‘War against Meghan’: Show goes on for royals
Senior royals have made public appearances as Netflix gets set to drop the final chapter of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive series.
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The final chapter of Harry & Meghan accuses the Palace of waging a “war” against the Duchess of Sussex to protect more senior members of the royal family.
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle threatened in the first trailer for Volume II to reveal “lies” told to protect Prince William, the couple enlisted a celebrity lawyer to double down on their allegations in the final three episodes of the series.
“There was a real, kind of war, against Meghan,” said Schillings partner Jenny Afia, the London lawyer hired by the Duchess in her privacy battle against British press.
“And I’ve certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing, from the Palace, against Harry and Meghan, to suit other people’s agendas,” added Ms Afia, who has represented stars like Elton John, Adele, and Brad Pitt in his divorce from Angela Jolie.
As the Netflix controversy swirled, King Charles carried on with royal duties by unveiling a plaque at the exact spot where the late Queen’s coffin lay in state.
The monarch attended the ceremony at Westminster Hall, which more than 200,000 people trooped through to pay their respects to the Queen after her death.
Meanwhile, Kensington Palace released a festive video of the Princess of Wales putting finishing touches to a Christmas tree ahead of the Together at Christmas service.
The Princess of Wales will host the event at Westminster Abbey, supported by Prince William, King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort.
Billed as a night of carols and Yuletide celebrations, the service will take place just hours after the next volume of Harry & Meghan starts streaming on Netflix.
In the video, Catherine beams as she tends to the tree while wearing a cosy Christmas jumper.
BROTHERS’ BOND ‘DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR’
Prince William, who is among the main targets for the second part of the Netflix series, sees the relationship with his brother damaged beyond repair by the betrayal.
While the royal family has remained silent, friends of the Prince and Princess of Wales told The Daily Beast that it was “incredibly sad” to see the relationship with Prince Harry completely “over”.
“William will never forgive Harry for selling out his and Kate’s secrets. Harry knows, more than anyone, how much their privacy means to William and Kate because he felt the same.
“It was one of the things that drew them together. It’s just sickening to [William] that Harry, who knows exactly how distressing it will be to him, is now selling them out to the media,” the friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Beast.
“The relationship between the brothers is over and it doesn’t make a great deal of difference what is in the films released this week. The general feeling that it won’t be anything they haven’t said before,” they added.
The second trailer attempts to ramp up the drama of the so-called “war against Meghan”, with her friend Lucy Fraser saying the Duchess became a scapegoat for the palace.
Ms Fraser alleged the palace would feed stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to the media, “whether they were true or not”, to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.
The trailer for the final three episodes shows that Markle will directly allege that the palace planted negative news about her in the British media
“You would just see it play out,” Markle said.
“Like a story about someone in the family would pop up for a minute, and they’d go, ‘got to make that go away’.”
“But there’s real estate on a website homepage, there’s real estate there on a newspaper front cover, and something has to be filled in there about someone royal.”
As Markle alleges underhanded tactics by Kensington and Buckingham Palace, the trailer overlays images of UK media headlines, including “Meghan made Kate cry” and “Royal Race Row”.
Ms Afia, who won a £1 ($1.81) settlement from the publishers of the Mail On Sunday for printing a letter Markle wrote to her father, said there was a “campaign of negative, nasty coverage” about the Duchess.
“This barrage of negative articles about the breakdown of the relationship with her father was the final straw,” Ms Afia said as the trailer ends.
Disputed reports of bullying in the palace are expected to form the basis of the last three episodes leading up to the Sussex “Megxit” from the United Kingdom to California.
A Hollywood insider close to the Netflix production told The New York Post that the couple will allege they were “victims of the palace media machine”.
“Harry and Meghan will claim they were bullied by the palace. What will become clear is that they suggest their trials and tribulations tie in with the greater issues in the world, such as racism,” the source said.
Markle is also expected to address allegations she was a bully of palace staff.
Despite suggestions that the royal family was behind some of the negative press, Buckingham Palace has kept private the findings of an investigation into allegations of bullying made against Markle.
That could change, however, if the Netflix series includes allegations that include provable inaccuracies.
