Prince Harry Memoir and Netflix Docuseries Won’t Take ‘Harshest Aims’ at Royal Family
TL;DR:
- Prince Harry’s memoir as well as a Netflix docuseries with Meghan Markle are on the way.
- According to royal author and journalist Omid Scobie, both projects will take their “harshest aims” at the British press.
- A 2022 book says Prince Harry had a “need for fights” with the media long before Meghan Markle entered his life.
The subject matter of Prince Harry’s memoir and his Netflix docuseries with Meghan Markle has long been a source of speculation. Will the Duke of Sussex discuss leaving the British royal family? What about his relationship with Prince William and King Charles III? While talking about his family is certainly a possibility, a royal author says both the memoir and docuseries will take their “harshest aims” at the British press.
Prince Harry memoir and Netflix show will criticize British press, author says
According to royal journalist Omid Scobie, the “reality” of the Netflix program and Harry’s memoir differs from reports. They won’t take aim at the royal family, the Finding Freedom co-author claimed. Rather, the British press.
“While it has long been (inaccurately) reported that a forthcoming Netflix docuseries and memoir will be the source of ‘attacks’ against royal family members, the reality of both projects will actually see their harshest aims taken at the British press,” he wrote in Yahoo News UK.
Scobie, who is also a royal correspondent, continued. He called it “hardly a surprise” considering “the role sections of the media have played” in Harry’s “life and relationships.”
Furthermore, Scobie wrote, the criticism of the British press will go “far beyond Harry’s own experiences.” The 38-year-old “hopes that his efforts will help the many ordinary people who have been targeted by newspapers over the years, often unknowingly.”
A 2022 biography touches on dislike of some British press by Prince Harry
According to a 2022 biography by journalist Valentine Low, Harry’s feelings toward the British press were apparent even before he met and eventually married the Duchess of Sussex.
The author touched on Harry’s contempt for much of the British press in Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown. “The need for fights was there the whole time,” someone told Low.
Additionally, Harry didn’t like the “royal rota,” a select group of journalists and photographers permitted by the palace to document royal events and appearances.
“Harry saw it as a cartel, which gave access to the same tabloids that ran inaccurate stories about him,” Low wrote in Courtiers per Newsweek.
“His argument was: why should he cooperate with those papers that made his life such a misery and had such poor professional standards, while other, more respectable, outlets — those who did not have full-time royal correspondents — did not get a look-in?”
“Mistrust of the courtiers at Buckingham Palace” was also another element, Low wrote. On top of that were many other things. Harry supposedly turned down a meeting with his brother, the now-Prince of Wales, because he feared leaks.
Low also claimed Harry made a “spectacularly rude” remark to journalists on a 2018 royal tour. Plus, Harry’s own comment about cameras being a reminder of terrible moments from childhood.
Prince Harry recently launched a lawsuit against Daily Mail publisher for invasion of privacy
Harry’s taking on the British press not just in his memoir and on TV. He’s taking legal action in court.
As reported by Variety, Harry, along with other British celebrities, filed a lawsuit against the parent company of The Daily Mail tabloid in Oct. 2022. Suing for invasion of privacy, they alleged Associated Newspapers accessed financial records, listened to and recorded phone conversations, and more.
It comes after Harry’s July 2022 win in a defamation suit. Meanwhile, the Netflix docuseries and memoir have no release date.
