King Charles and Prince William have both refused to comment on the bombshell claims made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their Netflix series.
The final three episodes of the couple’s docu-series ‘Harry & Meghan’ premiered on Netflix on Thursday, which featured more shocking claims about their time as senior working royals.
During one episode, the couple claimed there was a conspiracy between the Palace and the British press to “scapegoat” them to ensure negative press about other Royals would “go away”.
Meghan’s lawyer Jenny Afia alleged in the series: “There was a real kind of war against Meghan and I’ve certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the Palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people’s agendas.”
Meghan then said: “You would just see it play out, like a story about someone in the family would pop up for a minute and they’d go ‘We’ve got to make that go away.’”
Her friend Lucy Fraser added: “Meg became this scapegoat for the Palace. And so they would feed stories on her whether they were true or not to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.”
During episode five, Prince Harry also claimed his brother Prince William “screamed and shouted” at him over his decision to leave the Royal family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped away from their roles as senior working members of the Royal family in 2020.
In the episode, the 38-year-old recalled discussing his decision with his father Charles, brother William, and grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
He said: “It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that simply weren’t true… and my grandmother sit there and quietly take it all in.”
“You have to understand that from the family’s perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things. And her ultimate mission, goal, slash responsibility is the institution.”
Harry continued: “The saddest part of it was this wedge created between myself and my brother so that he’s on the institution side, and part of that I get, that’s his inheritance.”
“So to some extent, it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and continuation of this institution.”
He later spoke about a joint statement that was released squashing rumours of William “bullying” Harry and Meghan out of the Royal family, claiming he had no part in the statement.
The father-of-two said: “I got in the car after the meeting. I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and in my brother’s name, squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family. I couldn’t believe it, no one had asked me.”
“No one had asked my permission to put my name to a statement like that. I rang M and I told her, and she burst into floods of tears because within four hours they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years they were never willing to tell the truth to tell us.”
In episode four, Prince Harry also suggested Meghan popularity “upset” other members of the Royal family.
The Prince claimed members of his family resented his wife’s popularity during the couple’s official tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2018.
The Duke and Duchess embarked on the tour shortly after they announced Meghan was pregnant with their first child.
In the documentary, Harry said: “The issue is when someone who is marrying in, who should be a supporting act, is then stealing the limelight, or doing the job better than the person who was born to do this, that upsets people. It shifts the balance.”
Over a montage featuring Kate Middleton and Harry’s father King Charles, he continued: “You’ve been led to believe that the only way your charities can succeed, and the only way that your reputation can be grown or improved, is if you are on the front pages of those newspapers. But the media are the one to choose who to put on the front page.”
The documentary also featured commentary from Meghan’s friend Lucy Fraser, who said their Australia tour was a turning point because they were so popular with the public.
Lucy then claimed “the internals at the Palace” did not like it.
While the docu-series makes features a number of bombshell claims about the Royal family, particularly King Charles and Prince William, their offices at Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have declined to comment on anything in the series.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl has since revealed to Entertainment Tonight why the family are remaining silent.
She said: “I’ve spoken to senior palace aides who said they are reluctant to comment unless there is anything damaging, untrue or defamatory.”
“In this docuseries, they really don’t want to be drawn into it for the simple fact that they don’t want to give an already much-hyped docuseries even more oxygen or publicity.”
“So, I think if they can ride this out without being drawn into it, then that’s probably the strategy. I’m told by a senior palace aide, it’s a case of keep calm and carry on, and let’s not get too distracted by this.”
Katie added: “So, my understanding is that the royals, certainly the King and the Queen Consort will not be watching the docuseries. And William and Kate… I don’t believe they will be watching it, no.”
“I think there’s a sense of weariness and fatigue at hearing this story solely through the mouthpieces of Harry and Megan and of course, William and Kate, the King and Queen Consort, they can’t really answer back, so, I think it’s just a case of, we’re not going to engage.”
“Yes, they’re free to do this, if this is the path they choose to take, but we’ll only intervene if there is anything deeply damaging, and as we saw with Oprah, the palace really only intervened over that really damaging race allegation about the color of their unborn son’s skin.”
“I think they just want to keep their distance from it. And by not watching it, I suppose, is a way of not engaging,” she explained.
At the beginning of each Harry & Meghan episode, Netflix claim that members of the royal family declined to comment on the content of the series.
However, a source close to the royal family has since claimed: “That is incorrect. Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace nor any members of the royal family were approached for comment on the content of the series, [The palace] is not aware of any such approach for comment.”
