Harry and Meghan ‘deliberately’ timed Netflix trailer to upset Kate and William’s U.S. tour: royal expert

In what’s become an epic royal battle for maximum publicity and the moral high ground, a royal expert says that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “deliberately” timed Thursday morning’s release of the trailer for their hotly anticipated Netflix docuseries to “take away” attention from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s landmark trip to Boston.

Calling the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “unpredictable,” Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail that the release of the trailer for their explosive new series “Harry and Meghan” was “obviously timed” to grab attention from William and Kate’s trip. Fitzwilliams said that Harry and Meghan “like to control their narrative,” and the stylishly produced trailer suggests that they will air longstanding grievances against the royal establishment as they offer their reasons for stepping away from royal life and moving to the United States.

Certainly, news about the trailer dominated headlines Thursday, as William and Kate are reportedly trying to “keep calm and carry on” on the second day of their three-day U.S. trip, the Daily Beast reported. The Prince and Princess of Wales, in Boston to present a prestigious environmental award Friday night, are especially keen to not get bogged down in the racism scandal storming in the U.K., which involves Lady Susan Hussey, a longtime lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was caught saying “unacceptable” things to a Black guest at a Buckingham Palace reception.

“William ultimately subscribes to his grandmother’s ‘keep calm and carry on’ school of thinking, and that is what he will be doing, trying to get the focus back on the award,” a friend of William’s told the Daily Beast.

But keeping peoples’ focus on Friday night’s Earthshot Prize ceremony could prove difficult, with the highly dramatic trailer for the multimillion-dollar Netflix series suggesting that the Sussexes will offer their side of their conflict with William and Kate and could again raise concerns about racism and dysfunction in the monarchy.

A brief clip shows Harry being asked why he wanted to make the series. “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors,” he answers. “I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” Images featured in the trailer also show the pair looking upset, including several appearing to show Meghan in tears. There also is an image of a stony-faced William and Kate, sitting in front of Harry and a heavily-pregnant Meghan, looking miserable at a royal event in 2019.

“When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?” Meghan also says in a clip.

Fitzwilliams said the photos showing Meghan looking distressed strongly suggest that the Sussexes will have things to say about how they felt “they were treated by the royal family.”

He also said the timing of the trailer’s release is “certainly unhelpful” to William and Kate, who are in Boston to present the Earthshot Prize, an annual environmental award handed out by the Royal Foundation, an organization William founded to help entrepreneurs with solutions to climate change and environmental issues. William and Kate will be joined at the star-studded Earthshot Prize ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library by the late president’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy.

But as Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series has already sent “shockwaves through the British royal establishment,” as the Daily Beast said, the royal family also has its hands full dealing with the racism scandal involving Lady Susan Hussey and its unfortunate timing. The controversy erupted the day before William and Kate flew to Boston — and a week before Harry and Meghan will receive a prize in New York City for taking a “heroic” stand against “structural racism” in the monarchy.

Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit named in honor of her late father, said in an interview earlier this month that Harry and Meghan will receive the nonprofit’s annual Ripple of Hope award at a gala in New York because they had the courage to challenge the royal family’s “power structure.”

Kerry Kennedy didn’t clarify how she believes Harry and Meghan took this “heroic” stand, but she could be referring to the couple’s blockbuster March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. That’s when they made the incendiary allegation that a member of the royal family asked about the skin color of their future children.

News about Hussey’s remarks at a reception Tuesday have given fuel the narrative — supported by Harry and Meghan —  that the monarchy has yet to shed its vestiges of racism and colonialism.

At the reception, hosted by Camilla, the queen consort, Hussey, who also is William’s godmother, allegedly approached Ngozi Fulani, a Black, London-based domestic abuse activist and began grilling her about her racial heritage. Fulani heads the Sistah Space nonprofit, an organization that provides support to Black women affected by sexual abuse and domestic violence. Camilla’s reception for some 300 people was meant to highlight her efforts to combat domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.

As Fulani outlined on Twitter, she said Hussey moved her hair aside to see her name badge. “Where are you from?” Fulani said she was asked. When Fulani said she was from Sistah Space, the aide said: “No, where do you come from?”

Fulani said she answered that the organization is based in northeast London. “No,” Hussey allegedly replied, “What part of Africa are you from?” Fulani explained that she was born in the U.K. and is British, but Hussey continued to press: “No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?”

The controversy over Hussey’s comments erupted as William and Kate were in mid-air, on their way to Boston. A spokesperson for the Wales quickly issued a statement, which said,  “Racism has no place in our society. These comments were unacceptable and it’s right that the individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.”

The spokesperson was referring to the announcement from Buckingham Palace that Hussey had stepped aside from her royal position. Following the death of the queen in September, Hussey had started in a new position in King Charles III’s household, helping Camilla represent the royal family at official events.