The release date for Harry & Meghan, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s hotly anticipated documentary on Netflix is coming sooner than we thought. On December 1, 2022, a teaser trailer dropped without warning and sent royal fans, and skeptics, into a frenzy. So when does Harry and Meghan’s documentary come out?
The documentary promises an intimate look into the lives of the two former British royals after they stood down from official duties on January 8, 2020. The move was highly divisive; some praised the couple for wanting to forge their own path away from the rigidity of the monarchy while royal loyalists denounced it—though, it’s just one in a long line of often misogynistic and bigoted criticisms angled towards Meghan. The trailer features private photographs of the couple’s life together with somber piano played over the top. Harry addresses why they chose to make the documentary, saying “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors.” At this moment in the trailer, an emotional photo of his wife, face in one hand and phone in the other flashes across the screen. “I had to do everything I could to protect my family,” he continues. Here’s everything we know about Harry & Meghan and its release date.
When does Harry & Meghan come out?
When does Harry & Meghan come out? Sooner than we thought, with Part I coming on December 8 2022 and Part II on December 15. In a new trailer, more details of what the documentary might contain are revealed. “There’s a hierarchy of the family,” Harry says. “You know, there’s leaking, but there’s also planting of stories. It’s a dirty game,” he says. Meghan then says, “I realized, they’re never going to protect you.” He later adds that he fears his mother Diana’s history—and her untimely death—would repeat itself.
Initially, it was reported Harry & Meghan was going to be delayed until 2023. Deadline said the streamer had come under fire from former British Prime Minister John Major who complained about inaccuracies in The Crown, the drama based on the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The show featured a conversation between Major, who was Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, and Prince Charles (played by Dominic West) around a real 1991 Sunday Times article that suggested the monarchy was dated and Elizabeth should abdicate for Charles.
The scene in The Crown, episode one of season five, shows Charles privately agreeing with the article, later summoning Major to discuss a plot to overthrow the Queen. The real-life Major insisted at the time that no such conversation took place and called the show “a barrel-load of nonsense”. Facing criticism from the former UK leader, Deadline reported Netflix executives thought it would foolish to air Harry & Meghan so close to the airing of The Crown season five. “They’re rattled at Netflix, and they blinked first and decided to postpone the documentary,” a source told the industry publication. The increased sensitivity from both Netflix and the monarchy comes after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
Courtesy of Netflix
Page Six also reported that Harry and Meghan wanted to edit parts of the documentary, which has taken them over a year to film. Sources told the gossip section of the New York Post the couple was worried about how some of their opinions would be perceived, particularly in the wake of the Queen’s death. The film is said to include a number of bombshells about King Charles, the Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles, as well as Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton. “Harry and Meghan are having second thoughts on their own story, on their own project,” a Netflix source said. According to another industry source, “Harry and Meghan are panicked about trying to tone down even the most basic language. But it’s their story, from their own mouths.” Another source told Page Six: “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.”
For some, the timing of Harry & Meghan‘s release is suspicious given that it coincides with Prince William and Kate’s visit to the United States. “To drop it as they have on the first or second day of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s trip to the US for the Earthshot Prize shows just exactly how much they wanted to hijack that publicity,” royal expert Jonathan Sacerdoti told Us Weekly. “It just shows how much they will go to any end at all for as much publicity as possible. They will jump on his own brother’s trip to promote these environmental prizes in order to steal that limelight and get more attention.”
How much are Meghan and Harry making from Netflix?
How much are Meghan and Harry making from Netflix? It was never confirmed officially but sources said the couple was offered a hefty sum in the ballpark of $100 million. In September 2020, the New York Times reported the couple, who founded their production company Archewell Productions, had signed a multiyear deal with Netflix, which will pay them to make documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming. “Our lives, both independent of each other, and as a couple have allowed us to understand the power of the human spirit: of courage, resilience and the need for connection,” the duke and duchess said in a statement at the time. “Through our work with diverse communities and their environments, to shining a light on people and causes around the world, our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope.”
Courtesy of Netflix
The drama surrounding the documentary comes as Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, which was originally slated to release in November, was pushed back to January 10, 2023, presumably once again to be sensitive to the Queen’s passing. You can pre-order it now
as it’s guaranteed to be a bestseller with Charles in the “firing line”. Royal expert Andrew Morton told Us Weekly that “If I was Prince Charles, I’d be looking for a pile of coats to hide under.” A source told Us that the royal family is apprehensive about the contents of the book. “They haven’t received a copy yet and don’t know what to expect,” the insider said. “It’s making them nervous.”
The title Spare derives from the phrase “the heir and the spare” which refers to Harry’s position as the second boy in what is ultimately a patriarchal monarchy. In her now-infamous interview with the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995, Princess Diana said she felt “enormous relief” when she learned her first baby, now William Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, was male. “Fortunately it was two boys, it would have been a little tricky had it been two girls but that in itself brings the responsibilities of bringing them up,” she said. “William his future being as it is and Harry, like a form of a backup in that aspect.” It was later revealed that the BBC had used fake documents to obtain the interview with Diana. In May 2021, Bashir was found guilty of deceit and of breaching BBC editorial conduct.
The synopsis of the Spare reads: “It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last.”
Harry announced his forthcoming memoir on Monday, July 19, in a statement via People. “I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become. I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story — the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned — I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think,” his statement read. In his announcement, Harry added, “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.” The memoir will be published by Penguin Random House.
Courtesy: Penguin Random House
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