Will Harry and Meghan's bombshell documentary sweep awards season?

Harry and Meghan may win awards for their bombshell docuseries but it ‘hasn’t benefited them in the long run’ after causing ‘irreparable’ damage to their relationship with the royals, experts tell PALACE CONFIDENTIAL

• Richard Eden and Kate Mansey chatted to Jo Elvin on this week’s episode
• READ MORE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell Netflix documentary is nominated for a major Hollywood award 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could end up winning several awards for their bombshell Netflix documentary, experts have said – but warned it is still too soon to know how it has affected their reputations.

Speaking on this week’s Palace Confidential, the Daily Mail’s diary editor Richard Eden and the Mail on Sunday’s deputy editor Kate Mansey discussed the six-part docuseries that ‘put the cat among the pigeons’, which has been nominated for a Hollywood Critics’ Award.

As host Jo Elvin asked for the panellists’ thoughts on the nomination, Kate said she was ‘not surprised’ because so many people around the world watched when it landed on the streaming platform last December.

She continued to say she thought Harry & Meghan could potentially scoop several awards, but added ‘time will tell’ as to how the series has affected their reputation.

Richard, who branded the series ‘disgraceful’, said he didn’t think it would matter to the Royal Family if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won awards for the series, because the damage it had done to their relationship with other royals was ‘irreparable’. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fgG6G_PqhuM%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

Kate Mansey, deputy editor of the Mail on Sunday, told Palace Confidential that ‘time will tell’ how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix series has affected their reputation

Mansey told the programme: ‘Lots of people watched that show, didn’t they? Everyone watched it and tuned in to see it. It was this huge TV highlight.

‘I’m not surprised it’s been nominated for an award. I suspect it’ll win many awards because it was so popular.

‘But you do wonder, despite all that success on paper, whether it’s done them any good in the long run.’

Mansey continued to describe the ‘excruciating’ stand-out scene from the series for her, when the Duchess of Sussex recreated the exaggerated curtsey she performed the first time she met Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, while Harry watched on ‘looking quite awkward’.

She said: ‘Sometimes there’s moments in these programmes that stay with you and that’s what people become remembered for.

‘They can win all the awards they like, but has it done their reputation – has it done their standing – any good? I think time will tell.’

Eden agreed with his co-panellist, and said he didn’t think it would be ‘awkward’ for the Royal Family if the series ends up scooping lots of awards.

He told Elvin: ‘I’m sure they’re the same as me, frankly. It doesn’t matter if it wins this award. It doesn’t matter if it wins other awards.’

Describing the series as ‘disgraceful’, he added: ‘It damaged relations with the Royal Family beyond repair. 

Mansey drew attention to the ‘excruciating’ moment from the Netflix series in which Meghan recreated the curtsey she had performed for the late Queen Elizabeth while Harry looked ‘awkward’ alongside her

‘It did so much damage to everything, really, to their reputation, that, yes it was an interesting programme that everyone watched, but I can’t see how it’s benefitted them in the long term at all.’

The Duke and Duchess of released their $100million docuseries Harry & Meghan with the streaming giant last December, which became Netflix’s second-highest ranked documentary ever – behind The Tinder Swindler.

Meghan & Harry, directed by Liz Garbus, was the first project to emerge from the multi-year deal the couple signed with the streaming giant back in 2020, shortly after they announced they were stepping down as working members of the Royal Family. 

The privacy-conscious couple handed over a trove of pictures and video from their relationship including the moment Harry proposed in 2017 and filming himself in the VIP lounge at Heathrow as he emigrated in March 2020. 

It was announced this week the series has been nominated for a Hollywood Critics Award in the Best Streaming Nonfiction category.

Announcing the news on Twitter, the organisation revealed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are up against Prehistoric Planet 2, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, Rennervations, The 1619 Project and The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy.

Richard, who branded the series ‘disgraceful’, said he didn’t think it would matter to the Royal Family if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex won awards for the series, because the damage it had done to their relationship with other royals was ‘irreparable’

Elsewhere in the episode, the panellists discussed US President Joe Biden’s visit to the UK this week, where he met with the King at Windsor Castle.

Although it was not an official state visit, the presenters detailed the little bit of pomp and ceremony that had been put on to welcome him.

The panellists also drew attention to a moment where President Biden put his hand on King Charles’s back, in what has been suggested was a breach of royal protocol.

Discussing the meaning behind the gesture, Mansey and Eden weighed up whether it was a ‘power play’ from the US head of state, or simply a warm gesture.

Eden branded the move ‘a little bit disrespectful’ as he joked ‘get your hands off our king’.

He said: ‘You should respect the monarch.’

However Mansey argued that the Royal Family is becoming ever less formal and this was likely another example of things moving with the times. 

‘It did seem like a bit of a power play but I don’t think it was meant as such,’ she said.  

‘I don’t think Biden was saying ‘I’m the boss here’… I genuinely think it was a sign of warmth.’

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