Prince Harry takes swipe at William, Charles in Netflix documentary

London: Estranged royal Prince Harry fired the first shot in the opening moments of his much-hyped Netflix series about his life with wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, when he said of the men in his family: “the temptation is to marry someone who fits the mould”.

Billed as the couple setting the record straight about their decision to quit their roles as working royals amid intense media scrutiny on their family life, the first three of six 45-minute episodes were released worldwide on Thursday.

Harry and Meghan laughing in this screenshot from the Harry & Meghan documentary.

They signed a $US100 million ($149 million) deal with Netflix shortly after leaving Britain for California. It has infuriated Buckingham Palace and his family members, who fear Harry’s up-and-coming autobiography, Spare, may further exacerbate tensions between senior royals ahead of the new king’s coronation next May.

But for Netflix - desperate to revive growth in subscriber numbers after its stock plummeted in April and the company lost billions in market cap - the remarkable publicity it has achieved must be what it had dreamed of when it agreed to the deal with the couple.

Meghan beside Harry, who is pushing a pram.

The Duke of Sussex takes the perceived swipe at his brother, William, the Prince of Wales, and sister-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, early in episode one as he framed his actions during the past two years around the memory of his mother, suggesting he is the one who is carrying her flame.

“I think for so many people in the family, especially the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who perhaps you are destined to be with,” he says.

“The difference between making decisions with your head or heart - my mum certainly made most of her decisions, if not all of them, from her heart - and I am my mother’s son.”

He also aimed a dig at his father, King Charles, as he said he and the Duchess of Sussex were keen “not to make the same mistakes our parents did” while bringing up their children.

Harry reveals he warned the palace Meghan would need special protections because of her background, but says other members of the family suggested the intrusion was part and parcel of their role in British public life.

Meghan says: “Unfortunately, in us standing for something, they are destroying us.”

The first three episodes of Harry & Meghan have been released on Netflix.Credit: Netflix

The program, with slick production values as well as intimate mobile phone footage filmed on the day they were wrestling with their decision to quit their roles in early 2020, is unlikely to shift hearts and minds, only harden views. It is being viewed as a partisan and overly dramatic interpretation of real-life events.

For a couple who constantly say they crave privacy, it is a strange way to protect it. Much of the commentary in the early episode is an attack on the press and those within the royal family who have manipulated it in their favour, with Harry clearly still driven by his anger at the treatment. He mentions the “scars left open” since his mother’s death in 1997, when he was 12.

Race and the royals’ connection to British colonialism and slavery also casts a long shadow over the program, and Meghan speaks at length about how she had never thought twice about being a woman of mixed-race until she found fame in the UK. It is these claims that threaten to cause the most damage to the institution and where the palace is being urged by royal aides to push back.

Constantly referring to each other as “H” and “M” throughout the program, the pair speak at length about how the breakdown of their parents’ marriages had affected their approach to raising son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 1.

Again putting him at odds with his brother, Harry said his late mother “spoke the truth” in her controversial BBC Panorama interview, conducted by Martin Bashir, that Prince William called a “false narrative” after it was revealed it was obtained using deception after Bashir faked documents.

“I think she had a lived experience of how she was struggling living that life. She felt compelled to talk about it,” Harry said. William has demanded the footage never be shown again.

It is easy to be cynical of the program, but there are a few heartwarming moments. Footage of their young son’s interaction with Harry is moving, especially when the young child is seen staring at a photograph of Diana on the wall of their home, with Meghan saying “here’s grandma”.

They appear to have formed an unbreakable bond, even if their behaviour is a tad schmaltzy and far removed from the world of a stiff upper lip.

Many of Meghan’s personal staff and inner circle, many seemingly out of Hollywood central casting, appear in the show to add weight to their gripes with Britain and the way the pair were treated by the institution and the media.

The couple share intimate images – including text messages – of their life since they met in 2016, with Harry admitting he was first introduced to her on Instagram and revealed that his family were “incredibly impressed” when they learned of their romance.

“I think they were surprised. They were surprised that a ginger could land such a beautiful woman and such an intelligent woman,” he says. “But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else at the beginning, ‘oh she’s an American actress; this won’t last’.”

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