Royal family braced for final Harry and Meghan Netflix episodes

LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were expected to level stinging new criticisms at the British royal family in the second installment of their Netflix documentary series, which was released Thursday morning.

In trailers released ahead of the final three episodes, the couple take more direct aim at the family as they outline the situation surrounding the bombshell 2020 announcement that they would step back from royal duties.

“I wonder what would have happened to us had we not got out,” Harry says in the trailer, accusing the palace of “institutional gaslighting.”

“They were happy to lie to protect my brother, but they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” Harry says, with the screen cutting to a picture of Buckingham Palace though it was unclear exactly who “they” meant.

“I wasn’t just being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” Meghan says.

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The trailer shows Harry on board a plane leaving the United Kingdom, which he describes as a “freedom flight.”

The first three episodes, released a week ago, focused primarily on the treatment of Meghan by the media and racism — but there were no new specific allegations.

People appear to have been watching nonetheless.

Netflix said that the first instalment was watched by 28 million households, making it the streaming giant’s highest viewed documentary ever.

Harry and Meghan are clearly keen to tell the story of their relationship and their rift with the royals from their perspective. The Sussexes’ media company, Archewell Productions, is listed as one of the three producers.

The series does not seem to have had much of an impact on views of the couple in Britain, however. A poll released this week by polling firm YouGov found that 4% of those asked now have a more positive view of the Sussexes while 14 % now have a more negative view.

The series comes at an awkward time for the monarchy, three months after Queen Elizabeth II’s death and the ascension of Harry’s father, Charles, as king. 

King Charles III said on taking the throne that he wanted “to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas,” in an apparent attempt to signal a willingness to heal the rift between the monarchy and the Sussexes.

Buckingham Palace has yet to publicly comment on the Netflix series.