Privacy isn't a two-sided word, but rather a two-sided concept. This could be the biggest takeaway from Netflix's Harry & Meghan docuseries.
Being famous comes with its pitfalls. Being a royal supposedly makes it even more difficult to navigate safely around the booby traps and such. One of the main reasons for this is the public feel entitled to a peek into every bit of your life. On top of it, if you are a party-happy prince and fifth in line for the throne, your lifestyle could easily get under the radar. And then, you break millions of hearts when you announce your engagement to an American actress—someone who is of mixed race—giving it more cause for public speculation.
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior members of the royal family, the news came as a shock to most royal watchers. The couple have come a long way post that. After living briefly in Canada, they moved to Montecito in California, where they signed multi-million dollar deals with media biggies like Spotify and Netflix, welcomed another baby and seemed to have found a rhythm in their own life. The couple even went back to England to be with the estranged royal family for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
At the beginning of the docuseries, Prince Harry is seen saying, “no one knows the whole truth, we know the whole truth.” Meghan says she “just wants to be on the other side of all this.” Meghan also says the couple wanted the world to know their side of the story. After watching three episodes of the docuseries (episodes 1, 2 and 4), it feels as though the whole Harry-Meghan matter has gone on for too long or rather, it has turned into a bit of a cringe-fest.
Closer home, we aren’t aware, nor can we relate to the intrusive paparazzi culture like in the West. And the couple did move to the US to get away from the limelight. So, why not stay away from attention for good? Did the couple not tell their version of the story in the tell-all Oprah interview? Isn’t there a book, or two in the offing? (Prince Harry’s to-be-released biography and Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan which released in August 2020). The couple wanted to stay out of the spotlight and yet, here they are, with videos from personal archives and friends and family talking about them.
It seems as though it isn’t attention they moved away from, but rather wanted to create their own brand of media attention. The duo, it seems like, want to project their own filtered, heavily edited, controlled version of themselves. Through the documentary, they hope to portray themselves to be more grounded royals but come across to be the complete opposite.
Harry’s frequent reference to his mother’s tragic death no longer generates sympathy for the prince. The whole sequence of well-edited videos just seems self-promotional and a bit off-putting. With the whole docuseries, the couple might just get their wish to be left alone!
