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ABC News
National
Jack Hawke

Prince Harry says people were 'happy to lie to protect' older brother Prince William

Prince Harry has accused people of lying to protect his brother Prince William while his wife Meghan has said she was "fed to the wolves" in the latest trailer of their controversial Netflix documentary series.

In the trailer Harry, the Duke of Sussex, also said there had been "institutional gaslighting" of his wife.

The latest preview of Harry & Meghan was made public on Monday ahead of the release of the final three episodes of the six-part series on December 15.

The couple has been critical of the royal family, palace aides and the British tabloids since the prince and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stepped back from royal duties in January 2020.

In the first three episodes Prince Harry said the royal family had a "huge level" of unconscious bias over race, and in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey spoke openly about racism within the monarchy.

Buckingham Palace has remained silent following the airing of the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan and has indicated it will not comment on it in the future, although palace sources did dispute the documentary makers' claims that members of the royal family declined to comment when approached by them.

Prince versus prince

While Buckingham Palace will be bracing for what else will come out in the next instalment of the documentary, the breakdown of the relationship between Prince Harry and his older brother Prince William – who is heir to the throne – will be of most concern.

There had long been rumours of a falling out between the pair, but those had appeared to have been put to bed with several very public displays of unity, most notably when both brothers and their wives appeared outside Windsor Castle to greet wellwishers following the death of their grandmother Queen Elizabeth II in September.

In the trailer, Prince Harry says unnamed people were willing to lie for Prince William but not to protect him or his wife.

"They were happy to lie to protect my brother," he says as a shot of Buckingham Palace is shown in the trailer.

"They were never willing to tell the truth to protect us."

But it does not give context as to what Prince William was being protected from, but in the first three episodes of the documentary series, the Harry and Meghan were scathing of the British tabloids and the staff working for their family.

'I was being fed to the wolves'

The final three episodes focus on why the Sussexes stepped down from royal duties in early 2020, which culminated in them being stripped of their royal patronages by the Queen in 2021.

While Prince Harry does not mention the royal family in the trailer, in the previous episodes he had said concerns over the harassment of his wife by the British media were dismissed by the royal household as a rite of passage.

"I wasn't being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves," Meghan says in the trailer.

Harry says it was "institutional gaslighting".

"Gaslighting" is a form of psychological manipulation where self-doubt is deliberately sowed.

Following their departure from royal life, the couple moved to California, which will also feature in the documentary.

"I wonder what would have happened to us had we not got out when we did," Harry says at the start of the trailer.

"Our security was being pulled," Meghan says – an apparent reference to them losing their publicly funded police protection in 2020.

"Everyone in the world knew where we were."

Harry then says: "We need to get out."

The trailer then shows Harry filming himself on what appears to be a jet and saying "we are on a freedom flight" and smiling.

Volume Two of the series, featuring episodes 4 to 6, is set to be available on the streaming platform from 7pm AEDT this Thursday.

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