Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should have taken this to TikTok
They complained. They explained. Themes that would have gone a lot better for them on social media.
They complained. They explained. Themes that would have gone a lot better for them on social media.
This is an opinion piece.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix series aims to be a sip of chamomile tea instead, for some fans and royalists, the couple’s documentary poured kerosene into a blender with broader issues of race, the British monarchy, family issues and tabloid culture.
The result was a pretty tasteless smoothie.
They complained, they explained.
It's the perfect accompaniment for viewers who want some background noise at this time of year. 'Tis the season for needing a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down after all.
It's great Christmas viewing. A sweet tale of a young, attractive, vibrant couple who somehow found each other in their mid-30s and have managed to not only survive a tumultuous couple of years, but also kept the spark alive.
Probably something that is a lot easier to do when you have a lot of disposable income. One would imagine it may be somewhat easier to run away from the world’s most gilded cage when you’ve got access to Audi coupes and can afford to create a safe haven in a gated Californian community, complete with a chicken coop that resembles a Paddington townhouse.
Or film a video about life's pressures from the "Windsor Suite" at Heathrow Airport.
It’s Fleabag’s third season. Minus the self-awareness.
The productions share many sensibilities. Both break the fourth wall with such force you need to call in tradies to fix the gaping holes in your heart (and their stories) and both have unlikeable protagonists you, at times, root for.
“This is a love story” Phoebe Waller-Bridge says to the camera in the opening scene of Fleabag wiping blood from her face.
There was less blood and more bloodletting in the first three, hour long episodes of Harry & Meghan’s documentary.
“This is a first hand account of Harry & Meghan’s story told with never before seen personal archive,” is where we lay our scene.
“Personal archive” in the extremely online world we now inhabit is defined as screenshots of DMs, Snapchats with animal filters and emails.
But Harry & Meghan doesn’t present a new concept, just more of them.
We’ve heard - many times - the story of how Meghan claims she had a sexist ad changed when she was 11 but the tales of what came next have more footnotes than an essay by an overzealous, overly stimulated first year Arts student.
They could make an entire series alone on how they met thanks to now having many public narratives of their 'meet cute'.
Was it a blind date? A hookup between well-meaning (and well-connected) mates? Apparently it was via Instagram after Meghan beguiled “Prince Haz” with the puppy ears and tongue Snapchat filter.
Their engagement did happen over a roast chicken, it wasn’t a surprise though Meghan FaceTimed her friend and stylist Jessica Mulroney as she walked into Harry’s candle lit set up. “Oh my god Jess it’s happening!” she says as the glow of the electric candles gets brighter.
The couple claim from there - their lives, the protocol, the engagements and the announcements - morphed into a “orchestrated reality show”. Their sit down with Oprah Winfrey was, curiously, omitted from that broadside against the way The Firm operates.
This series is not for us - the Commonwealth dwellers - it’s a PR pitch for Harry & Meghan Coming To America. Their personal photo albums paint a lovely picture of a sweet, small family who apparently want to make big differences in the world. Meghan, her friends say, wasn’t interested in acting, activism is her passion and Harry’s service was a way to make his late mother proud.
Their union represents an existential dread of our times. The products of divorced parents, Millennials with an analogue childhood and digital coming of age bringing with them baggage, brokenness and an ache for connection.
Had this been a series made for the TikTok or YouTube audience the reception would have been much different.
Intimate, “shot on my iPhone” videos like some that are sprinkled through the $150 million Netflix production, would help them find their new niche. Internet personality stars like Emma Chamberlain have made millions of fans and dollars with raw, first person accounts of mental health struggles on those low-fi channels where the audience is younger and more attune to the themes Harry and Meghan bring up - racism, trauma, unconscious bias and finding your way in a complicated world.
But now they’ve let the world in even more and offered up so many different stories, scenarios and character witnesses - the beast will just get hungrier. The Palace will shut up, keep a stiff upper lip and get on with things publicly but these two need to stop procrastinating. Stop accepting awards and start accepting they need to move on. It’s a gift to be able to renew, just do it without reopening old wounds.
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