Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s Netflix docuseries is causing some controversy for a few reasons. While there is a ton of public interest ahead of its release, some royal fans are divided about whether to watch it because they aren’t sure if everything will be completely true given what’s being reported now about images and footage used in the trailer.
A number of photos and footage in ‘Harry & Meghan’ trailer are not of the Sussexes
Following the release of the first trailer for the docuseries Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal on Dec. 1, The Sun reported that one black-and-white shot of a large press presence to look as if the couple was being photographed is really from a Harry Potter premiere years earlier. The publication noted that the photographers were actually pointing their cameras at the cast of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Meghan and Prince Harry weren’t even at that event as it took place in 2011, which is five years before they met each other.
Footage shown in the second trailer to imply that Meghan was being hounded by the press when Harry says: “I was terrified, I didn’t want history to repeat itself” isn’t of the duchess either. The paparazzi swarming a U.K. court are trying to get a pic of British media personality Katie Price at her sentencing for a drunk driving charge.
Moreover, a clip of photogs surrounding a car that leads viewers to believe Meghan is being pursued is really of Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen leaving his New York apartment in 2019.
Correspondent says the Sussexes actually approved photos taken on their tour
Royal editor and correspondent Robert Jobson also pointed to other photos in the trailer that are being used against the press but in reality, were approved by the couple. According to Jobson, a photo of Meghan and Harry with their son Archie at Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s home was taken by an accredited press pack. Jobson took to Twitter to call out the clip as misleading.
“This photograph used by Netflix and Harry and Meghan to suggest intrusion by the press is a complete travesty,” he tweeted. “It was taken from [an] accredited pool at Archbishop Tutu’s residence in Cape Town. Only 3 people were in the accredited position. H&M agreed the position. I was there.”
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Jobson then tweeted a photo he took himself of the Sussexes introducing Archie to the Archbishop writing: “This shot by me from the same accredited pool position on my iPhone was taken at Archbishop Tutu’s Cape Town residence. There was no intrusion. I was part of a 3-person U.K. palace pool. Nobody else was allowed in and we shared the words and photos with the UK Media.”
Fellow royal editor Chris Ship backed up what Jobson posted, tweeting: “Here Robert Jobson makes a valid point. The filming of Archie at Archbishop Tutu’s residence was highly controlled. And the ITN Productions camera filming the Sussexes’ Africa documentary was there with their permission. It was not a media scrum. [Meghan and Harry] spoke to Tom Bradby inside.”
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The duke and duchess didn’t get permission for another photo they allowed
Another image in the trailer is also causing a stir, however, it isn’t due to press intrusion but rather the couple not getting permission to have a photographer inside a private royal palace.
According to The Telegraph, an image was taken of the duke and duchess inside Buckingham Palace’s garden entrance, and the publication “understands that the presence of the photograph was the subject of a written palace complaint at the time” due to the lack of permission. Apparently, the Sussexes “are not thought to have been made personally aware of the warning” and the photographer wasn’t asked to leave.
Palace sources said the photographer being there at the time was a “genuine violation” of Queen Elizabeth II’s household.
