The trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s hotly-anticipated Netflix documentary series dropped Thursday — as critics ripped the sneak peak as a “victimhood fest.”
The minute-long teaser for “Harry & Meghan. A Netflix Global Event,” which debuts on Dec. 8, promises viewers a glimpse at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s lives in the wake of their seismic split from the royal family in 2020.
The promo, set to a slow but dramatic piano soundtrack, opens with a montage of intimate, never-before-seen photos showcasing the couple’s private life.
One photo shows Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, dancing jubilantly at their May 2018 wedding reception.
Another shows a silhouette of a pregnant Meghan enjoying a day at the beach.
A voice then interrupts the musical montage to ask the couple why they wanted to make the series.
The couple wipes away tears in a clip from the trailer for their Netflix documentary series.Netflix“No one sees what’s behind closed doors,” Harry responds.
“I had to do everything I could to protect my family.”
The music then builds as the trailer takes on a dark turn. A clip shows Meghan wiping away tears and Harry dramatically throwing his head back.
“When the stakes are this high,” Meghan says. “Doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?”
The minute-long trailer features several unseen, intimate snaps of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.APThe much-hyped trailer immediately elicited spirited responses — many of whom slammed the rogue royals as “shameless.”
“Right on cue, Harry and Meghan drop the trailer for their victimhood fest on Netflix,” presenter Dan Wootton tweeted.
“Shameless. Meghan has already destroyed the Markles. Now Harry is trying to destroy the Windsors. Small mercy that the late Queen doesn’t have to live through this.”
TalkTV host Julia Hartley-Brewer piled on too, describing the pair and production as “Victims Extraordinaire” alongside an eye-roll emoji.
Prince Harry in a sit-down interview from the Netflix series.Netflix“If an Academy Award was given for hubris, vanity and narcissism, Meghan and Harry would be top contenders,” former Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner concurred.
Fox Nation broadcaster and New York Post columnist Piers Morgan also wasted no time excoriating the Sussex’s professed mission.
“Imagine bleating about privacy then doing a kiss-and-tell reality series about your private lives?” Morgan tweeted, shading the Harry and Meghan’s famously press-shy behavior during their brief stint as working royals.
Morgan also lambasted the Sussexes for dropping the trailer on the second day of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Boston trip.
The couple vows to “tell their own story” in the documentary, which debuts on Dec. 8.Netflix“Then imagine preaching compassion as you trash your family again?” the columnist fumed.
“Then imagine releasing 1st trailer deliberately to ruin your brother’s big trip to America? Repulsive hypocrites.”
Podcast host Jon Sopel also mused about the timing of the release.
“Oh the Prince and Princess of Wales must be delighted the release of this trail coincides with their trip to the US. You’d almost thing [sic] it was a deliberate attempt to upstage them…” he wrote.
Others struggled to wrap their head around the tell-all approach.
A screen grab from the trailer shows Meghan, 41, sobbing in a chair.Netflix“H&M need a new mantra besides ‘we want to tell our own story’ — they’ve done so many times!” Business of Fashion editor Diane Pearl tweeted.
“They should look ahead and give [people] reasons to care and be interested in them beyond their past + royal ties,” Pearl continued.
“It’s the only way they can move forward + find success.”
An unseen snap from the couple’s 2018 wedding is also featured in the teaser.NetflixSome viewers, however, had a more sympathetic view of the couple’s efforts.
“Imagine being right that staff in the royal household are racist but no-one believed you,” one Twitter user replied to Morgan, referring to this week’s scandal that forced a senior royal aide to resign.
Lady Susan Hussey, 83, stepped down Wednesday after making “unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments” to a black domestic abuse campaigner during a Buckingham Palace event.
The couple kissing in kitchen.NetflixHussey, who is also a godmother to Prince William, had been a member of the royal household since 1960.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent shockwaves across the world when they announced in Jan. 2020 that they were stepping down as senior working royals and moving to Montecito, California.
Initially citing the pressure of intense media scrutiny, they later alleged in a bombshell Oprah sit-down that the royal family was racist, with an unnamed “senior royal” going so far as to speculate about the skin color of their then-unborn son, Archie.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle jumping for joy in a silly private snap.NetflixIn addition to the Oprah chat, Meghan also recently did a scathing cover story with “The Cut” this fall.
Harry also has a tell-all memoir — titled “Spare” — hitting the shelves on January 10.
The couple share two children together — Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1.
