Prince William is reportedly furious over Meghan Markle's alleged behind-the-scenes role in Prince Harry's planned tribute to Princess Diana, with an insider accusing the Duchess of acting as a 'puppet-master'.
According to a report in HeatWorld, the Prince of Wales 'hates the idea' of Meghan working behind the scenes on a project honouring his late mother. 'It makes him even more irate to imagine Meghan in the background, pulling strings like some type of glorified puppet-master and doubtless loving every bit of pain that he and other senior royals are going through,' the insider said.
Harry is reportedly exploring several ways to mark the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana's death in 2027. A documentary is one idea on the table. According to The Independent, the proposed film would be made by Archewell Productions and would likely go to Netflix under the companies' first-look deal. Harry has reportedly contacted friends and relatives of his mother, including her brother Earl Spencer, about taking part, with potential contributors described as 'talking heads'.
The insider claimed there was 'not a shred of doubt in William's mind' that Harry and Meghan would be 'colluding on whatever documentary or movie' Harry pursued. The source also suggested Harry could draw heavily from Spencer's memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, a prospect that 'would surely incense the King'.
The reported project is seen as a 'highly risky strategy' for Harry's efforts to repair relations with his family. Royal editor Emily Ferguson of the Daily Express said a Diana film 'risks worsening relations' between the brothers, noting that William had said after their joint 20th-anniversary documentary: 'We won't be doing this again, we won't speak as openly or publicly about her again.'
Columnist Carole Malone was scathing, saying a tribute 'would end up being about him, it would be about his gripes regarding his mother and how she was treated', and that even charity proceeds would not stop people telling him to move on. Nothing has been confirmed about the project, but the reports have already deepened the divide between the estranged brothers ahead of an anniversary that both had hoped might be marked in peace.
The 30th anniversary of Diana's death in a Paris car crash in August 1997 is expected to be a major media moment. William is reportedly planning to mark the date privately with his family, while Harry's camp has given no official confirmation of any project. Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, has recently published his memoir Swan Song, revisiting the family's memories of the princess. Any Archewell production would fall under the couple's first-look deal with Netflix, signed after their move to California. For now the reports remain unconfirmed, but the prospect alone has reopened the brothers' deepest fault lines.