Prince Harry is considering making a documentary about Princess Diana to mark 30 years since her death, Newsweek has been told, but the move could prove difficult for Prince William after a pledge he made 10 years ago. The Duke of Sussex has said much over the years about parallels that he sees between Princess Diana and Meghan Markle's experience with the palace and the U.K. media. And according to The Daily Telegraph he is preparing a documentary about his mother to mark the 30th anniversary, in August 2027, of the Paris car crash that caused her death.
The newspaper reported he has begun approaching potential participants. Newsweek understands the duke has discussed a number of options for projects honoring his mother's legacy and is yet to decide on which would be the most meaningful. Nick Ede, a U.K. brand and culture expert, told Newsweek: "Him and his brother quite rightly a few years ago said they wouldn't be talking about their mother again and if they did they would be doing it jointly.
"William will be really upset. I think if Harry has any thoughts about coming back into the royal family in any way shape or form this is stopping that dead in its tracks." To . A major documentary could be tricky for William.
The brothers did a series of on-camera and print interviews in 2017 to mark the 20th anniversary of Diana's death but William told journalists at the time, including Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, that it was a one off and he would not be opening up about his mother in the same way again. If he sticks to that pledge then Harry will have space to own the narrative about their mother's memory, presenting William with a dilemma about whether and how to pay his own tribute. One option would be a Netflix show, since Harry and Meghan still have a "first look" deal with the streaming platform, giving it first refusal on content they produce.
"It has to go to Netflix because they have that first look deal," Ede said. "There's no way he can tout it anywhere else. I'm sure other streamers would probably want it because they know it will be a ratings winner but it's only going to be Netflix unless Netflix pass on it.
"They might be doing something with the king and decide not to do it but I think it's definitely going to be a Netflix show. Because they have this deal, we know they want content and this is the kind of content that would get a lot of eyeballs, which is the most important thing for them." Another option would be to swerve TV altogether and simply pay tribute on social media or with a written essay for a print publication, of the kind he did for the left-leaning British political magazine the New Statesman in May about antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred. "He will want to do something to commemorate his mother in some way," Ede said.
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