Harry and Meghan documentary will be 'real watershed moment' for couple

A black and white picture of Meghan staring lovingly at Harry adorns a billboard on Sunset Boulevard, one of Los Angeles’ busiest streets.

It is one of several around central LA advertising their new documentary, which Netflix boldly declares to be a “global event”.

The streaming giant has paid the couple around £90m for a series of collaborative projects, including movies and children’s shows, but the true value for Netflix lies in this “behind the scenes” documentary series.

It is in Netflix’s interest to heighten anticipation ahead of its release and they’ve set tongues wagging in Hollywood with the two trailers, four days apart.

“This documentary is going to be a real watershed moment for Harry and Meghan because it’s going to be a question of whether this moves the needle in the US one way or the other in terms of what people think,” Sean Mandell, an entertainment and royal reporter, says.

Mandell believes America is divided on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and what to make of their divorce from the Royal Family.

“Like in the UK, there are those who are part of the Sussex squad, who will go to the mattresses for them,” says Mandell, “but there are a minority who do not look on them favourably and will look at this as an ‘Aha!’ moment to latch on to what they are saying and say they are being misleading.”

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Harry and Meghan have chosen to make America their home, basing themselves in the celebrity enclave of Montecito in California, where Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres also live.

Netflix is an American-owned company with the majority of its subscribers in the US and the director of the Harry and Meghan series, Oscar nominee Liz Garbus, is also an American. It is clear they hope to appeal to an audience in Meghan’s home country and Harry’s adopted one.

They may find a more sympathetic ear in the US than they have done in the UK, where the reaction to the allegations of racism made in the Oprah Winfrey interview has been mixed. In the US, the couple has been widely celebrated for shining a light on the shortcomings of the Royal Family as an institution.

The week of the documentary series release, Meghan and Harry will accept the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award in New York for their work in addressing racial prejudice. Meghan will also find out if her Archetypes podcast has won a People’s Choice Award.

If this series pits Harry and Meghan directly against William and Kate – as seems likely – America will most likely side with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

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The Prince and Princess of Wales’ recent trip to the US, where they were given a lukewarm response at a basketball match in Boston, confirms they are not as popular as they once were, the Royal Family’s reputation damaged by recent scandal, perhaps irretrievably.

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