Meghan and Harry arrive in New York by private jet to accept anti-racism award after Netflix trailer

Meghan and Harry have been spotted for the first time since their incendiary Netflix trailer — as they arrived in New York by private jet to accept an award for their ‘heroic’ stand against ‘structural racism’ in the Royal Family.    

The duchess beamed as she and Harry stepped into a waiting SUV before making their way into the Big Apple, with the 41-year-old sporting an all-black outfit and large sunglasses while her 38-year-old husband wore a buttoned-down white shirt and black trousers. 

The Sussexes, who were pictured yesterday, are set to receive a human rights award at tonight’s The Ripple of Hope gala, where tickets are selling for up to $1million (£847,000). Previous winners include Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In a trailer for their documentary released yesterday, Harry alleged the couple had suffered from leaks and planted stories that backed up the Royal Family ‘hierarchy’.

Allies told the six-hour series on Netflix there was ‘a war against Meghan to suit other people’s agendas’, with one claiming ‘it’s about hatred, it’s about race’.

In clips for the show, the duke also took aim at royal aides, smirking as he commented: ‘It’s a dirty game.’

But royal sources insisted it was ‘absolutely wrong’ to suggest the couple had been briefed against, and insisted ‘unprecedented steps’ had been taken to support them.

One insider told The Daily Telegraph that royal staff were instead ‘bending over backwards to work with them’.

They added it was ‘non-stop on their behalf’ when it came to defending them against negative stories – which began when rumours emerged of the couple’s behaviour towards staff.

Another said the narrative comparing Meghan to Kate was ‘fabricated’ with no difference between how they were treated by the press. 

Royal experts have warned the series could be particularly uncomfortable for the Princess of Wales by focusing on the ‘early days’ of her relationship with William. 

Jack Royston, chief royal correspondent at Newsweek, today said the trailer’s content suggested the documentary would not just concern itself with recent events but also delve into the more distant past – including the rocky early days of William and Kate’s romance.

He told Good Morning Britain: ‘We’ve had Kate in both the trailers. In the most recent one there’s a strapline underneath which is a headline from a magazine cover…

‘That particular magazine included an allegation that the Queen was embarrassed of her and photographs of her drunk in public were on the front cover.

‘So if they’re going to go into the early days of Kate and William’s relationship that could be very uncomfortable.’

Mr Royston also predicted Netflix would revisit a story from 2018 which claimed Meghan made Kate cry when she unfavourably compared Princess Charlotte to her best friend’s daughter during a bridesmaid fitting.

He added: ‘In the Oprah interview that was described as a major turning point where everything changed, then in this latest Netflix trailer you have Harry saying, ”this was the turning point” – they don’t say what he’s talking about but you kind of already know.’

In other royal news today – 

The new teaser has sparked a furious backlash, with royal sources insisting it was ‘absolutely wrong’ to suggest Harry and Meghan had been briefed against and ‘unprecedented steps’ had been taken to support them.

Roya Nikkhah, royal editor for the Sunday Times, said the tone of the two trailers released so far suggests the documentary will be a ‘partisan’ account.

‘It doesn’t feel very balanced,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. ‘There are a lot of voices in there saying how difficult life was for Harry and Meghan and how a war was being waged against them, but it remains to be seen if we’re going to see any contributors telling the other side of the story.

‘There’s no taking away from the fact they both had a difficult time towards the end of their time in the Royal Family. But I think there are wider reasons for that. Yet we’re just going to hear one side of the story – their ”truth” as they say.’

She added: ‘What I would also say it’s a real shame that you have two high-profile people with an amazing platform for the work that they do.

‘But the philanthropic work that Harry and Meghan say they want to do is just getting lost in these headlines – it’s a shame.’

Netflix has promoted the documentary as a ‘global media event’ and there has been an intense focus on how it could be received by an American audience.

Sean Mandell, an entertainment and royal reporter, predicted it would be a ‘watershed’ moment for Harry and Meghan’s perception in the US.

‘Like in the UK, there are those who are part of the Sussex squad, who will go to the mattresses for them,’ he told Sky News. ‘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.

‘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.’

Meanwhile, Evening Standard royal editor Robert Jobson suggested the series was overwhelmingly a commercial enterprise for the Sussexes.

He told Talk TV: ‘This is purely about bolstering their position so they can make money. This is a commercial enterprise – they are being run by other people who are making money out of them and taking their percentages.

‘Therefore they’ve got to make a success of it, which is purely by attacking the King and the other members of the Royal Family. I really don’t see how this can go on for much longer.

‘They’re not particularly young – Meghan is in her forties. Harry is approaching his forties. They’re not representing some young, hip cool youth movement.

