Things are not looking good for the British royal family this week. A racism scandal threatened to eclipse the visit of Prince William and his wife Kate to the United States, and the release of a bombshell teaser for the Netflix docuseries about Prince Harry and his wife Meghan is disrupting media coverage for the US visit.
It has been speculated that the release of the Netflix teaser at this time is a coordinated ploy by Harry and Meghan to overtake and overshadow Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big visit to the US, although Netflix supposedly determines when the trailer is released.
Netflix released the teaser for the highly anticipated docuseries dubbed “Harry and Meghan” on Thursday during the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Boston visit for the Earth Shot Prize, an award given to five winners annually for their incredible contributions to the environment.
In the teaser, Meghan is crying and wiping her tears away. It also features numerous pictures of the couple that have never been seen before, including a snippet from one of Meghan’s confessionals as she asks the audience if it makes more sense to hear their own story from them when the stakes are that high.
Omid Scobie, a journalist and Meghan’s friend, seemed to hint at the idea that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would overshadow Prince William and Kate when he sent out a tweet on Thursday. The tweet said that if December 2 is Prince William’s Superbowl, referring to the Earth Shot Prize ceremony held on Friday, December 2, Harry and Meghan’s trailer is the halftime show.
According to a palace insider, Harry and Meghan tried to clash and disrupt William and Kate’s visit. Hugo Vickers, a royal watcher and friend of the royal family, told the news outlet that he was not surprised about the timing of the teaser and called the docuseries “pretentious.”
Before the teaser got released on Thursday, Harry also released a video promo on Wednesday announcing next year’s Invictus games. The video features him and his wife playing table tennis.
Media coverage of Prince William and Kate’s visit has not been detailed. Most of their activities, including a visit to a green technology incubator, were not mentioned, as most media stations focused on the gossip that had formed over the couple’s visit.
This week, different media outlets have focused on the racism scandal in which Prince William’s 83-year-old godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, resigned from her duties after a black guest accused her of making racist remarks. Another bombshell, the Netflix teaser, overshadowed day two of the couple’s three-day trip to Boston. TMZ wrote that controversies riddled the royal family, with one exploding and another on the way.
The New York Post wrote that the royal visit was off to a rocky start, and Times magazine focused on the booing that Prince William and Kate received on their arrival at the Boston Celtics game.
Some sources, however, dismissed claims that Harry and Meghan plotted to overshadow their relatives, saying that they had no part in the decision to release the trailer on Thursday, adding that it was an executive decision made by Netflix.
The docuseries, to be released on December 8, will give an insight into Harry and Meghan’s challenges while in Great Britain and what led them to quit their royal duties.
