It's slick and glossy. The performances are polished to a shine. As a vanity project for two pampered people who self-obsession is now total, the “H and Megs Show” is unbeatable.
But judging by the first three hour-long exercises in self-veneration, Netflix has seriously oversold its multi-million dollar, six-part series starring The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at their loveliest.
What’s new? Where are the promised revelations?
We’ve heard it all before. Essentially, it’s a loop of, “We are right. They are wrong. We are wonderful. They are horrid”.
As a documentary, even one promoting their “truth”, it stinks. The only new thing is the depth to which Prince Harry is now prepared to stoop in order to damage the family that has given him life, fame, fortune and unqualified love.
That is a shock. And the willingness of the Hollywood Two to monetize their family feud, each piece of dirty laundry gleefully displayed for a pay day that’s earned them a reported $19 million so far.
The entire Royal Family is smeared with the toxic charge of racism, not only unjust but preposterous. Seeking to wound but fearing to strike, Harry and Meghan cite no instances and name no names, making it impossible to refute the charge.
Their “evidence”? That Princess Michael of Kent once wore a brooch of a blackamoor. But Meghan never saw it and the brooch was promptly removed when the Press revealed the fashion faux pas.
But that’s the very Press for which Prince reserves his most bitter ire.
It started early, when he stuck out his tongue at photographers, brattish behaviour that earned a scolding from Prince Diana. I was there when, not quite three years old, Harry threw handfuls of shingle at cameramen invited to a royal photo call in Mallorca, shouting “Go away, mens! Go away mens!”
That childishness has now become full-blown hatred of the media based entirely on ignorance.
Contrary to his bizarre belief, “The Royal Rota” limits the number of cameras at royal events because it ensures that pictures are “pooled”. His absurd assertion that Royal Correspondents are megaphones for the Palace is laughable.
I was a reporter for 23 years, covering wars, civil disorder and politics before I was “volunteered” for the BBC royal job. I covered the Royal Family like any other story and was cited by a left-wing newspaper for my “razor-edged reports”.
I was never an apologist for royal wrongdoing. But neither was I an executioner, based upon a trumped-up charge. But that’s what Harry’s allegation really is, a false narrative that the Royal Family didn’t welcome Meghan with open arms when the truth is the diametric opposite.
As for the media? Meghan was hailed as a “breath of fresh air” in a triumph of positive news.
This family tragedy is Biblical, brotherly love now a memory as Harry eagerly assumes the role of Cain against William’s Abel. But it’s Shakespearian too, with Lady Macbeth in the wings.
It won’t end well. But the real losers will be Meghan and Harry, alone with their children and chickens, inside a hilltop fortress in California.
* This article first appeared in the Sunday Express
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