‘The reality is they’re approaching middle age, their sell-by date is coming to an end and they’re cashing it. It’s as blunt and awkward as that.’  

The new trailer gave the clearest signal yet that the California-based pair will reopen old wounds as they seek to justify why they quit as working royals and left Britain.

It included footage of Princess Diana, Meghan and the new Princess of Wales all surrounded by photographers, as Harry spoke of ‘the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution’.

He appeared to reference his mother’s death as he added: ‘I was terrified. I didn’t want history to repeat itself.’ 

But the accuracy of the Netflix series was immediately called into question as it emerged that footage which supposedly showed media harassment of the couple was actually filmed under vastly different circumstances.

It includes a photograph showing Harry and Meghan walking away with their baby son Archie while a cameraman appeared to loom over them from a hidden vantage point. 

Mr Jobson said it was taken when the couple met Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, and that Harry and Meghan had agreed where three accredited photographers and journalists could stand. 

He said it was a ‘complete travesty’ to use the photograph as an example of intrusion.

Mr Jobson tweeted: ‘This photograph used by Netflix and Harry and Meghan to suggest intrusion by the press is a complete travesty. 

‘It was taken from a accredited pool at Archbishop Tutu’s residence in Cape Town. Only 3 people were in the accredited position. H & M agreed the position. I was there.’ 

He later said: ‘They say the camera never lies, but it really depends where the image is used and in what context.’

‘The photograph they’ve used is of a camera lens, overlooking them carrying Archie. That photograph was taken from an accredited pool position and allowed by the palace.

‘To suggest the newspapers are encroaching on the child is simply a distortion of the truth because nobody else was allowed into that compound. Therefore, you have to question the veracity of their truth in their documentary.’ 

Echoing the point, ITV royal editor Chris Ship added: ‘Here Robert Jobson makes a valid point. The filming of Archie at Archbishop Tutu’s residence was highly controlled.

‘And the ITN Productions camera filming the Sussexes’ Africa documentary was there with their permission. It was not a media scrum. They spoke to Tom Bradby inside.’

Ingrid Seward, editor in-chief of Majesty magazine, also said: ‘The inaccurate photographs undermine the validity of what Harry and Meghan are trying to say. It makes them the object of ridicule.

‘If you are going to criticise the monarchy you have to make sure everything you say or do is absolutely correct.’

Footage of cameramen included in the trailer was actually filmed as former glamour model Katie Price arrived for a drink-driving court appearance, while a photograph showing banks of waiting photographers was taken at a Harry Potter film premiere in 2011 with no royal attendance.

In the trailer, footage shows photographers swarming around a car, as Meghan says: ‘I realised they [the Royal Household] are never gonna protect you.’

The trailer then cuts to an image of Meghan wiping her eyes, apparently in tears. But the car footage was filmed outside the home of Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, as he left to start a prison sentence in 2019.

Journalist and pundit Piers Morgan, whose voice from a news report was used in the trailer, said: ‘These two wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped them round their latte-encrusted tiaras.’

The former Good Morning Britain host branded Harry ‘a deluded spoiled manipulated brat’ who was ‘waging a relentless vicious public war against his own family’.

The couple’s claims sparked incredulity amongst royal insiders, some of whom were keen to make clear they are only speaking out because of the nature of the allegations from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. One said: ‘The truth is that the Palace took unprecedented steps to support the couple. They were given their own dedicated household, office, press office, home and staff.

‘That is unheard of for a member of the Royal Family in their position [not a direct heir to the throne]. The Queen even sent her most trusted personal staff to support Meghan, not that she wanted any of their advice. Both the duke and duchess always thought they knew best.’

The source pointed out that not only were the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting asked to personally advise Meghan, but Harry’s grandmother persuaded her deputy private secretary, Sam Cohen, to stay on for six months to guide the couple.

Mrs Cohen remained with them for more than a year, even though, she later told friends, the experience was one of the worst of her career due to the couple’s allegedly unreasonable behaviour.

Another source adds: ‘Yes, this was a very new situation for the Royal Household but they were excited about Harry and Meghan’s potential and what they could achieve as a couple for the monarchy and the country.

‘They were keen to put in the framework for them to succeed. It’s why Her late Majesty handed them plum jobs within the Commonwealth. Could the Palace have done more? Very possibly. Can it be quite slow and unwieldy sometimes? Definitely.

‘Certainly too slow for the likes of Harry and Meghan, who were very impatient. The Palace’s starting point always is ‘but what is our precedent?’ And of course there was none here. But it is absolutely wrong to suggest that they were unsupported or, worse, that people were briefing against them.

