A row has emerged over whether the Royal Family were approached for comment about the Harry and Meghan Netflix series, after a palace source said they were not, but the streaming giant said otherwise.
Episode one of the six-part documentary begins with a statement from Netflix, saying: “This is a first-hand account of Harry and Meghan’s story, told with never-before-seen personal archive.
“All interviews were completed by August 2022.” (The month before the Queen died).
“Members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series.”
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‘I want to get to the other side of this’
Sky News understands, however, that neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace nor any member of the Royal Family were approached for comment on the content of the series.
The PA news agency, quoting a “senior palace source”, reported the same information.
However, a Netflix source insisted the communications offices of both the King and the Prince of Wales were contacted in advance and given the chance to react to Harry and Meghan’s claims.
Kensington Palace confirmed it did receive an email purporting to be from a third-party production company.
It added that it attempted to verify its authenticity with Archewell Productions (the couple’s firm) and Netflix, but never received a response.
“In the absence of this verification, we were unable to provide any response. The substance of the email we received also did not address the entire series,” a source said.
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In the documentary, Harry alleges the Royal Family has “unconscious bias”.
He says: “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias.
“The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself, you then need to make it right.”
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The Duke of Sussex has said members of the Royal Family asked why the Duchess should be protected
The series also uses footage from Princess Diana’s BBC Panorama interview, which Prince William has said should never be broadcast again.
The Duke of Sussex appears to criticise the parenting he received from King Charles, talking about trying to cope with the loss of his mother, who died in a car crash in 1997, “without much support or help or guidance”.
He added that he was “literally brought up” by a “second family” of friends in Africa.
The Duke and Duchess signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify – thought to be worth more than £100m – after deciding to quit the monarchy in early 2020.