Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix melodrama reached a crescendo today as they launched more salvoes at the Royal Family over Megxit and claims William, Kate and Charles were jealous of their popularity and hated them 'stealing the limelight'.
The couple said they were 'better' at royal duties than others and that stuck in the craw of Harry's family, who didn't Meghan being treated like a 'royal rock star' after they married in 2018.
The Duke of Sussex drew more comparisons between his wife and his mother, claiming Princess Diana was forced out for the same reason because she outshone those who were 'born to do this', like his father and brother.
Episode 4 said that their first tour of Australia in October 2018, where Meghan's pregnancy was revealed, went so well that 'the palace were incredibly threatened by that'.
Harry said: 'The issue is when someone who's marrying in should be a supporting act is then stealing the limelight or is doing the job better than the person who was born to do this. That upsets people. It shifts the balance.
'Because you've been led to believe that the only way your charities can succeed and the only way that your reputation can be grown or improved is if you're on the front page of those newspapers. But the media are the ones who choose who to put on the front page'.
Meghan Markle hinted that the royals initially baulked at her because she was different to them and then became jealous of her popularity
Harry and Meghan said that the royals were upset they were 'better' at the job
Meghan said she asked Charles to walk her down the aisle after she told him she had lost a father
The final three parts of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's docuseries have gone live and take in their 2018 Windsor Castle wedding, the decision to quit royal duties and emigrate and their new life in their £11million Montecito mega-mansion.
The Duke of Sussex spoke about the moment when 'the penny dropped' for Meghan in the fourth episode of their Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan - and said the situation spiraled from there.
He said: 'The first time that the penny dropped for her, M (Meghan) and I spent the night in a room at Buckingham Palace after an event where every member of the family, senior members of the family had been, including the Queen.
'And on the front page of the Telegraph, Meghan. She was like "but it's not my fault" - and my mum felt the same way.'
They also claim there is a conspiracy against them between Buckingham Palace and the British press to 'scapegoat' them to ensure negative press about other royals would 'go away'.
Meghan suggested that the royals had been revolted by her because she wasn't like them, hinting that it was to do with her being mixed race.
In a bizarre and convoluted analogy, Meghan said one of the Queen's aides compared her to a foreign organism. She said: 'It is like a fish that is swimming perfectly. It is powerful, it is on the right current. Then one day this little organism comes in'.
But Meghan suggested the royal household immediately thought: 'What is that? What is it doing here? It doesn't look like us. It doesn't move like us. We don't like it. Get it off us'.
Royal officials will be watching the denouement of the series with interest, but King Charles III and Prince William are not expected to comment personally unless the claims are so incendiary they require a rebuttal.
Episode 4 begins with preparations for the royal wedding in May 2018.
She said: 'Harry's dad is very charming and I said to him like 'I've lost my dad in this', so him as my father-in-law was really important to me, so I asked him to walk me down the aisle and he said yes.'
Meghan later added: 'H and I are really, really good at finding each other in the chaos.
'When we find each other, reconnect, it's like, 'It's you, it's you'.
'It's not that the rest of it doesn't matter, but the rest of it feels temporary'.
The final episode of Harry and Meghan's Netflix series opens with a gleeful video selfie in which the Duke of Sussex says: 'We are on the freedom flight'. Episode six of the bombshell series begins with the couple on their flight from Canada to Los Angeles in March 2020, after they split from the royal family
Another clip also shows Meghan with their son Archie on the private plane
Meghan and Harry laughed about cutting their wedding cake with a sword
Meghan said she couldn't believe that Sir Elton John was performing at their wedding, and said her mother Doria rushed to be close to the stage
The couple kiss in front of well-wishers at their wedding reception in 2018
Harry toasts his wife after they walked down the aisle
Speaking about the Kingdom Choir gospel group which performed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding, friend and tennis star Serena Williams said: 'To have her culture represented at that wedding. Amazing, I loved it. I thought it was really courageous breaking boundaries but not trying to.'
The Duchess of Sussex then spoke of her first engagement with the Queen.
Meghan said: 'I treated her as my husband's grandma, and knowing that of course there has to be a completely different sense of propriety in public, when you're sitting and having breakfast to just be able to talk.
'When we got into the car in between engagements she had a blanket and she put it over my knees and we were sitting in this car with this blanket and I thought 'I recognise and respect and see that you're the Queen, but in this moment I'm so grateful that there is a grandmother figure because that feels like family'.
