Royal commentator Margaret Holder says she "almost screamed at the TV" when the Duke of Sussex took responsibility for his wife's estrangement from her father in the new Netflix series Harry & Meghan.
"This is a man who lost his mother in the most tragic way and he said very casually 'This is incredibly sad – she had a father before this and now she doesn't have a father' ... I shouldered that and if she wasn't with me, he would still be her dad'.
"That's nonsense, absolute nonsense. [Meghan Markle] cut her father off because he was misguided in taking some ridiculous photographs pretending to be tailored for a suit for a wedding," she tells Nathan Rarere.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the 2022 Netflix series Harry & Meghan. Photo: Screenshot
Listen to Margaret Holder on First Up
Holder – who describes herself as one of Meghan's early supporters – finds the story of exclusion the former actress presents in Netflix's long-awaited docuseries "hard to take".
"Meghan was welcomed here, very much so … We did welcome her and we did see that here's someone who could help represent other people in this country who might not have felt represented before… and also many people of the Commonwealth."
Holder guesses the royal family will be feeling a mixture of disappointment about Harry and Meghan telling their story via Netflix – for reportedly more than US$100 million – and relief that, in the first three episodes at least, no royal "secrets" have been shared.
"I think there will be some relief that they haven't spilt any royal secrets so far in this series because this is a family with secrets going back generations. Harry will know them and therefore Meghan will know them."
She believes Harry & Meghan's inclusion of footage from Princess Diana's controversial 1995 'Panorama' interview, which Prince William has said he never wanted to be aired again, will lead to "a widening of the feud" between Harry and his brother.
In one scene, following on from Harry and Meghan's 2021 Oprah interview, the Duke of Sussex accuses unnamed members of the royal family of "unconscious" racism.
In doing so, he and his wife have cast "a shadow across the whole family", Holder says.
The final three episodes of Harry & Meghan will be available on Netflix from 15 December.
Related:
Tom Bower: Meghan's interview with Oprah was 'the last straw' (Saturday Morning)
The inherent misogyny of pitting Meghan and Kate against each other (Afternoons)
Why William and Harry went their separate ways (Sunday Morning)
'We wanted to set the Harry and Meghan story straight' (Sunday Morning)