Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Russell Myers

Prince William and Kate won't watch Harry and Meghan's doc but will be briefed on claims

The King and the Prince and Princess of Wales will receive a full briefing of all of the claims made against the royal family by Harry and Meghan in the final three episodes available from 8am tomorrow.

Senior palace aides will once again gather on Thursday to watch the final three episodes before a decision is reached over whether to respond to the raft of claims made by the Sussexes.

Aides tonight insisted palace teams were “putting the finishing touches” to the Princess of Wales’s Westminster Abbey charity Christmas concert, where the royals - led by the King - will gather to display a show of unity.

Palace officials insist the royals, including William, Kate and the King have not watched any of the controversial series.

Trailers released earlier this week also saw Harry, 38, suggest “they lied to protect my brother”, although it is not clear whether he meant Buckingham Palace or the media.

Harry and Meghan have railed against senior royals and have been accused of lying over claims Meghan did not receive any support when she joined the family.

Kate and William will be briefed about new claims in the Netflix show (Getty Images)

Palace aides have described the series as “yet more noise” and added how Harry and Meghan only ever seem to “speak their truth for money”.

However, palace sources have revealed that while the preference is not to react to any of the documentary, which has received mixed reviews and viewing figures, future King William may be forced to react if he feels his brother crosses a line with further damaging allegations about his family.

The second part of the documentary is out on Thursday morning (TWITTER)

One impeccable source said: “The Prince and Princess of Wales, just like the rest of the family, won’t be watching Harry and Meghan’s latest series of interviews.

“All focus is on coming together to support the Princess of Wales and celebrating some fantastic charities at Westminster Abbey.

“There’s nothing to say.”

Meghan claimed she had no support (TWITTER)

The source added: “If there are certain issues raised that need to be addressed then you can expect they will, but so far it’s been an awful lot of noise.”

It comes as Meghan Markle's friends claimed she was made a “scapegoat” as Buckingham Palace planted negative stories in the press about her to make less favourable coverage of other royals “go away”.

As the royal family braced itself for the latest raft of damaging allegations in the final part of the blockbuster Harry and Meghan documentary, the Duchess of Sussex’s lawyer said courtiers engaged in “a war against Meghan”.

Meghan's friend Lucy Fraser said stories were being planted about the Duchess of Sussex (TWITTER)

In the latest trailer for the Netflix series, Jenny Afia, a partner at exclusive law firm Schillings, delivered a pointed attack at the heart of the institution, claiming she has “seen evidence” of Palace briefings against the couple.

In the teaser ahead of the release of the final three episodes, Meghan also waded in, saying: “You would just see it play out, like a story about someone in my family would pop up for a minute and they’d go ‘We’ve got to kind of make that go away’.”

As footage of Buckingham Palace is shown, Ms Afia said: “There was a real kind of war against Meghan and I’ve certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the Palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people’s agendas.”

Prince Harry also spoke about his brother William in the series (Netflix)

Brit Lucy Fraser, one of Meghan’s close friends who works in public relations, went further to claim: “Meg became this scapegoat for the Palace.”

Stoking the theory that senior courtiers responsible for running the royal family’s global communications departments attempted to sully Meghan and Harry’s reputation, she says: “And so they would feed stories on her whether they were true or not to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.”

It is not known whether Meghan, Ms Afia or Ms Fraser will produce any evidence to back up their claims, but royal sources last night described them as “wild allegations”.

As footage is played in the trailer of newspaper front pages with the headlines “Meghan Made Kate Cry” and “Heir Heads” - about Kate and Meghan’s flower dress dispute and the Sussexes’ use of a private jet to fly to Ibiza - Meghan adds: “But there’s real estate on a website homepage, there is real estate there on a newspaper front cover, and something has to be filled in there about someone royal.”

In her Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan contradicted the dress story by saying Kate made her cry ahead of her wedding at a flower girl dress fitting - not the other way round as had been reported.

She added that the false reports were a turning point, and “everyone in the institution knew that wasn’t true” but it was not corrected.

Ms Afia adds: “This barrage of negative articles about the breakdown of the relationship with her father was the final straw in a campaign of negative, nasty coverage about her.”

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace both declined to comment tonight.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.