The stoic facade of Buckingham Palace crumbles in just under six hours of storytelling, where racism, stalking and uncomfortable truths emerge: the Harry and Meghan docuseries, broadcast on Netflix, shocks not only the Royal Family, but also overwhelms all the British tabloids.
The first episode begins quietly, almost with a “ once upon a time there was a prince and a beautiful girl… ”.
And it’s ok that it starts like this, because what Harry and Meghan tell is really a fairy tale, complete with a queen, more or less evil, a half-sister, envious and cruel, and a father who is halfway between the coward and the ‘naive. Something is missing? Oh yes…the hunters of the woods, who here, instead of hatchets, are armed with cameras.
As in every fairy tale there is a motive. But what does this girl have that can disturb the peace of the castle?
Snow-white
The motive is not seen but there is: Meghan has light skin but has African origins.
In fact, the mother is black and she is what is called, by definition, mestizo (what a bad word!).
His fault is not even that of belonging to an ethnic group that has long been demanding justice for the crimes suffered during the period of slavery, and for the discrimination that is still a reason for hatred and violence today. Her guilt is what she represents with her origins and the cause she defends with her activities. The fine line between tolerance and racism gets out of hand in the media and it is a snap to generate bad thoughts and bad deeds.
Because a black wife at Buckingham Palace is a bomb that can explode at any moment.
Her arrival was for many a sign of change and openness, for many, however, a threat.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Beauty and the Beast
A person who becomes so popular and so well-liked by subjects of the Crown is disliked by members of the royal family, especially the younger ones. She steals the show in front of photographers and on the front pages and that doesn’t sit well at all, especially when it’s up to the Queen herself to suffer a bludgeon in full official visit to the memorial for the victims of Grenfell Tower. Tabloids across the UK dedicate the cover to Meghan and the Queen appears only in a tiny image at the edge of the page.
No, it’s not really good at all.
It is from here that the real troubles begin for the newlywed couple who in an instant see that princely life turn into a nightmare.
The press becomes nagging, pungent, poisonous and then, definitively bad. And you know, if you put the press…
Harry and Meghan tell their whole story with delicacy and feeling, not a sentence out of place. A thoughtful and correct choice of words that however says it all, without reservations. The hand is a little heavier when it comes to speaking directly to journalists and, again, with good reason. A man and a woman, simply, wonderfully in love with each other and with life, who however are not granted the freedom to live their love story as ordinary mortals do.
But when did all this start?
Once upon a time…
Once upon a time there was a queen who inherited a kingdom that should never have been hers. A sliding door that has forever diverted the course of unborn lives. The long-lived and recently deceased Queen Elizabeth ascends the throne after her father George VI, who in turn became king following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. That wasn’t the line of descent from the Crown, but that’s how young Lilibeth finds herself at the head of a kingdom that stretches from ocean to ocean.
The twentieth century was a century of revolutions, in every sense. Technological progress has united the continents up to globalization and, hand in hand, media communication has become a means of information without borders.
For a policy such as the monarchy, of historical origins, with ancient ceremonies and well-rooted traditions, it must not have been easy to ride the wave, to adapt while maintaining status and rigor.
The UK has an inextricable bond with the Commonwealth which basically feeds all Britons. A set of nations of different ethnic groups, with uses and customs far from the protocol of the Palace and, in any case, despite the independence of some, considered eternal subjects of her Majesty.
Hence the long common thread that binds the events told by Harry and Meghan in the docuseries broadcast these days on Netflix.
Watch the trailer for Harry and Megan Part 1 airing on Netflix
I want to break free
It is easy to imagine that it must not have been easy to make the decision to expose oneself in such a blatant way, through a video diary accompanied by a long interview. Placing such a delicate story on Netflix must be the result of a condition of tolerance that has gone beyond all limits.
His mother’s son, Harry talks about himself in front of the cameras, just like Diana did in that long interview with Panorama, which has remained in the history and in the goiter of the royal family.
