Last Monday, the BBC premiered the documentary ‘The Princes and the Press’, a two-part series documenting the years in which the youngest members of royalty, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have charted very different courses in their relationship with the media.
The premiere warmed the spirits at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace, who joined together to publish a statement rejecting the television space.
What has been said in the documentary The Princes and the Press?
The documentary highlights the relationship of the children of the late Princess Diana with the media and the alleged media war between William and Prince Harry, in which apparently they, or their advisers, had leaked or planted false information in the media to make the other look bad.
The first part of the documentary “The Princes and the Press” includes claims that insiders from other Royal Houses had given information against the Sussexes.
Jenny Afia, a lawyer at the Schillings firm representing Meghan Markle, said the bullying allegations against Prince Harry’s wife were fabricated.
“Those stories were false. This narrative that no one can work with the Duchess of Sussex that she was too difficult, demanded a boss and that everyone had to leave is simply not true.”
Journalist Dan Wootton said there was “competitiveness” between the different royal houses and mentioned a dispute he calls ‘Tiaragate’ that happened in November 2018 regarding the tiara Meghan Markle would wear for her wedding to Prince Harry.
“Meghan wanted to wear an emerald tiara, but her first choice was vetoed by the Queen. A fight ensued, in which Harry is said to have replied: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets it.'”
Prince Charles was also said to have become angry when his son Harry had stolen all the media attention, after Harry’s press secretary released a statement criticising press coverage of his relationship with Meghan while his father was on a royal trip to Oman.
Another who appears in the first part of the documentary is Omid Scobie, the journalist and author of the biographical book Finding Freedom that talks about the Sussexes. He claims that other Royal Houses had given negative information about Prince Harry and Meghan.
“There were some people who felt that she (Meghan) needed to be put in her place. I think filtering out a negative story is a punishment. There have been rumours for quite some time that many of the most damaging and negative stories come from other royal houses or other royal assistants. According to my own research and reports, that’s exactly true,” Omid said.
A shocking confession was made by the private detective, Gavin Burrows, who admitted to having worked for the former newspaper News of the World and other newspapers to spy on Prince Harry’s girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, to whom he took the opportunity to apologize:
“There was a lot of surveillance work on their phones, on their communications.” He also accepted about Harry: “I was basically part of a group of people who stole his normal teenage years.”
The second part of this documentary will be broadcast on November 29, where the period 2018-2021 will be discussed and the circumstances surrounding the decision of the Sussexes to resign from their senior royal positions will be analyzed, as well as the lawsuit that began in 2019 between Meghan and the media.
