Harry and Meghan's Netflix docuseries is 'skewed to US audience'

Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Netflix docuseries is ‘very skewed to an American audience’ which ‘won’t care’ about any ‘falsifications’ – and could be a ‘make or break moment’ for Sussexes and William and Kate, say experts

• Trailer used footage which supposedly showed media harassment of Sussexes
• But it has since emerged clips were filmed under vastly different circumstances
• Tom Bower said that many US watchers ‘wouldn’t care’ about any ‘falsifications’

Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Netflix docuseries is ‘very skewed to an American audience’ which ‘won’t care’ about any ‘falsifications’, experts warned today.    

The accuracy of the programme was called into question after it emerged that footage which supposedly showed media harassment of the couple was actually filmed under vastly different circumstances.

Footage of cameramen included in the trailer was actually filmed as former glamour model Katie Price arrived for a drink-driving court appearance, while a photograph showing banks of waiting Press photographers was taken at a Harry Potter premiere with no royal attendance. 

The clips formed the backdrop to Harry’s incendiary claims of ‘a war against Meghan’ and a ‘dirty game’ surrounding the royals which sparked a furious backlash from Palace insiders yesterday.  

NETFLIX: This photo of a casually dressed Prince Harry featured in an image montage in the bombshell Netflix trailer last week

REALITY: The picture was actually taken in September 2007 when Prince Harry met his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davey at Heathrow Airport. Netflix cropped out Chelsey and appear to have added a filter to emphasise the flash photography 

Royal author Tom Bower said many American watchers ‘wouldn’t care’ about any ‘falsifications’ in the series, something that could bode badly for the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

‘I fear many Americans will be duped by the Sussexes distortions and victimhood,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘They believe that America was founded by attacking the British king and that Meghan is right to carry on that tradition.

‘I fear that all the good Kate and William are doing will be overwhelmed by the battle and their worthwhile work submerged amid the vitriol which the Sussexes are generating to make their grubby fortune.’      

Nick Ede, a culture and brand expert, said the ‘sensationalist’ aspect of the documentary was ‘skewed to an American audience’. 

‘I don’t think they’re going to be bothered about the holes that are being picked in it, because for them it’s all about the sensationalism and the romanticism of how Meghan has had to escape from the palace after finding royal life wasn’t what she expected,’ he told MailOnline. 

NETFLIX: Another photograph that was used in the first Harry and Meghan’s Netflix trailer released earlier this week

REALITY: But rather than showing photographers fighting for space to snap Harry and Meghan, the image is actually from a Harry Pottery premiere 

Describing the possible implications for the Sussexes’ reputation as well as that of William and Kate, he added: ‘I think the way this could play out is going to be really interesting – it will be a make or break moment for both couples.

‘Meghan and Harry are really becoming like the Kardashians – they are reality stars who are revealing their lives warts and all.

‘That could elevate Kate and William in a strong way because they’re not going to react but will just carry on and keep doing their job.

‘That’ll mean they keep having that mysticism around them that we all brought into with the Queen.

‘Plus, we know Meghan and Harry traditionally have an agenda which is pretty see-through and quite manipulative. If that’s exposed more and more their ”truth” will be less respected.’

In a new trailer for their upcoming Netflix documentary released yesterday, Harry claimed he and Meghan had faced leaks and planting of stories which supported the established ‘hierarchy’ of the Royal Family.

NETFLIX: Another piece of footage shows a scrum of photographers forming around a car as Meghan says – referring to the royal household – ‘I realised they are never going to protect you’. It then cuts to an image of Meghan in tears

REALITY: But rather than showing the Sussexes being hounded, the footage is in fact of Mr Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, leaving his New York apartment in 2019 to serve time in prison for financial crimes, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress

Allies of the couple told the new six-hour series there was ‘a war against Meghan to suit other people’s agendas’, with one claiming ‘it’s about hatred, it’s about race’.

In the minute-long compilation of clips for the series, Harry, 38, took aim at the Palace institution which surrounds the royals, smirking as he commented: ‘It’s a dirty game.’

But royal sources insisted it was ‘absolutely wrong’ to suggest that aides had briefed against Harry and Meghan, and said the palace took ‘unprecedented steps’ to support them.

The new trailer gave the clearest signal yet the now California-based pair will reopen old wounds as they seek to justify why they quit as working royals and left Britain.

However, critics immediately pointed to obvious inconsistencies in the trailer.  

At one point, footage shows photographers swarming around a car as Meghan says: ‘I realised they [the Royal Household] are never gonna protect you.’

REALITY: The footage in fact shows former glamour model Katie Price arriving at Crawley magistrates court to be sentenced for drink driving

NETFLIX: A brief clip from the latest trailer shows a group of photographers rushing towards a concrete building as Harry says ‘I was terrified, I didn’t want history to repeat itself’ 

The trailer then cuts to an image of Meghan wiping her eyes, apparently in tears.

But the car footage was filmed outside the home of Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, as he left to start a prison sentence in 2019.

Another photograph showed Harry and Meghan walking away with their baby son Archie while a cameraman appeared to loom over them from a hidden vantage point.

Journalist Robert Jobson said it was taken when the couple met Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, and that Harry and Meghan had agreed where just three officially-accredited British photographers and journalists could stand.

He said it was a ‘complete travesty’ to use the photograph as an example of Press intrusion.

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