Netflix ‘dismayed’ by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Jubilee failure

Prince Harry and Meghan’s failure to land pictures alongside senior Royals has dismayed Netflix executives, a Royal expert has claimed.

Prince Harry’s biographer Angela Levin told GB News she’d heard the streaming-giant was desperate for the pair to secure images of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with royals like the Queen and Prince William as part of the series they are filming.

Ms Levin’s comments come a day after it emerged Harry and Meghan had also failed to persuade the Queen to pose alongside daughter and name-sake Lilibet. 

The 96-year-old is said to have met Harry and Meghan’s daughter on Thursday. However, they were allegedly told ‘no chance’ of an official photo because it was a ‘private family meeting’. Palace insiders may have worried any photos taken by Harry and Meghan would be shared with TV networks in the US or in Harry’s upcoming memoirs. 

Speaking to GB News, Ms Levin, said this image would have been ‘very, very valuable’, adding: ‘They would have used it for Netflix. It would give them a kudos that they had her with her great grandmother, you know.’

Prince Harry’s biographer Angela Levin told GB News she’d heard the streaming-giant was desperate for the pair to secure images of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with royals like the Queen and Prince William

Appearing on the programme, Angela said: ‘Harry and Meghan wanted to see the Queen as soon as possible so she saw them on the first day.

‘She went in, and then they asked if they brought their own photographer and they asked if he could take a picture of the two Lilibets and she said ‘no, absolutely not possible’.

‘Because they would have sold it.  It would be very valuable, very valuable to them. 

‘Actually the palace was so clever and cunning that they never had a chance to be photographed with any of the senior Royals.

Speaking to GB News, Ms Levin, said an image of Lili and the Queen would have been ‘very, very valuable’ for the royal couple 

‘I heard Netflix wanted these pictures of them with the royals, but they were sitting on the right hand side and the rest of them, Camilla, Charles, Catherine and William, on the other side.

Ms Levin said she believes that after failing to get the images they wanted they ‘probably just went off in a rage’.

‘I think they felt that everyone would drop everything,’ she added. ‘Even on this amazing day because they were there, they’d come back.

‘I thought they were like petulant teenagers really. If they didn’t get what they wanted, they would leave and they left early.’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a new picture of Lilibet at Frogmore Cottage where she celebrated her first birthday on Saturday

Ms Levin also criticised the pair for compromising their own security, despite suing the government over security concerns.

‘There he was in a car with black windows, so they were obliged with that so nobody could see who it was, and they opened the windows right down and started waving at the people,’ she said.

‘That was an indication to me that couldn’t be out of the spotlight, however, that is very dangerous, someone can throw a bomb in or a load of tomatoes in through the window.

She added: ‘And actually, they also flew back on a jet that cost £160,000 but that’s their business, but it put out ten times more carbon emissions than a normal plane would.

In this picture Lilibet is seen in her mother Meghan’s arms inside Frogmore, beside photographer Misan Harriman’s wife Camilla Holmstroem and their two daughters

‘We’ve had them telling us all we mustn’t fly, we must be careful…we mustn’t let all this carbon emissions carry on – and there they are doing it themselves.’

The Sussexes reportedly wanted their own photographer to capture the Monarch meeting her great-granddaughter Lilibet at Windsor for the first time, but a source claimed they were told ‘no chance’ because it was a private moment.

The photographer has not been named – but it may be their friend Misan Harriman, who has regularly photographed the Sussexes and even credits himself with getting them together in 2016. He also took the picture of their young daughter on the lawn at Frogmore Cottage as she turned one on Saturday.

Lilibet met Her Majesty ‘on more than one occasion’ and Prince Charles and Camilla also spent some time with the couple before they returned to California on Sunday, according to Harry and Meghan’s friend Omid Scobie. 

Britain’s Prince William, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis did not have private time with the Sussexes, with their relationship remaining ‘fraught’, a source said

However Harry and Meghan did not spend any private time with Prince William, Kate, George, Charlotte and Louis during the Jubilee, according to Page Six, and William’s family is unlikely to have met Lilibet at all. 

An insider said the relationship between the brothers remains ‘fraught’ after the Sussexes’ transatlantic ‘truth bombs’ about the Royal Family on Oprah and friendly podcasts in the US.

Angela previously told MailOnline Harry showed ‘incredible cheek’ if he asked his grandmother to pose for an official photo with Lilibet in the midst of her four-day Platinum Jubilee and continuing problems with her health.

