The trailer for Prince Harry's and Meghan Markle's much hyped Netflix documentary dropped Thursday and promised to give the royal couple a chance to tell their side of the story about their schism with The Royal Family, but critics argued they've already taken advantage of several opportunities to do so.
"If an Academy Award was given for hubris, vanity and narcissism, Meghan and Harry would be top contenders," former Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner tweeted of the trailer.
"Harry & Meghan, Victims Extraordinaire," TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer said.
"Right on cue, Harry and Meghan drop the trailer for their victimhood fest on Netflix," Dan Wootton, executive editor and presenter of GBN's Dan Wootton Tonight, said. "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."
"Imagine bleating about privacy then doing a kiss-and-tell reality series about your private lives?" Piers Morgan, host of Fox Nation's "Piers Morgan Uncensored," who has often blasted the controversial royal couple, tweeted. "Then imagine preaching compassion as you trash your family again? Then imagine releasing 1st trailer deliberately to ruin your brother’s big trip to America? Repulsive hypocrites."
Harry and Meghan shocked the world in January 2020 by announcing they'd be stepping down from their roles as senior royals, citing in part the pressures of media scrutiny. They then uprooted from the United Kingdom to California.
In the Netflix trailer for "Harry & Meghan," the pair are asked why they were compelled to make the documentary.
"No one sees what's behind closed doors," Harry says. "I had to do everything I could to protect my family."
"When the stakes are this high," Markle says in another clip, "doesn't it make more sense to hear our story from us?"
The couple are seen wiping away tears in another scene.
The couple's critics noted that they had the chance to tell their story during a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Harry and Meghan launched several accusations against The Royal Family during the discussion, including how, when Markle was pregnant, there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born."
Markle has also spoken at length about how media criticism has impacted her mental health.
Business of Fashion news & features editor Diane Pearl offered the pair some advice.
"H&M need a new mantra besides ‘we want to tell our own story’ — they've done so many times! they should look ahead and give ppl reasons to care and be interested in them beyond their past + royal ties," she tweeted. "It's the only way they can move forward + find success."
Other social media users responded positively to the trailer and said they "can't wait" to watch and clear their schedules.
"Not only does it make sense Meghan, it’s right and fitting to hear YOUR story from YOU," Dr. Zanye Omolewa tweeted.
Several other observers noted the timing of the trailer release, which coincides with Prince William and Kate Middleton's trip to Boston, Massachusetts, for the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony. It marks the first American trip for the couple in eight years.
"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix documentary trailer is out," Cameron Walker, a royal reporter for GBN, Britain's News Channel, said. "The cynic in me would question the timing (this week should be about Prince William’s Earthshot Prize). Regardless, it looks like Harry and Meghan still have grievances to vent."
"Talk about timing," Nadine White, a race correspondent for The Independent wrote.
"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….." Jon Sopel, host of daily podcast The News Agents, mused.
Fox News Digital reached out to Netflix for comment.