UK crisis management expert Edward Coram told Express UK that it’s just a matter of time before the palace releases the report, which is expected to be highly critical of the Duchess.
“I do not believe that the royal family has buried this report to protect Meghan’s image … It is more likely that they will have felt that there has not yet been a good timing moment to release it yet,” he said.
“The palace are experts at crisis management. I believe that this report will be published at some point, but it will be at a time in which it will hold the most gravity, and for that, the current scandals need to blow over.”
While the royal family are expected to keep a dignified silence in the wake of their strained relationship with Prince Harry and Markle, it has been revealed that the Houses of Sussex and Wales are exchanging Christmas gifts for their children.
Roya Nikkhah, royal editor for The Sunday Times, said Prince William and Catherine would not deprive Archie and Lilibet of a present under the tree, while gifts for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were also dispatched from California.
There will not, however, be gifts exchanged between the brothers and their wives after Prince Harry’s low blow that men his family did not marry for love.
“That was so cheeky,” an old friend of the couple told Ms Nikkhah.
“Catherine doesn’t even fit the mould — she’s not an earl’s daughter or blue-blooded. The sadness is Harry was so close to Catherine.”
HARRY, MEGHAN ‘EDIT’ QUEEN’S SPEECH
Prince Harry and Markle have been called out for reportedly editing one of the Queen’s most famous speeches, which they used in their Netflix docuseries.
Words are missing from the late Queen’s famous dedication of her life to service on her 21st birthday, which she made in a radio broadcast from South Africa on April 21 1947.
However, in episode three of Harry & Meghan the words “your service” are missing from the recording of the late monarch’s monumental declaration.
The then Princess Elizabeth’s actual words were: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
But in the audio from Netflix, the then Princess Elizabeth is heard saying: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”
The “potential editing”, reported by MailOnline, was noticed by public speaking coach Susie Ashfield, who shared a spot-the- difference comparison on TikTok.
Netflix has yet to comment on the missing words.
FORMER BFF’S CRYPTIC POST
Meghan Markle’s former best friend Jessica Mulroney has posted a cryptic quote to Instagram ahead of the release of volume two of the Netflix docuseries.
“Best thing I ever did was learn how to move without the crowd,” read the message, which was originally shared on interior designer Tom Samet’s account.
The Canadian stylist’s mysterious post came as fans continue to wonder why she was not interviewed in volume one of Harry & Meghan, despite being front and centre at the royal wedding in 2018.
Viewers of the series noted that when discussing how Prince Harry proposed, Markle showed footage of herself FaceTiming a friend named “Jess”.
“Oh, my God, Jess, it’s happening,” an excited Markle said in the video. “He told me not to peek.”
The friendship between Ms Mulroney — the daughter-in-law of former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney — has reportedly never fully recovered from their infamous falling out in 2020.
At the time, influencer Sasha Exeter accused Ms Mulroney of “textbook white privilege” amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
Markle was reportedly “mortified” over the comments and also thought her friend was “benefiting” from her position as a royal.
HARRY’S FORMER FLAME ‘DOESN’T RECOGNISE HIM’
A reality TV star who claims she once had a two-month fling with Prince Harry when he was 21 says she no longer recognises the royal she once knew.
During an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored, available to stream on Flash, Catherine Ommanney said the Duke of Sussex seemed like a “different person”.
“I just don’t know if I actually even recognise him anymore, personality-wise,” the Real Housewives of DC star told the Sky News Australia host.
“When I watched him in the show, I thought it’s almost like, and my mother would really hate me for saying this, but it’s almost like she’s (Meghan Markle) got a spell over him.
“And that’s why I don’t recognise him. He used to be so down to earth and normal and there’s so little of him I actually recognise.”
Ms Ommanney also spoke about her brief romance with Prince Harry in 2006 and how he “desperately wanted privacy”.
“He was really funny, a total gentleman, totally down to earth, normal,” she said.
“What I saw of him at the time, he was desperately searching for freedom and privacy.
“And yet what he has done is completely turn the whole situation full circle, so now he has got no privacy and no freedom.”
The interior designer said she was a 34-year-old mother of two when she met Prince Harry
Art Bar in London’s Chelsea and claims they went on a number of dates.
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