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Sussexes’ Netflix trailer steals the spotlight from Waleses

As the Sussexes prepare to unleash their ‘truth’, we may never know why they really made documentary

By Hannah Furness royal Editor

RISHI SUNAK has said that racism must be “confronted” wherever it occurs, as the fallout from the royal racism row threatened to overshadow the second day of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s trip to the US.

The Prime Minister declined to comment specifically on the incident, in which Lady Susan Hussey, the late Queen’s longest-serving Lady-in-waiting, resigned after a black, British-born domestic violence campaigner alleged the 83-year-old had persistently asked her where she was “really” from during a palace reception. However, he said the job of tackling racism was “never done”, adding: “And that’s why whenever we see it we must confront it.”

The row emerged as the Prince and Princess of Wales embarked on their first overseas trip in their new roles.

In a further blow to their attempts to keep focus on the Earthshot Prize, the Prince’s environmental awards, a trailer was released yesterday for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s much-anticipated Netflix documentary.

The series promises a “never-beforeseen look” at the couple’s private lives that will explain why they had to leave the Royal family. In the one-minute advert, the Duke says: “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors.

I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” The trailer features a series of previously unseen photographs of the Sussexes.

In one, the couple appear to be relaxing in their kitchen at Frogmore Cottage after the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020. The couple received a long round of applause and a standing ovation as they took their seats in the Royal Box at what was one of their final royal engagements. The photograph, which appears to have been taken by a professional photographer, shows the Duke leaning in to kiss his wife.

The row involving Lady Hussey has led some to claim that the Sussexes, who alleged that an anonymous member of the Royal family commented about their unborn son’s skin colour, have been “vindicated”.

Criticism of the Royals is expected to be heightened over the coming weeks with the broadcast of the six-part documentary and the publication of the Duke’s memoir on Jan 10. No date has yet been announced for the broadcast, although it is rumoured to be available on streaming from next Thursday.

The series will raise further questions about the fractured relationship between the siblings, with sources pointing out that the flurry of activity from the Duke and Duchess this week

came as the Prince and Princess of Wales travelled to Boston to showcase the Earthshot Prize.

One source called the release of the trailer “predictable”, “deliberately timed” and putting on full show the difference between the couples’ lives. “You see the contrast between the royals, focusing attention on the communities of Boston and the Earthshot Prize, and the others busy talking about themselves and making money,” they said.

Another added that while the timing had not gone unnoticed at the palace, “none of this is a surprise”.

The Prince and Princess of Wales last night received a warm welcome from hundreds of wellwishers outside Roca, a charity focusing on at-risk young people. On the previous night in Boston, they were booed by some at a basketball game in what was seized upon by critics as reflecting how the Royal family is viewed overseas.

An unflattering photograph of the couple was used in the Netflix trailer, showing them looking stony-faced at the 2019 Commonwealth Day Service.

Last night, asked about the racism row, Mr Sunak refused to comment directly but said: “I have experienced racism in my life. But what I am pleased to say is some of the things that I experienced when I was a kid and a young person I don’t think would happen today because our country has made incredible progress in tackling racism.

“But the job is never done. And that’s why whenever we see it we must confront it.”

‘There’s a huge price to pay for invading your own privacy, and Netflix appears to have agreed to it’

The glossy Netflix trailer opens with the question: “Why did you want to make this documentary?”

Yet as Harry and Meghan prepare to once again unleash their “truth” on an unsuspecting audience, it appears unlikely we will ever get the real answer.

For as the couple fawn all over each other in a series of Vogue-ish black and white photographs, there remains an undeniable truth at the heart of the “Megxit” project that the oversharing Sussexes appear reluctant to own up to. Far from simply being about setting the record straight – what this slick one-minute film finally confirms is that this cash cow of a documentary (like the rumoured £35 million Harry received for his autobiography Spare) appears to not only be motivated by money – but also revenge. Otherwise, why on earth would a pair so fiercely protective of their privacy give the online streaming giant behind The Crown (of all shows), seemingly unfettered access not only to their lives but also their family photo album?

Meghan asks: “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear the story from us?”. Well, it certainly makes more spondoolicks, that’s for sure. From Harry serenading Meghan with a guitar in the style of Montecito’s own Ed Sheeran (yet, curiously, not playing a discernible chord), to the couple smooching in a passport photo booth, the trailer is designed to convey the message that, at it’s heart, this is a love story.

“I had to do everything I could to protect my family,” insists Harry, dressed like LA’S answer to the Milk Tray man, having thankfully ditched the flat cap from a previous image. (When he said he wore “many hats”, who knew one was borrowed from the wardrobe of Peaky Blinders?) It was like Guy Ritchie marrying Madonna all over again (except the divorce bit, natch). Like failing to name the royal “racist” on Oprah, the prince’s refusal to say from whom or what exactly he was protecting his family, from their multi-million pound mansion in Windsor Great Park, is designed to keep the audience guessing.

Dramatic imagery of newspapers aggressively rolling off the presses – and an ominous picture of a stony – faced Kate (taken a year before Megxit even happened) provide the not-sosubtle clues. It is noteworthy that the only image used of their nearest and dearest couldn’t present the usually smiley Princess of Wales in a more unattractive light. (It was Miss Middleton, in the Throne Room, with the far superior tiara).

Naturally, the former American actress hogs most of the limelight. We are treated to pregnant Meghan, dog-loving Meghan, mourning Meghan, back of a Land Rover Meghan and, on several occasions, what appears to be lachrymose Meghan. (Well, Kate did make her cry after that bridesmaids dress fitting, right?).

If the paparazzi had even dreamed of publishing such intimate images, they’d have ended up in court. But when the Sussexes do it, they end up on primetime. There’s a huge price to pay for invading your own privacy, and Netflix appear to have agreed to it.

As is ever the case with Harry and Meghan, a couple always in a hurry, timing is everything. It cannot be coincidence this trailer was released at the end of a period of sustained self-promotion, involving handbag giveaways and women’s empowerment prizes in the week William and Kate are taking on the US in Boston.

The last time the Waleses were on tour, in Pakistan in 2019, Meghan gave ITV’S Tom Bradby her lip-quivering “no one’s asked me if I’m okay” interview. This latest attempt to upstage appears to take sibling rivalry to a Kardashian-esque new level.

As with The Crown versus the actual Crown, it will now be for viewers to decide if they subscribe to reality TV royals, or real ones.

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