The Royal Family is reportedly in a deepening crisis. A fresh race row claim has been made as Netflix released the trailer for its new Duke and Duchess of Sussex documentary – during Prince William and Kate Middleton’s trip to the US.
A royal expert has claimed the release of the one-minute trailer for ‘Harry & Meghan’ was “deliberately” timed to clash with the Prince and Princess of Wales’s US visit. The six-part series is set to be released next week.
It comes as lawyer Nazir Afzal alleged he was quizzed about his ethnicity by the aide who grilled Ngozi Fulani. The late Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, asked the black domestic abuse campaigner who was asked where she “really came from” at a royal reception.
Now Nazir Afzal, former chief crown prosecutor for the North West, has said Lady Hussey also questioned him about his heritage at the same event, reports The Mirror.
He tweeted: “I was at the Buckingham Palace reception at which Lady Hussey questioned the heritage of a brilliant DV expert Ngozi Fulani. She only asked me about my heritage once & seemed to accept my answer – Manchester currently! Racism is never far away tho.”
The stories dominate the front pages of Friday’s UK newspapers – with The Mirror claiming the “Royal crisis deepens”. The front page of the Daily Express asks: “Harry do you really hate your family so much?”
Meanwhile, The Star leads with the headline: “Publicity-shy couple share most intimate secrets with 8bn people.”
It comes as William and Kate are two days into their US tour where they are promoting William’s Earthshot Prize. Speaking to the Daily Mail, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said the Netflix trailer’s release today was “obviously timed to take away from the Waleses’ trip to Boston”.
The trip has already been somewhat overshadowed by the resignation of the late Queen’s lady-in-waiting Lady Susan Hussey, who was accused of being racially insulting to Ngozi Fulani, founder of domestic abuse charity Sistah Space. There was also the release of a new image of Harry and Meghan’s son Archie, which some royal fans suggested was designed to distract from William and Kate. Mr. Fitzwilliams added that the timing of the trailer was “unhelpful”.
Robert Jobson, another royal expert, told the Daily Mail: “I think everyone knew it was going to happen at some stage, it was inevitable. They picked the optimum moment to get the maximum publicity.”