'And because I was so so close with my grandmother,' Meghan said, adding she had taken care of her grandmother 'in her final years'.
The Duchess of Sussex added of her engagement with the Queen that it was 'such a good day, we laughed'.
The Duchess of Sussex said she was being 'fed to the wolves' during the opening of episode 5 of the Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary.
Speaking about wanting her son Archie to have a big family in the way she had not, Meghan says: 'I was just so excited that we were going to be able to create for him that thing that I had always wanted.
'So I just did everything I could to make them proud and to really be a part of the family.'
'And then the bubble burst,' she says while the voices of news presenters can be heard saying: 'Duchess difficult' and 'American'.
The Duke of Sussex then says: 'It was already clear to the media that the Palace was not going to protect her. Once that happens then the flood gates open.'
Meghan then says: 'I realised that I wasn't just being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves.'
Meghan's privacy lawyer Jenny Afia has alleged she had seen evidence of briefing from the Palace against the couple to suit other people's agenda.
The duchess herself says: 'You would just see it play out, like a story about someone in the family would pop up for a minute and they'd go 'We've got to make that go away'.'
Her friend Lucy Fraser, Meghan's PR guru, added: 'Meg became this scapegoat for the Palace. And so they would feed stories on her whether they were true or not to avoid other less favourable stories being printed.'
Ms Afia said: 'There was a real kind of war against Meghan and I've certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the Palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people's agendas.'
Harry, in another trailer, said 'They were happy to lie to protect my brother (William). They were never willing to tell the truth to protect us', while Meghan said she was 'fed to the wolves'.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have declined to comment.
Claims made in the documentary will face intense scrutiny, with questions raised ahead of the streaming over whether the evidence Ms Afia referred to will be produced in full, which stories they were talking about, and exactly which royals were allegedly being protected.
As Meghan spoke, footage was played of newspaper front pages featuring the headlines 'Meghan Made Kate Cry' and 'Heir Heads' - about Kate and Meghan's flower dress dispute and the Sussexes' use of private planes.
In her Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan said Kate, now the Princess of Wales, made her cry ahead of her wedding at a flower girl dress fitting - not the other way round as had been reported - and that 'everyone in the institution knew that wasn't true' but it was not corrected.
Meanwhile, the royal family, including Harry's father and brother, will be out in force together on Thursday, putting on a united front as the King, the Queen Consort and the Prince of Wales join Kate for her Christmas carol concert in Westminster Abbey.
More than 1,800 people will gather in the Abbey for some festive cheer, staged to recognised the 'selfless efforts of individuals, families and communities across the UK, and celebrate and showcase the joy that human connection and togetherness can bring'.
Kensington Palace said the second carol service Kate has held was dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II and the values she demonstrated throughout her life, including 'duty, empathy, faith, service, kindness, compassion and support for others'.
The Sussexes' six-part show - which forms part of their multimillion-pound deal with Netflix - has become the streaming giant's most-watched documentary in a premier week, debuting with 81.55 million hours viewed.
The last three episodes look set to explore the Megxit crisis, when Harry and Meghan stepped down from royal life to move to the US, with the duke heard saying: 'There was no other option at this point...I said 'we need to get outta here'.'
In the first instalment on December 8, Harry accused the royals of having a 'huge level of unconscious bias' and Meghan said the media wanted to 'destroy' her.
Meghan Markle has declared war on the Royal Family in the latest Netflix trailer for the final three episodes of the Sussexes' docu-series out today
The duke also said members of his family questioned why Meghan needed more protection from the media than their wives had been given, but that they failed to grasp the 'race element'.
Meghan also alleged she was given guidance not to invite her niece Ashleigh Hale to her royal wedding.
Yet sources told The Sunday Times it was Meghan's choice not to include her niece and she was not told who she should invite.
Former Suits actress Meghan insisted she was not prepped on royal matters or conduct, but the newspaper said she was given a 30-point dossier on royal life with information and details of experts she could approach for help.
One matter not yet explored is the accusation Meghan bullied Palace staff, with the story published in March 2021 just days before the Oprah interview was aired.
Buckingham Palace said it was 'very concerned' and began an investigation into claims in The Times that the duchess drove out two personal assistants and 'humiliated' staff, leaving them in tears, which she denies.
The investigation into the handling of the claims has never been published.
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