Prince Harry and Meghan's docuseries director defends couple against palace 'lie': 'They did that to discredit us'

Liz Garbus, the acclaimed director of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix series, has opened up about the couple's true intentions behind the popular royal documentary. 

Speaking to Vanity Fair about Harry & Meghan, Garbus said she hoped the three-part series would "connect the dots" to "larger historical issues" within the British monarchy – and she includes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's struggles under this umbrella topic.

"They were, to their credit, very open and willing to journey down some of the paths that they might not have originally considered," Garbus explained, referring to the themes of colonialism and racism explored in the documentary. 

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"[The love story] is the spine, but, for me, it was always necessary to … connect the dots to the personal story and the larger historical context." 

The decorated filmmaker took aim at critics of the series and the deluge of negative feedback, particularly from loyal monarchists.

Garbus said Harry and Meghan had every right to tell their story, particularly given the fact their lives are splashed across tabloid pages every other day.

"People are very happy to read everything about Harry and Meghan when it's somebody else writing about them," Garbus said.

"But when Harry and Meghan want to tell their story in their own words, it suddenly becomes an issue. People are not forced to watch a documentary. It's not going to be required in school. It is your choice what you binge and what you don't binge.

"I think it's an interesting kind of pearl-clutching that doesn't quite add up with the public's appetite for reading stuff about them from other people."

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Garbus also took the opportunity to clear the air about Buckingham Palace's alleged refusal to provide comment on the series.

The director said the palace claimed they weren't contacted for comment but she insists they were, revealing it was the royal family's attempt to "discredit" the show.

"They did that to discredit us … and by discrediting us, they can discredit the content of the show."

Within hours of the first three episodes airing on the streaming giant, Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace denied they were approached for comment for the series.

The palace, however, then somewhat reneged on that statement. According to reports, Kensington Palace did receive an email from an unidentified address claiming to be a third-party production company on behalf of the docuseries.

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The royal family's press team reportedly attempted to verify the email's authenticity by reaching out to Archewell Productions and Netflix, but never received a response.

Despite the vitriolic response to Harry & Meghan, the tell-all series was still recently crowned the second-most popular documentary on Netflix's platform of all time.

The series debuted on December 8, 2022, with the former senior working royals detailing the behind-the-scenes of their lives before and after leaving the monarchy in 2020.

The series was released ahead of Prince Harry's tell-all memoir, Spare, which was published one month after the docuseries, on January 10, 2023.

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