Angela said: ‘It is an incredible cheek. It is too incredible for words to have put pressure on his grandmother when she’s struggling to move during four days of celebrations where huge demands are being put on her.

Mr Harriman, Lilibet’s photographer, with one of his children in face paint in the Frogmore Cottage garden 

Was this the photographer the Duke and Duchess of Sussex hoped would snap a shot of Lilibet and the Queen?  

Mr Harriman, pictured at his home in Woking in August 2020, was the first black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover and the first to shoot its September issue in its 105-year history

The pictures of Lilibet and her party were shot by their long-time friend and photographer Misan Harriman, who has shot to fame for his pictures of Black Lives Matter protests in London.

He also takes some credit for helping Harry and Meghan meet, saying: ‘Meg reminded me that had I not introduced her to a mutual friend then she wouldn’t have met Harry. I’m grateful for whatever small part I played.’ 

The 45-year-old, who lives in Surrey, met Meghan years ago at a charity event and attended her wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in May 2018. 

He has previously taken photos of other royals, capturing Princess Beatrice’s official engagement photo with her then-fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

He was the first black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover and the first to shoot its September issue in its 105-year history. 

The activist-themed cover in 2020 featured England footballer Marcus Rashford and model Adwoa Aboah, with Mr Harriman working with a predominantly black team on set.

A year before, Meghan guest edited the September issue, which is traditionally the fashion bible’s most important of the year. Mr Harriman’s work has also featured in Vanity Fair, GQ, Harpers Bazaar and People.

The Nigerian-born photographer has pictured Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman, Rihanna, Stormzy and Giorgio Armani.

He is a self-described activist supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as a mental health campaigner with an interest in dyslexia.

The photographer has also covered demonstrations against former US President Donald Trump, and protests by Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter in London.

 

‘It’s even more of a strain when you are 96-years-old. The Jubilee is her last efforts as monarch, and yet Harry asks for time with her when she can’t say no’.

Ms Levin said: ‘They should have stayed for a few days afterwards, spent time with the Queen after her duties had finished, tried to make things right with William. 

‘They would have had the time – but they chose to rush in and rush out’.

She also suggested that Harry appeared to have ‘lost all respect for anybody now’, adding: ‘All his impatience and self destruction is visible. He can’t hide it’.

Investigative journalist Tom Bower, who is working on a biography of the Duchess of Sussex, agreed, saying: ‘Meghan must have been furious when she heard that photographs of their Windsor meeting were forbidden. 

‘Banned from the balcony for Trooping the Colour, no shot of her with the Queen in St Paul’s and then the final blow was no shot of Lilibet with her great-grandmother. Finally, the Palace is playing a good hand’.

He added: ‘The Sussexes’ contract with Netflix is in jeopardy. The veto of photos will fuel the Sussexes’ resentment. Harry’s reprisal could be more revelations in his book billed to be published later this year. This is a dangerous game for both sides’.

In the first public picture of Lilibet since she was a babe-in-arms, it revealed that Her Majesty’s great-granddaughter smiling and dressed in a pale blue frock with a white bow in her strawberry blonde hair. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex invited close friends and family to an ‘intimate backyard picnic’ while in Britain for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, before jetting home to California on Sunday. 

East London baker Claire Ptak – who made the couple’s wedding cake in 2018 – created new treats for the low-key bash. She later shared a picture of a small peony-covered cake that could be the one enjoyed by guests. 

A spokesman for the couple did not name family members who attended the party, but Zara and Mike Tindall are believed to have made an appearance. But Prince William, Kate, George and Charlotte were in Wales representing the Queen. 

The image of Lilibet sitting happily on the grass was taken by family friend Mr Harriman, who also shared an image of Meghan holding her daughter inside Frogmore – the home they spent £2.4million of taxpayers’ money refurbishing before quitting as royals and emigrating. 

Mother and her red-haired daughter were posing with the photographer’s blonde wife Camilla Holmstroem, a former Goldman Sachs banker turned entrepreneur, and their two daughters, who both had their faces painted, one of the activities laid on for guests.

But while Mr Harriman also shared a picture of himself smiling with his eldest child on Instagram and Twitter, there were no pictures of Harry and Archie released.

The Sussexes left for their California home the following day – on a gas-guzzling private jet – before the grand finale of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee even began on Sunday.

Birthday cake? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex asked the baker who created their wedding cake to make a creation for their daughter Lilibet’s low-key first birthday party. Claire Ptak shared a photo of this beautiful pink cake topped with peonies, which could be Lilibet’s