Harry and Meghan are completely out of touch for releasing "six hours of whining" while the UK is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, a royal expert says.
Jennie Bond slammed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s long-awaited £100million Netflix series as “utterly self-indulgent and terribly timed”, coming at a time when people are being forced to choose between heating or eating.
The former BBC royal correspondent told the Sunday People : “They live in a Californian mansion with two gorgeous children and a fantastic lifestyle while the rest of us are worrying about whether we can turn a radiator on. Why can’t they just go away and enjoy themselves?
“It is utterly self-indulgent and terribly timed when people are choosing between heating or eating in the middle of winter. And they are releasing six hours of whining. They put themselves forward publicly as advocates of healing when all they are doing is hurting people. There is nothing healing about this. And judging by the trailers, it will only get worse.”
Jennie, 72, gave her scathing analysis after watching the first three episodes of the new show, the final three episodes of which will be available on Thursday.
And she claimed Harry, 38, should have listened to brother Prince William, 40, when he advised him not to rush things with former actress Meghan, 41.
“All that I can see is that Prince William was right all along when he said Meghan was woefully unprepared to enter the royal family,” she said.
“William gave Catherine ten years to peer inside the goldfish bowl of the royal family to acclimatise and know what life would be like inside. So when she did enter the family, she slotted right in. Now she is a hugely admired role model and future queen. But any suggestion from William to take things slowly was rejected by Harry.
“He was head over heels in love and wanted to get on with it. It is clear now from Meghan’s astonishing level of unpreparedness revealed in this series that William was entirely correct.”
And choosing to air a clip of their mother, Princess Diana, from her infamous BBC Panorama interview, despite the Prince of Wales urging it was never broadcast again, will only deepen their rift, said Jennie. “Meghan joined an organisation which she didn’t like, chose to fly away and stay away, and yet she still wants to shake it up and reform it,” she said.
“Meghan said she didn’t want to embarrass the royal family. In staggering irony, she is the one who has utterly embarrassed the family and drawn Harry into doing the same.”
In the latest trailer, released on Saturday night, Harry and Meghan revealed their first dance at their 2018 wedding was to 60s hit Land of a Thousand Dances.
Meghan is seen singing in footage and a series of previously unseen photos show them dancing with VIPs including Sir Elton John, who was a friend of Diana.
Meghan says: “I just really wanted the music to be fun. Even our first dance.”
Jennie said she found some details about Harry and Meghan’s love story shown in the series genuinely charming. And she can see similarities between the Duchess and Harry’s mum, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997, aged 36.
“Harry saw Diana as a protector and a mentor, and I think he sees those same qualities with Meghan,” Jennie said.
“Having suffered dreadful loss and a troubled adolescence, it is lovely that he has finally found a woman he loves, with echoes of his much-beloved mother. We see Meghan take on that role of mentor in helping Harry to learn about unconscious bias.
"She has opened his eyes to racial prejudice and that is a reflection of what a modern-thinking monarchy should look like. The pair had a great opportunity to modernise the family and Meghan really is the incarnation of what a forward-thinking monarchy should look like. The tragedy is they decided to leave when they could have done so much.
“I don’t think the royal family was so dim it didn’t realise having an independent, forthright woman of mixed heritage was a good look for a modern monarchy. That is exactly what a modern monarchy should look like, which is why it is such a pity they are not part of it any more. It puts a sharp focus on what a loss they have been.”
But Jennie added that some comments in the show are shot through with allegations about hatred, race, exploitation and bribery which are confused and unsubstantiated. And she has not blamed just the Palace for Meghan being so unprepared.
“Meghan had no idea there was a measure of formality in public and private or even the hierarchy within the family,” she said. “I think that was down to Harry. Why did he not sit down with her and tell her what it would be like?
“It is clear she did not understand she was not just marrying into a family but also a firm. And within that hierarchy, Meghan clearly struggled to understand she would not be the chief executive or managing director. Instead, she had to conform and collaborate, and abide by the structure in place.”
