Royal news update: Meghan and Harry’s Netflix series delayed after furious backlash over ‘The Crown’

The expected December release date for a fly-on-the-wall documentary series featuring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) for Netflix has been postponed until next year, following the recent backlash that the streaming service received over The Crown.

The new season of The Crown is set to premiere next month and Harry and Meghan’s series was expected to follow directly after that, however, it may experience some delays. 

Daily Mail reports that Harry and Meghan had been working on the series as part of their rumoured $100 million deal with the streaming giant.

Harry and Meghan get cold feet

It was reported earlier this month that the Duke and Duchess were “at odds” with production staff on their Netflix docuseries because the “panicked” couple want to make “such extensive edits” that the team believe the project could be put on ice indefinitely.

The docuseries is a co-production between Netflix and Archewell Productions. 

According to Page Six, the couple are looking to downplay much of what they have said about King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales.

“They’ve made significant requests to walk back content they themselves have provided — to the extent that some Netflix staff believe, if granted, it will effectively shelve the project indefinitely,” a source told the publication. 

Another reason for Harry and Meghan’s nerves stemmed from the recent death of the Queen and a mass outcry from the public for them to respect her memory.

What is Netflix saying?

The source added that the streaming platform was “standing by the filmmakers” who want to keep the content in the project.

A Netflix insider also claimed: “Netflix has been keen to have the show ready to stream for December. There’s a lot of pressure on (Netflix CEO) Ted Sarandos, who has the relationship with Harry and Meghan, to get this show finished”.

The Crown controversy 

Netflix on Monday defended its latest series of The Crown after former British prime minister John Major lashed out at a storyline showing King Charles plotting to oust the late queen.

Major’s tenure as prime minister from 1990-1997 covered a turbulent period for the royals that included the divorce of Charles and his wife Princess Diana.

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But reported scenes in the fifth series – defended by streaming giant Netflix as a “fictionalised dramatisation” – have incensed the former premier.

In one scene, heir to the throne Charles attempts to draw Major into a conspiracy to force the abdication of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

A statement issued by Major’s office castigated Netflix for the scenes describing them as “damaging and malicious fiction”.

“There was never any discussion between Sir John and the then Prince of Wales about any possible abdication of the late Queen Elizabeth II – nor was such an improbable and improper subject ever raised by the then Prince of Wales (or Sir John),” it added.

Meghan calls out bimbofication

Speaking to Paris Hilton on the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast on Spotify, Meghan Markle discussed the bimbo stereotype, and how she resonated with that label during her time on the American game show Deal or No Deal.

Since its launch, Archetypes has sought to deal with harmful stereotypes typically placed on women. 

Meghan appeared on Deal or No Deal’s second season as a briefcase model in 2006. She previously explained that she did so to further her acting career while also juggling an internship in college.

“I was on set at Deal or No Deal and thinking back to my time working as an intern at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina in Buenos Aires and being in the motorcade with the security of treasury at the time and being valued specifically for my brain,” Markle said.

“Here, I was being valued for something quite the opposite,” Markle was quoted as saying in a report on Elite Daily. 

“It was solely about beauty — and not necessarily about brains,” said the Duchess of Sussex, speaking about the show’s “cookie-cutter idea” of what the models should look like. 

During the conversation, she also recalled the time a backstage staffer commented on her body. 

“There was a woman who ran the show and she’d be there backstage, and I can still hear her. She couldn’t properly pronounce my last name at the time and I knew who she was talking to because she’d go, ‘Markle, suck it in! Markle, suck it in!’,” she said.

The Duchess of Sussex eventually quit the show and went on to play Rachel Zane in Suits in 2011, where she stayed for seven years before marrying Prince Harry.

“I was thankful for the job, but not for how it made me feel, which was not smart. And by the way, I was surrounded by smart women on that stage with me, but that wasn’t the focus of why we were there,” she said. 

“I didn’t like being forced to be all looks and little substance, and that’s how it felt for me at the time — being reduced to this specific archetype.”

PICS: Kate and Meghan wear pearls for the queen

Compiled by Kaunda Selisho, additional reporting by AFP