New trailer for 'Harry & Meghan' released: Everything to know as Netflix docuseries faces criticism
Prince Harry and Meghan's upcoming Netflix docuseries now has a release date and a new trailer that draws comparisons to the late Princess Diana.
The docuseries titled "Harry & Meghan is described by the streaming giant as sharing "the other side" of Harry and Meghan's "high-profile love story."
Here is everything to know about the Sussexes' highly-anticipated docuseries.
Two trailers give viewers a sneak peek of the docuseries
In a new trailer released Monday, Harry and Meghan appear to open up about tensions within the royal family and their decision to step down from their senior, working royal roles in 2020.
"It's really hard to look back on it now and go, 'What on earth happened?'" Harry says in the trailer.
As clips are shown of Harry's family and Buckingham Palace, the prince is heard saying, "There's a hierarchy of the family. You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories."
"It's a dirty game," Harry says several seconds later in the trailer.
Also in the trailer, clips are shown of Harry's mother, Diana, who died following a Paris car crash in 1997 in which she was pursued by paparazzi.
"I was terrified," Harry says. "I didn't want history to repeat itself."
The 1-minute trailer ends with Harry saying, "No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth."
Last week, Netflix released the first trailer for "Harry & Meghan," which showed never-before-seen personal moments between the Sussexes, from falling in love to leaving their royal roles and charting their own future in California.
"No one sees what is happening behind closed doors," Harry says after a voice asks why the couple wanted to make the docuseries.
Meghan later says in the trailer, "When the stakes are this high, doesn't it make more sense to hear our story from us?"
'Harry & Meghan' will air on two dates
The docuseries will air in six parts, with the first three episodes dropping Dec. 8 and the final three episodes dropping Dec. 15, according to Netflix.
The first three episodes will drop at 12 a.m. PST on Dec. 8.
The day the first three episodes air, on Dec. 8, is also the third-month anniversary of the death of Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
'Harry & Meghan' clips criticized for alleged inconsistencies
The second trailer for Harry and Meghan's docuseries quickly drew criticism from U.K. tabloids, which called the docuseries "misleading."
Critics claimed that some of the footage used in the trailers showed the press and paparazzi from moments unrelated to Harry and Meghan.
"The couple are facing accusations that some of their representation of media moments are misleading," said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy. "We obviously have to see the whole thing but if the media is a big villain in this, which it seems that they will be, then I think we are going to see pushback if people feel there has been unfair representation."
In one instance pointed out by critics, a photo of photographers shown in the newly released trailer is actually a photo from 2011, five years before the couple started dating.
In another instance, a swarm of cameras shown as Meghan is heard saying, "I realized, they're never going to protect you," was actually filming former President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in 2019.
Harry and Meghan have not commented on the docuseries since the trailers' release.
Netflix has also not commented on the criticism.
Harry's royal relatives are staying mum on the docuseries
The first trailer for "Harry & Meghan" dropped on Dec. 1, just as Harry's brother Prince William and his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, were visiting Boston in their first trip to the United States in eight years.
William and Kate visited Boston to attend the awards ceremony for the Earthshot Prize, William's environmental passion project, but saw their trip largely overshadowed by the timing of Harry and Meghan's docuseries trailer.
William and Kate have followed suit with other royal family members in not commenting publicly on the Sussexes' docuseries.
"William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan put on a real show of unity for the queen's funeral, but I think that was always a show of unity," said Murphy, referring to the two couples' first joint public appearance in over two years at the queen's funeral in September. "And we see now, with this documentary coming out, with Harry's book coming out, just how raw those disagreements still are, and I think they could get even bigger depending what is in this documentary, what is in the book."
Members of the royal family will conduct "business as usual" over the next two weeks, attending engagements with several charities, according to a report in the U.K.'s The Telegraph.
On Dec. 15, when the docuseries' final three episodes are released, Kate will be hosting a Christmas carol concert for children at Westminster Abbey. Kensington Palace has confirmed that King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort will also attend the concert.
Docuseries is helmed by an Oscar-nominated director
"Harry & Meghan" is directed by Liz Garbus, a two-time Oscar-nominee, two-time Emmy winner, Peabody winner and Grammy nominee according to the website for her company, Moxie Firecracker Films.
Meghan spoke about working with Garbus in a recent interview with Variety.
"It's nice to be able to trust someone with our story -- a seasoned director whose work I've long admired -- even if it means it may not be the way we would have told it. But that's not why we're telling it," Meghan said. "We're trusting our story to someone else, and that means it will go through their lens."
She continued, "It's interesting. My husband has never worked in this industry before. For me, having worked on 'Suits,' it's so amazing to be around so much creative energy and to see how people work together and share their own points of view. That's been really fun."
Netflix describes the documentary as 'unprecedented'
In a statement, Netflix said that in the docuseries, Harry and Meghan share "the other side of their high-profile love story."
"In an unprecedented and in-depth documentary series, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex share the other side of their high-profile love story," Netflix said in the trailers' description. "Across six episodes, the series explores the clandestine days of their early courtship and the challenges that led to them feeling forced to step back from their full-time roles in the institution."
"With commentary from friends and family, most of whom have never spoken publicly before about what they witnessed, and historians who discuss the state of the British Commonwealth today and the royal family's relationship with the press, the series does more than illuminate one couple's love story, it paints a picture of our world and how we treat each other," the statement continued. "From the critically-acclaimed, two-time Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning director Liz Garbus, Harry & Meghan is a never-before-seen look at one of the most-discussed couples in history."
Harry's memoir 'Spare' will be released soon too
Less than one month after the Sussexes' docuseries airs, more bombshells are expected to be released in Harry's memoir, titled "Spare."
The book will be released on Jan. 10, 2023, according to the book's publisher, Penguin Random House, which says it contains "raw, unflinching honesty" and described it as a "landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief."
When the book was first announced last year, Harry said it would be a "firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful."
The memoir's title appears to be a nod to Harry's birth order as the younger brother of William, the heir to the British throne.
