The old saying, “Never complain, never explain,” is a commonly used phrase within the British Royal Firm. But sometimes, an exception must be made.
The offices belonging to the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William and Kate Middleton have released a rare joint statement in response to a new documentary based on the British media’s relationship with Prince William and Prince Harry.
The BBC doco, named The Princes and the Press explores how the press covered the two young royals throughout their adolescence and the moral shortcomings the media committed at the time.
At the end of the first part of the documentary, which aired in the UK this week, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Clarence House shared a joint statement which read: “A free, responsible and open press is of vital importance to a healthy democracy. However, too often it is overblown and unfounded claims from unnamed sources that are presented as facts and it is disappointing when anyone, including the BBC, gives them credibility.”
While the statement is in itself rather formal, we can safely surmise it to mean that the royal family want us to take the new documentary with a great big grain of salt.
To add, the Daily Mail reported the family were so unhappy with the new doco that they might even go so far as to “boycott” the BBC.
Per the BBC, the first part of the documentary released this week examined “some of the illegal activities engaged in by some newspapers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including hacking and ‘blagging,’ and how these techniques were used to target members of the royal family and their associates”.
The second part, which is set to be released a week from now, will explore what happened between 2018 and 2021—we can assume this will include the confronting coverage around Meghan Markle, wife to Prince Harry.
The American royal was the target of what many justifiably described as a full-blown smear campaign, which ultimately led the Duke and Duchess to step back from their senior royal roles.
Earlier this year, Markle spoke out about the detrimental effect this had on her mental health during an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. There’s no doubt the targeted coverage had eerie similarities to that of Princess Diana’s—Prince Harry himself asserted as much when he told the iconic talk show host: “My biggest concern was history repeating itself.”
You can watch The Princes And The Press via YouTube here.
