It’s been two years since Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Duchess Meghan shocked the world by announcing they were leaving the British royal family and giving up their title (quickly dubbed “Megxit” by pundits) to spend the rest of their lives as ‘ordinary people. have left Buckingham Palace, Harry and Meghan won’t be leaving the meeting room. Only the streaming giant’Netflix“, the six-episode documentary “Harry and Meghan” promises the world an unprecedented insight into the private life of the couple and their complex relationship with the world around them.
For the British, the history of the royal family and the vicissitudes of private life is the national sport, which for many is certainly more important than football, rugby and a favorite pint of beer. It is not for nothing that the series “The Crown” created by the same “Netflix” experienced its fifth season this year, which immediately caused a storm of indignation at the point of view of the authors of the series on the most unpleasant public incidents of the royal family in the 90s of the last century.
However, the case of Harry and Meghan is special today: the prince dared to openly confront his family, British traditions and, ultimately, the British mass media. The couple chose to leave “hostile and racist” Britain to find peace and refuge in Meghan Markle’s native America, choosing to live in sunny and liberal California.
Harry and Meghan’s actions both then and still have caused a very different reaction in British society. Some praise the young couple for having the courage to “break the rules of the royal house” and go their own way in life, but others are not stingy with their condemnation for breaking with tradition or the apparent desire of young men to escape the discomfort of performing royal functions, while retaining many privileges and exploiting their former status and experiencing both fame and financial gain. What is indisputable is the fact that Netflix has signed a collaboration deal with the ex-duke couple worth more than 100 million dollars, and this eliminates the fear that their main problem in their new life may be the financial situation (they also lost income when they gave up their royal status).
Despite the streaming platform itself’s desperate need for more and more hits to maintain subscriber numbers, all the negative publicity leading up to Harry and Meghan’s debut doesn’t mean that, in theory, it can’t become a quality television product. While the British press hasn’t tried to ridicule Harry and Meghan’s efforts to ‘tell their story’, the intrigue was massive on the morning of 8 December, as both the Guardian and the live broadcast clearly demonstrated. of the BBC in honor of the release of the first three episodes of the series.
As could probably be expected, the following reviews have been mostly unflattering:
