A royal mess. King Charles III and his family are “horrified” over the first trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, royal expert Christopher Andersen exclusively tells Us Weekly.
“I think they’re still holding their breaths and waiting for the other shoe to drop,” the King: The Life of King Charles III author says. “Well, there are two shoes that are gonna drop because [after part one of the film premieres Thursday, December 8] … the [next one] is dropping next week.”
The first Harry & Meghan teaser was released on Monday, December 5, and the Duke of Sussex, 38, wasted no time in dropping bombshells about other members of The Firm.
“There’s a hierarchy of the family. You know, there’s leaking, but there’s also planting of stories,” he revealed, claiming that some members of his family purposely gave the press negative stories about him and Meghan, 41. “It’s a dirty game.”
The Invictus Games founder also shared with viewers, “No one knows the full truth [of what happened]. We know the full truth.”
Andersen explains that “the sense of betrayal has shifted over to genuine combat mode, because obviously this is a war between the two.”
Charles, for his part, “has been handed this horrible problem” of the royals vs. the Sussexes upon assuming the throne in September after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. “It’s the kind of thing that the queen would’ve tried to just ignore for as long as she possibly could. But he’s not that kind of person.”
The expert adds that Harry could be seeing more royal “retribution” from his father, 74. “Charles has a huge temper, has been unleashed many times behind the scenes,” the expert tells Us. “And I’m sure he’s on the verge of having a meltdown.”
Prince William, for his part, “also has [a] temper,” Andersen tells Us, calling the Prince of Wales, 40, more of a “slow burner” than his father.
“I mean, he tries to hide it, but it doesn’t work,” the royal author notes. “I’m sure he is very, very angry at his brother and cannot understand what he’s doing.”
William and Princess Kate were recently in the U.S. for their first overseas trip since the queen’s death at age 96 in September. The Duke and Duchess visited Boston, where they presented the Earthshot Prize Awards, which were given to five people making great strides in combating climate change and working in environmentalism. William cofounded Earthshot in 2020 with David Attenborough.
The pair’s time in the States, however, was “overshadowed” by the royal drama of the past few weeks.
“William and Kate [are] all about preserving the monarchy and duty and all of that. And the release of these trailers, at the moment … [the Cambridges] were trying to fly the [British] flag as it were in the U.S. — and to have them eclipsed and overshadowed by that …,” Andersen tells Us.
Since Elizabeth’s death and Charles’ ascension to the throne, Meghan and Harry “agreed to reach a neutral ground by softening the parts on Charles and adding intimate details about [Queen Elizabeth II‘s] legacy,” an insider told Us in October about the documentary and Harry’s upcoming memoir.
Part one of Harry & Meghan will premiere on Netflix Thursday, December 8. Part two hits the streaming service one week later, on Thursday, December 15.
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