the spontaneous testimony of one of his former press officers, Jason Knauf, who has since become one of the members of the cabinet of … prince William.
“It is impossible that he did this without the approval of his employers,”
declares, in the documentary, the lawyer of the couple.
The Sussexes are then seen discussing it in the kitchen.
With a particularly exasperated Meghan Markle: "He's your brother.
I'm not going to say anything about your brother.
But it's obvious."
Prince Harry, nods, and looks overwhelmed: “It's disgusting that they're trying to hide it.
(...) That's why I live abroad.
Because all the communication teams try to compete with each other, but it's the contract, the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions that try to work as best they can."
Namely, the royal family and the British media.
is your brother.
I'm not going to say anything about your brother.
But it's obvious."
Prince Harry, nods, and looks overwhelmed: “It's disgusting that they're trying to hide it.
(...) That's why I live abroad.
Because all the communication teams try to compete with each other, but it's the contract, the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions that try to work as best they can."
Namely, the royal family and the British media.
is your brother.
I'm not going to say anything about your brother.
But it's obvious."
Prince Harry, nods, and looks overwhelmed: “It's disgusting that they're trying to hide it.
(...) That's why I live abroad.
Because all the communication teams try to compete with each other, but it's the contract, the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions that try to work as best they can."
Namely, the royal family and the British media.
is the contract, the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions trying to work as best they can.”
Namely, the royal family and the British media.
is the contract, the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions trying to work as best they can.”
Namely, the royal family and the British media.
At the end of the documentary, a legal notice appears on a black background, according to which Jason Knauf disputes the statements of the Sussexes, and maintains that he remained “
neutral in this process
”.
A few minutes earlier, Prince Harry, asked about what he missed most about his life before, spoke of Great Britain, his friends, and “the strange family gatherings where we are all under the same roof, at specific times of the year.
After the broadcast of
Harry & Meghan
, we can think that these will now take place without him.
And that the relationship of the two brothers is irreparably compromised.
Prince William has not yet commented.