After all, the maternal imprinting emerges in every word, in every gesture of this red-haired boy, so proud of being the son of the woman who was the first to upset the dynamics of the Palazzo. And like her, he plays the card of truth. Like her, he speaks in a low voice, without rancor but with great consternation towards the affair.
Like her, he exudes that “could be different if…”. Yes, at least this time, it could have gone differently.
Instead, it is up to him to relive the same fears, the same pains. Virtuous like his mother, he chooses to protect his family, his privacy and his freedom, even that of expression. That of loving, he took it a long time ago.
But what prevents a royal from being free?
“Never complain, never explain“
What happened to Lady Diana is just the beginning of a story that appears to be a genetic transfer from the Royal Family. Harry explains it well.
Media visibility is the lifeblood of royal popularity. A press office for each nucleus of the family and less than ten newspapers authorized to have exclusive rights on their stories.
There is, in fact, a Royal Rota made up exclusively of major newspapers, which includes a select few. What not everyone knows, outside the British borders, is that every tabloid has a space on the front page dedicated to the Royal Family.
Stories that come out of sweetened, bitter or spicy presses, almost never faithful to the truth, too often, even invented.
“ Never complain, never explain ” is the motto imposed by the Queen, even now that she is gone. The “No comment” is the best solution to avoid further chatter, explanations, considerations. And so the tabloids make a real fortune on the events of Buckingham Palace.
However, the weak links of this dynasty pay the price: the “assimilated”, those knick-knacks that the royals carry around arm in arm whispering “smile and say hello” in their ear. Because the image is what matters. In front of flashes, everything must always appear solid, static and immovable.
Raise the dragon
The first to collide with this harsh reality was Philip himself, the royal consort who, once he became part of the Royal Family, saw all his ambitions and dreams of glory fade away. Not even the satisfaction of being able to give his name to his children, a satisfaction that will be recognized much later, even if Windsor will always come before the surname Mountbatten .
Then it was Lady Diana’s turn. Butchered for her style, for her bearing, for her ideals. She is too modern, too empathetic, too loved.
The tabloids that previously praised her begin to seriously target her after the separation. Living with a real army of paparazzi stationed everywhere shouldn’t be really easy: VIP status doesn’t justify such a hammering and violent invasion of privacy anyway.
And now it’s Meghan’s turn, a fate that inevitably also befalls Harry who, unlike his father Charles and mindful of what happened to his mother Diana, has decided to defend his family. At any cost.
The dragon breathes fire from the columns of the countless pages of criticizing, condemning and judging newspapers. A ruthless war being fought on newsstands, with headlines and images stolen from the intimacy of the couple. A real media stalking that moves to social media and gets out of control when the comments come out of the tearooms and spread like annoying confetti on the world’s bulletin boards, up to insults and death threats.
…And they lived happily ever after (maybe)
Media stalking, racism and finally, jealousy and envy. Snake relatives.
And not only those from Harry who, with his stance in favor of his wife, has definitively attracted the ire of his father and brother (perhaps well goaded by their respective wives), but also Meghan’s family becomes a snake within the couple.
And here, the story becomes a real fairy tale plot.
A half-sister he never had anything to do with, daughter from his father’s previous marriage. Already the fact that she was a beautiful and famous actress must have been difficult to digest, but that then the beautiful Meghan also became the wife of a prince (and what a prince), one just couldn’t bear.
Samantha can’t make it somehow she has to enjoy this fortune that happened to the anonymous Markle family. And this is how she too attacks Meghan, gives interviews, has herself photographed and even writes a vitriolic book about her ungrateful sister, who became the Duchess of Windsor.
Now every ingredient is in its place, only the ending is missing.
Will our heroes be able to live happily ever after?
After this docuseries, one has to think that the ending is very troubled and distant.
Watch the trailer of part 2 of the series airing on Netflix
