Thursday, December 1, Netflix released the first-look trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s highly anticipated docuseries. It is directed by Liz Garbus, who also helmed the 2015 biographical documentary “What Happened, Miss Simone?”
The series will be akin to pulling the curtains back on the famous couple’s courtship, marriage, and why they stepped away from their roles as working royals. Like Harry’s upcoming memoir, Spare, the Netflix project promises to drop more than one bombshell about Britain’s royal family.
The trailer flashes several romantic pictures of the pair but no images of their children. Garbus asks, “Why did you want to make this document?” Harry responds, “No one knows what’s happening behind closed doors,” before continuing, “I had to do everything I could to protect my family.”
These statements are likely to generate significant buzz about the project. Netflix has further upped the demand by simply commenting that the series is “coming soon” rather than providing an actual release date.
The timing of the trailer’s release is certainly worth noting. On Wednesday, November 30, Prince William and Princess Kate made headlines with their arrival in Boston, Massachusetts. They are in the historic city to participate in the Earthshot Prize ceremony, a series of awards presented to global sustainability projects. Their courtside attendance at a Boston Celtics game last night proved to be a media sensation.
Yet a cloud of racism hangs over this royal visit, as it does over Harry and Meghan. The same day William and Kate landed in the United States, a member of the British royal household resigned. Lady Susan Hussey was the late Queen Elizabeth II’s lady-in-waiting. At an event hosted by Queen Consort Camilla on November 29, Hussey made questionable remarks to another guest.
Ngozi Fulani is the head of a charity and was born in the United Kingdom. She took to Twitter the following day to detail an “uncomfortable exchange” between herself and someone she identified as “Lady SH.” Fulani described how the (then) unknown woman examined her name badge and repeatedly asked where Fulani “really came from.” The charity leader, who is black, gave the same answer each time. That is, she was born in Britain.
This event, and Meghan’s disclosure of racist comments about her son in the infamous Oprah Winfrey interview, could be a hint of what to expect in the tell-all Netflix docuseries.
Cover Image: Netflix via CNN