The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have defended their decision to make a six-part Netflix series examining their private lives.
The first three of the six episodes began streaming yesterday, in which Prince Harry and Meghan spoke about the pressure they’ve felt from the media interest in their lives.
Now, their global press secretary Ashley Hansen told The New York Times, “Their statement announcing their decision to step back [from royal duties] he mentions nothing about privacy and reiterates their desire to continue their public roles and duties.
“Any suggestion speaks otherwise to a key point of this series. They are choosing to share their story, on their own terms, yet the tabloids have created an entirely false narrative that permeates press coverage and public opinion.
“The facts are right in front of them.”
The three-part series, titled ‘Harry and Meghan’, was released on Thursday and begins with a written statement, describing the show as a ‘first-hand account of Harry and Meghan’s story told with never-before-seen personal archive’ .
In the second episode, the Duke of Sussex talks about paparazzi interest in their relationship and harassment on social media, and makes reference to his mother, Diana.
“Seeing another woman in my life, who I love, go through this feeding frenzy, is hard,” she says. “She’s basically she’s the hunter versus the hunted.”
Photo: Netflix
Dating Meghan “became a combination of car chases, anti-surveillance driving and cross-dressing, which isn’t a particularly healthy way to start a relationship, but we always got there with as much humor as possible,” she says.
“Every time we saw each other, we would give each other a huge hug and try to have as normal a life as possible.”
Meghan also describes paparazzi following her and how she received a death threat while in Toronto.
“I would say to the police, if any other woman in Toronto told you I have six grown men sleeping in their cars around my house following me everywhere I go and feeling scared, wouldn’t you say it was stalking?
“And they said yes, but there’s really nothing we can do because of who you’re dating. I was like, so I’m supposed to live like this? And then I got a death threat and things changed because I needed to have security”.
In another clip, she says she was assured that press interest would die down after the couple tied the knot.
Read more:
Highlights from the Harry and Meghan docuseries
Prince Harry describes the “eating frenzy” surrounding his relationship with Meghan
“At that point I still really believed what I was told that it was, it will pass, it will get better. That’s just what they do at the very beginning,” she says.
“But truth be told, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how good I was, no matter what I did, they would still find a way to destroy me.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they would be stepping down from royal duties in January 2020.
In a statement at the time, the couple wrote: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year by starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work towards becoming financially independent, whilst continuing to fully support HM The Queen.”
