Prince Harry is expected to reveal more details about life inside the British Royal Family in his new mental health series with Oprah Winfrey.
Along with Winfrey, the Duke of Sussex is an executive producer of ‘The Me You Can’t See’, which premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, and features interviews with Prince Harry, Oprah and others discussing their struggles with mental health.
One insider told Page Six : ‘One of the episodes is very personal … deeply,’ and that Harry is expected to drop more ‘Truth Bombs’ in the show.
The show’s release comes amid a backlash last week in the US after Harry’s attack on the ‘bonkers’ First Amendment and after his broadside at the Royal Family in which he appeared to suggest both his father and the Queen had failed as parents.
Royal Family expert Katie Nicholl said that Harry’s recent comments have left Britons in ‘quite a bit of shock’ that he ‘went as far as he did’.
She told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I think certainly people over here are a little disappointed and I think frustrated as well, hearing Prince Harry indirectly criticize the royal family, which I think is the interpretation by some over here in the UK’
Ms Nicholl added: ‘A lot of people here think Prince Harry has overstepped a mark in talking so personally about his father, and his relationship with his father, in what most people have interpreted to be quite a critical way.’
The Duke of Sussex had told Dax Shepard, host of the ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast: ‘He (Charles) treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?’ Harry then described his life as a cross between the film The Truman Show – in which a man discovers he is living in a reality TV programme – and a zoo.
The show shares the moment Prince Charles speaks to his son as Diana’s coffin passes them, with a narrator talking about the importance of being treated with ‘dignity’
Harry appears with Meghan in the trailer for the film, which is said to have been two years in the making and will be broadcast on Apple TV on Friday. The Duchess doesn’t appear to be heavily pregnant, suggesting it was filmed late last summer. The couple’s daughter is due next month
The stand-out feature of the trailer for the upcoming show – released last week – comes as a 13-year-old Harry is seen watching his mother’s coffin – that of Diana, Princess of Wales – passing him during her funeral in London in 1997.
Prince Charles can be seen speaking to his heartbroken son as a female voiceover says over dramatic music: ‘Treating people with dignity is the first act’.
Harry tells Oprah: ‘To make that decision to receive help is not a sign of weakness. In today’s world more than ever, it is a sign of strength.’
The trailer for ‘The Me You Can’t See’ – which is set to be released tomorrow – features Meghan, Archie and a major hint that the Duke will again pour his heart out about the Royal Family and his relationship with Charles.
It includes tearful interviews with singer Lady Gaga, actress Glenn Close and US chat show queen Oprah herself as well as a feature on a Syrian refugee named Fawzi, described as a hero on the programme.
The two-minute promo, which was released on the Archewell website and YouTube, will likely be seen as another barbed attack on the Royal Family and spark fresh pain for Charles, coming so soon after Prince Harry said he quit as a frontline royal to ‘break the cycle’ of ‘genetic suffering’.
At one point Meghan can be seen looking over Harry’s shoulder at a computer as she wears a ‘Raising The Future’ t-shirt in their LA mansion.
Footage shown in the clip shows William (second left) and Harry (right) as they grieved for their mother Diana
Experts have said they now expect Harry to talk about his family again and the decision to quit as frontline royals in the upcoming documentary
Harry speaks to Oprah about the bravery of those who seek help, before Ms Winfrey also becomes tearful as she describes having to ‘accept’ her own problems
Harry urges viewers to speak out in the clip that also shows his wife and son together at home in Los Angeles
Oprah Winfreys also cries as she speaks to Harry in a film the pair both helped produce
Lady Gaga is one of many famous names to cry, describing how she ‘froze’ when she struggled with her mental health
Her £27 top is made by British designer Mere Soeur, which makes clothing aimed at mothers, describing parenting as ‘the greatest and hardest job you’ll ever have’. The Duchess also appears cuddling their son Archie.
NBA basketball stars DeMar DeRozan and Langston Galloway are also interviewed along with speaker Zak Williams, Olympic boxer Virginia ‘Ginny’ Fuchs and celebrity chef Rashad Armstead, who also cries as he describes his mental problems.
The Sussexes’ son Archie is also shown sitting on his mother’s lap later on – in footage filmed around the time of his first birthday.
The duke and Winfrey have joined forces to guide ‘honest discussions about mental health and emotional wellbeing while opening up about their personal journeys and struggles’, the Archewell website said.
Harry adds in the footage: ‘The results of this year will be felt for decades. The kids, families, husbands, wives, everybody.’
Harry and Winfrey are co-creators and executive producers of the project.
Poet Hussain Manawer also appears in the trailer for the new documentary. He was previously in the Sussexes’ first Archewell Audio podcast last December.
The Sussexes made a series of damaging allegations about the royal family when they were interviewed by Winfrey earlier his year.
The couple accused an unnamed royal, not the Queen or Philip, of raising concerns about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone would be, before he was born.
Meghan also said she asked for help when she was suicidal, but said the monarchy gave her no support.
Harry has spoken of the emotional turmoil he faced after his mother was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997, saying he spent nearly two decades ‘not thinking’ about her death before eventually getting help after a period of ‘total chaos’.
The Apple TV show is being broadcast on Friday and was produced by the Duke and Winfrey
Hollywood actress Glenn Close also appears tearful in the highly-anticipated TV show
Lady Gaga is pictured during the trailer for the new documentary which is out on Apple TV this Friday
Syrian refugee boy Fawzi also appears in the programme which looks at the issue of mental health
The Syrian refugee named Fawzi is described as a hero in the trailer for the Apple TV programme
Poet Hussain Manawer also appears in the trailer for the new documentary. He was previously in the Sussexes’ first Archewell Audio podcast last December
Oprah Winfrey interviews Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on A CBS Primetime Special
It comes just days after Prince Harry suggested he took drugs as he spoke about ‘going wild’ during a chat with a Hollywood star about their own drugs and alcohol problems.
The Duke of Sussex, 36, was speaking on actor Dax Shepard’s ‘Armchair Expert’ mental health podcast when he made the remarks.
Harry was quizzing the star – who is married to Frozen actress Kristen Bell – about the American’s substance use in high school.
The Royal asked him about Shepard’s ‘awareness’ of what sparked his path towards drugs as a teenager.
Harry told him ‘For you it was your upbringing and everything that happened to you – the trauma, pain and suffering.
‘All of a sudden you find yourself doing a s***load of drugs and partying hard.
‘Look how many other people do that as well. They wouldn’t have the awareness at the time.
‘I certainly wouldn’t have had the awareness when I was going wild.
‘It’s like why am I actually doing this? In the moment its like, this is fun. I’m in my 20s – it’s what you’re supposed to do.’
Harry, who is expecting a daughter with Meghan this summer, suggested Charles had ‘suffered’ because of his upbringing by the Queen and Prince Philip, and the Prince of Wales had ‘treated me the way he was treated’, calling it ‘genetic pain’.
During the wide-ranging interview lasting 90 minutes, Harry – who appears to have developed an American twang to his British accent since leaving the UK – said: ‘I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.
‘It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say ‘you know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you’.’
He added: ‘I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go ‘OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids’. And here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.’