‘It would actually be laughable, if it wasn’t so serious. The Harry and Meghan show was a very different beast from the one they [the Palace] were used to. But they tried, they really did.’

One royal source added that far from leaking or placing negative stories about the couple in the media, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace actively tried to quash rumours that all was not well behind closed doors. 

On the issue of the ‘family hierarchy’, a well-placed insider said: ‘Is there a hierarchy in the family? Of course there is. It’s like any other company or public institution. There’s a CEO, chief executives, department heads … That’s how big organisations work. They would be ungovernable otherwise. There’s a structure and it’s there for a reason.

‘But they [the Sussexes] could not and would not accept that. They wanted to be the stars and, some may argue, had no interest whatsoever in working for the greater good. At the end of the day, everyone pulls together for the sake of the monarch. They didn’t want to do that.’

The Netflix trailer recorded 2.4million views within six hours of going on Twitter. The first three episodes will be available on Thursday and the rest from December 15.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night. Sources said the Royal Family would focus on the ‘job in hand’.

SARAH VINE: Harry and Meghan are gaslighting the entire nation while lining their pockets with misery

No one knows the full truth; we know the full truth.’ With those portentous words Prince Harry ends the second trailer for his Netflix documentary, part one of which is released in full on Thursday.

Or, to put it another way, the gloves are well and truly off.

Not that anyone really believed otherwise, given the Sussexes’ recent behaviour. But there was always a faint hope they might retain some decorum; that certain areas might remain off-limits even for them.

Not so. And that sounds like a threat, as clear as it is sinister.

Two things stand out. First, the weaponisation of Princess Diana and her own experience as a royal consort in order to elevate Meghan. It’s hardly surprising: Harry has mentioned his wife before in the context of his mother, but this goes one step further.

By placing footage of the late Princess Diana alongside images of Meghan in various stages of distress, the message is clear: the two are virtually one and the same.

This is clever. Not only does it enlist (and enrage) the armies of Princess Diana fans who still, to this day, believe she was assassinated by the Royal Family and who will, no doubt, sally forth on social media to spread the gospel; it also allows Meghan to inherit Diana’s iconic status. Which is presumably rather useful when pitching victim narratives to Netflix.

But when you think about it, it’s a really cheap shot, not only because it’s effectively monetising Diana’s life (and death); but also because, let’s not forget, Harry isn’t Diana’s only son. One can only imagine how Prince William must feel about Harry appropriating their late mother in this way.

Second, race. ‘It’s about race,’ says one of the talking heads in this trailer. Harry and Meghan left because the Royal Family — and, it would seem from this, most of the British media — are racist. Really? But I thought you just told us it was all about history repeating itself? Diana wasn’t mixed race, was she? So how can it be racist? Make up your minds, guys.

The lack of self-awareness is staggering. At one point Harry intones, in his now familiar Voice of Doom, about ‘the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy’.

I’m sorry? Come again? What about your constant attacks on the institution into which another woman — the Princess of Wales — married?

Or does Kate not count because she doesn’t spend all her time playing the victim, weeping and wailing about how awful her life is — but just gets on with it instead of finding fault at every turn?

Does she not count because, unlike Meghan, she has managed to make a success of being a royal consort?

The Netflix trailer starts with Harry telling us: ‘It’s really hard to look back on it and go, ‘What on earth really happened?’

No, Harry, it’s not. It’s very easy. So let me spell it out for you. You and Meghan had it all: a very comfortable life complete with all the advantages of your station, the adoration of the British public, a positive platform from which to pursue your passions.

Meghan was welcomed with open arms and total sincerity; you had a £30 million wedding with cheering crowds from Windsor to Wolverhampton; Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle; you were part of the ‘Fab Four’, the future of the Royal Family.

The tide turned only because of your behaviour: the diva demands; the jealousy towards other royals; that baby shower; those private jets; the ingratitude; the hypocrisy; the ungracious rows over tiaras and Frogmore Cottage.

What happened, Harry, was that people started to question some of your and Meghan’s choices, and you didn’t like that.

And instead of wondering whether people might have a point when they said they didn’t much like being lectured about climate change by someone who seemed to use private air travel as an Uber; instead of checking your and your wife’s privilege (to use a phrase beloved of your new American friends), you threw a massive hissy fit and now make allegations of racism.

And here you are, gaslighting the entire nation while lining your pockets with your so-called misery. And I’m sorry, but it won’t wash. In my view it’s nothing to do with hate, and it’s nothing to do with race.

Your paymasters at Netflix may fall for this nonsense but the British public sees straight through you. That, I’m afraid, is the ‘full truth’.