• Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan” premiered on Thursday.
• Prince Harry blasted the “feeding frenzy” in the media about his relationship with Meghan.
• He also criticised his family for failing to protect Meghan and his mother Diana.

The first three instalments of the six-part television series “Harry & Meghan” have been anticipated by the royal family.

In an explosive Netflix docuseries that premiered on Thursday, Prince Harry blasted the “feeding frenzy” in the media about his connection with Meghan and criticised his family for failing to protect her and his mother Diana.

The family was mainly spared during the initial airings, but they were nonetheless the target of claims of “unconscious” racial bigotry and that it did not aid Meghan or Diana following her 1992 divorce from Harry’s father Charles, who is now king.

“To see another woman in my life who I love go through this feeding frenzy, that’s hard,” said Harry. “It is basically the hunter versus the prey.”

In reference to his mother, who perished in a car accident in Paris in 1997, Harry, 38, said, “The moment she divorced, the moment she left the institution, then she was by herself.”

“Yes, she may well have been one of most influential, powerful women in the world, but she was completely exposed to this.”

Also criticising her family, Meghan said, “It was horrible, but I continued to hold the line, like say nothing,” in reference to their failure to respond to bad press reports about her.

Her husband claimed that the family disregarded the reports’ racist overtones.

“As far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they’d been put through as well. So it was almost like a rite of passage,” he said.

“I said the difference here is the race element.”

With reference to a racially charged brooch worn by Princess Michael of Kent to an occasion that Meghan attended in 2017, Harry continued to assert that there was a “huge level of unconscious bias” within the family in the documentary.

“The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right.”

Harry stated that he was “ashamed” about being seen at a fancy-dress party in 2005 wearing a Nazi uniform, calling it “probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”

The documentary is shedding light on the circumstances that led the couple to renounce royal life and emigrate to America in 2020.

The couple, according to several British newspapers, had declared “war” on the royal family.

The first sections follow the development of their relationship and their efforts to keep it a secret. They are intermingled with intimate photos and recordings of their early romance.

“When I got to meet ‘M’ I was terrified of her being driven away by the media, the same media that had driven so many other people away from me,” said the prince.

“I knew that the only way that this could possibly work is by keeping it quiet for as long as possible.”

Harry compares the American television actress to Diana in the first episode.

“So much of what Meghan is and how she is, is so similar to my mum. She has the same compassion. She has the same empathy. She has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her,” he said.

The early episodes also centre on Harry’s formative years and challenging adolescence, frequently with photographers in tow.

In an apparent jab at his natural relatives, he says that repeated excursions to Africa gave him safety and that he has “a second family out there, a group of friends that literally brought me up.”

The next three parts, which will be revealed on December 15, are expected to contain the most significant information regarding royal life and the deterioration of his relationship with brother Prince William.

“It’s seriously threatening… the royal family,” commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP, branding it “a form of revenge”.

“It could be explosive,” he said, adding: “It’s very difficult to know what the royal family can do about it.”

Claim of racism

The release of the first trailer by Netflix last week, coinciding with William’s first visit to the US as the prince of Wales and heir to the throne, sparked accusations of sabotage.

William’s timing could not have been worse after one of his godmothers was fired from her position as a courtier by Buckingham Palace for making racial remarks to a black British woman during a reception.

For some, the incident supported mixed-race Meghan, 41,’s explosive assertions that racism in the royal family was one of the reasons she left.

The documentary airs precisely three months after the passing of Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and one month before the eagerly anticipated release of his autobiography, “Spare.” AFP

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