Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's new Netflix documentary includes a photograph of Kate Middleton alongside a magazine's headline: "Princess in Crisis."
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's long-awaited first project with the streaming giant will drop in two parts starting on December 8 and the Princess of Wales already looks set to play a significant role.
A second trailer, released on December 5, shows Kate Middleton alongside Queen Camilla and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, on a balcony overlooking the Cenotaph, during Remembrance Sunday in November 2021.
Beneath it runs a headline attributed to Life & Style magazine: "Princess in Crisis."
While the full magazine is not shown, it appears to reference a 2010 edition that promised a "World Exclusive" about Kate being "drunk in public" a year before her marriage to Prince William.
The cover read: "The old-fashioned queen is embarrassed by Kate and her partying family. Will the wedding be canceled?"
Published on December 10, 2010, the magazine promised "the 7 photos the royals don't want you to see" and came just under a month after Kate and Prince William's engagement was announced by Clarence House that November.
Kate is also featured strongly in the first Netflix trailer, which showed an image of Meghan crying before the sound of broken glass marked the point the shot cut to Kate staring at the camera during the March 2019 Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
The date is significant because it came two months after Meghan first told Prince Harry she was experiencing suicidal thoughts during a media backlash in January 2019.
In March 2021, Meghan told Oprah Winfrey the media onslaught followed stories suggesting Meghan made Kate cry at a bridesmaid dress fitting ahead of the Sussex wedding in May 2018.
Prince Harry Describes Family Hierarchy, 'Leaking' and 'Planting of Stories'
The Netflix teaser begins with a montage of clips showing the British public and media in love with Meghan during the early days of their relationship before Harry says: "Everything changed."
It then cuts to the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony as Harry says: "There's a hierarchy. You know there's leaking. There's also planting of stories."
Harry describes in the teaser trailer how "it's a dirty game" before a voice that appears to be his adds: "The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy."
A montage shows headlines written about Harry's mother, Princess Diana, including "The Secret Sadness of Princess Di" and "Di's Private Battle," before cutting to the Life & Style headline about Kate.
Meghan says: "I realized, they're never going to protect you," while Harry adds: "I was terrified. I didn't want history to repeat itself. No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth."
Meghan Markle Says Kate Middleton Made Her Cry
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey she was falsely blamed for making Kate Middleton cry during a bridesmaid dress fitting for Princess Charlotte days before Meghan and Harry's royal wedding in May 2018, an allegation that first appeared in The Daily Telegraph that November before being followed up on the front page of The Sun.
"That was a turning point," Meghan said, adding: "The narrative with Kate—which didn't happen—was really, really difficult and something that...I think that's when everything changed, really."
While Meghan disputed a key element of the Telegraph's story, she also confirmed that much of what was printed was true, including the existence of a previously unknown argument
"A few days before the wedding, [Kate] was upset about something pertaining—yes, the issue was correct—about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings," she said.
In other words, whoever the ultimate source of the Telegraph's information was, they were well positioned enough to know about a significant argument that had remained secret for six months.
That detail may be significant in the context of Prince Harry's comments in the Netflix trailer about "leaking" and "planting of stories."
By January 2019, two months later, Meghan told Winfrey the media backlash had left her experiencing suicidal thoughts.
"I would sit up at night, and I was just, like, I don't understand how all of this is being churned out. And, again, I wasn't seeing it, but it's almost worse when you feel it through the expression of my mom or my friends, or them calling me crying, just, like, 'Meg, they're not protecting you.' And I realized that it was all happening just because I was breathing."
The interview then moved on to other matters, leaving virtually untouched the story of royal family relations in the months that followed in 2019.
Prince William 'Threw Harry Out' of Kensington Palace
Harry, Meghan, Prince William and Kate Middleton had been known in the media as the "fab four" while they shared a private office together at Kensington Palace but that all fell apart in 2019.
Historian Robert Lacey wrote in Battle of Brothers that William "threw Harry out" before the Sussexes set up a new office at Buckingham Palace that year.
The split became public in March 2019 and two months later, Harry and Meghan also distanced themselves from the once-shared charity The Royal Foundation.
The Sussexes have never told their side of that story and there are hints the new documentary may focus on that era.
The image from the first Netflix trailer features a picture of Kate at the Commonwealth Day service from that March, around the time the private office split, as the sound of breaking glass is audible over the top.
William and Kate wrapped up a three-day tour of Boston to promote the Earthshot Prize on Friday and return to Britain with a crisis on their hands.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
