FLIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Sussexes ‘film Netflix show like royals on tour’... then fly back to LA on private jet
THE Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been wired up and followed by cameras on their ‘royal-esque’ tour of New York amid rumours of a Netflix documentary about their lives.
Harry and Meghan were seen with their own videographer as they toured the city before lecturing the world on vaccines.
The couple – who were yesterday spotted returning in a private jet from an event to raise awareness about climate change – have previously denied filming a fly-on-the-wall series.
But a cameraman was seen running ahead of them at the 9/11 Memorial on the first day of their three-day tour on Thursday. Harry also appeared to be wearing a microphone during their visit to Harlem soul food restaurant Melba on Friday. He had a wire around his neck and tucked into his chino pockets as he hugged owner Melba Wilson.
The couple took their own photographer, Matt Sayles, to accompany them on the trip, the New York Post reported.
The revelations raise questions about why the couple were videoing their visits and speeches on what commentators labelled a ‘private royal tour’.
After their $100million (£77.9million) deal with US streaming giant Netflix was confirmed in September last year, the
‘Should practise what they preach’
couple denied reports that they were producing a series about themselves.
Sources had said it would be a ‘tasteful’ series to ‘give people a glimpse into their lives and see all the charity work they do’. But a spokesman for the couple insisted the only programmes they were making were shows on nature and an animated series on inspiring women.
Harry and Meghan have continually claimed their programmes would focus on ‘worthy’ issues rather than themselves, so any plans to release behindthe-scenes footage of tours would appear to contradict that.
It came as the duke, 37, and his wife, 40, criticised ‘ultra-wealthy pharmaceutical companies’ standing in the way of the ‘need to vaccinate the world’.
They lectured businesses for ‘not sharing the recipes to make them’ with poorer nations as they addressed 60,000 people at the Global Citizen Live event – dubbed Wokestock – in Central Park on Saturday.
The decision to so publicly attack the manufacturers of vaccines that have helped unlock society raised eyebrows given that other campaigners such as Bill Gates have decided to lobby firms privately.
Yesterday Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary to the Queen, said: ‘You have to ask what are they doing there?
‘Are they there to give lectures based on what they think, to make Netflix documentaries about themselves, or to do philanthropic work for the betterment of deprived people? I’m not terribly sure they know. It’s either one or the other, I don’t think combining them is very helpful.’
Global Citizen Live was meant to raise awareness of climate change and global poverty, but just hours later Harry and Meghan were seen touching down in a private jet in Santa Barbara, California, on their way back to their £10million mansion.
Mr Arbiter said: ‘They should begin practising what they preach. If they are not going to practise what they preach, they shouldn’t be preaching.
‘They seem to be treating this like a royal tour in America and Americans, God bless them, seem to be treating them like royalty. I think what this shows is that they are wallowing in their own self-importance.
‘They are giving lectures on various issues they are not qualified to talk on. It is quite difficult to listen to a lecture from someone who is not qualified to give it.’