Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have "provoked" members of The Firm but they would not respond, according to a royal source.
The royals will not respond to the couple's veiled jabs to avoid being "dragged down that rabbit hole" - a technique that the late Queen turned into an artform.
At the time of the release of the BBC2 programme 'The Princes and the Press', one source told the Daily Mail : "It was always very clear from the top that no one wanted to be dragged down that particular rabbit hole, however egregiously people were being provoked by the Sussexes.
"The palace mantra was that a period of silence would be beneficial to take the toxicity out of the situation, with the Queen going so far as to issue a personal statement making clear that there were matters they needed to deal with privately as a family."
Following the release of the trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan's explosive Netflix documentary series, experts have made it clear that the clash between the announcement and The Prince and Princess of Wales' trip to the US for the Earthshot Prize did not go unnoticed.
The one-minute clips shows a number of candid black and white photographs and we can hear Harry say: "No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors… I had to do everything I could to protect my family."
Meghan then adds: "When the stakes were this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?"
The six-part series is understood to be being released in two parts, the first next Thursday (December 8), the three-month anniversary of the Queen's death.
The second will be released a week later on December 15, the day of The Princess of Wales' second carol concert at Westminster Abbey which will also serve as a memorial to the late Queen.
Speaking about the perception of the trailer, one palace source told the Daily Mail : "I don't see how anyone could view it as anything other than a declaration of war." Another added: "None of this is a surprise", and that the timing of the trailer's release had not gone unnoticed by palace staff.
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Hello! Magazine's Royal Editor, Emily Nash, offered her insight on the timing of Harry and Meghan's announcement. She said: "I think that everyone in the Prince Princess of Wales' team is just very keen to keep the focus on Earthshot. That's the whole reason they're here and this is something they've been building up to for 18 months.
"So they're going to be very disappointed that the attention is going elsewhere at the moment and I'm sure that there are going to be concerns about what's to come in this documentary.
"But I expect it to be business as usual. They are just going to get on with it, get their heads down and do the engagements they've committed to today. I wouldn't expect to see any comment. It's incredibly difficult. You know, they're senior members of the royal family, they are known for not commenting on the things that come out in the media."
