“Indecent”, “point of no return”, “attack on the queen’s legacy” … The British press is currying Harry and Meghan this Friday after the broadcast of the first episodes of their documentary, some now calling on them to abandon their titles royals. “Can you fall lower? » is indignant the popular daily The Sunwhich like most of the press on Friday devotes its front page and many pages to “Harry & Meghan”, the Netflix documentary, the first three episodes of which were released on Thursday.
“Indecent Sussex”, headlines the DailyMail in its editorial, when The Mirror evokes a “point of no return”, three years after the couple’s departure with a bang for California. In these first three episodes, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex recount their meeting and their love story, and above all target the media and the paparazzi whom they accuse of having wanted to “destroy” Meghan, compared to Diana, the Harry’s late mother.
“Lack of respect” for “British culture”
But it is the more hollow criticisms against the royal family and the monarchical institution that make the British press react, in particular the mockery of the protocol or the implied portrait of a racist and intolerant United Kingdom. “It’s a gross misrepresentation of reality,” writes the DailyMail.
The couple “show a childish lack of respect for British culture and its customs”, believes the curator Daily Telegraph, who judges that the Palace must “suffer” from seeing Harry consider the whole country as “a gang of white supremacists who are supporters of Brexit”. the Telegram also highlights on the front page the attacks against the Commonwealth contained in the documentary.
Behavior deemed “disrespectful”
Several speakers – but not directly Harry or Meghan – criticize the legacy of the colonialist and slavery past of the British Empire, between several sequences where we see Queen Elizabeth expressing her attachment to the Commonwealth. “Their behavior is just disrespectful to the memory of the Queen and an institution she served so dutifully,” wrote the Mirror.
According The Times, relatives of the royal family “expressed their shock” at the attacks. “What is so infuriating is that the Sussexes continue to make millions from their royal connections while spitting on the institution that sustains them. If they hate the monarchy so much why don’t they voluntarily give up their titles? “, is indignant DailyMail. While there has been little political reaction to the documentary, Tory MP Bob Seely has told several media outlets he is preparing legislation to strip the Sussexes of their royal titles.