Harry and Meghan's Netflix trailers criticised over 'misleading' clips

Netflix has so far released two trailers promoting the Harry & Meghan docuseries

Two trailers for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new Netflix docuseries have been criticised for allegedly using footage and photos in misleading ways.

The trailers show archive clips and pictures as Prince Harry and Meghan talk about being sidelined by the Royal Family and hounded by the media.

However, it is thought at least three such images were taken from events that had nothing to do with the couple.

Netflix and the Sussexes' production company Archewell have not commented.

There are further allegations that an image was cropped to suggest the couple were left on the edge of a royal event, when they were in fact front and centre.

There is also a suggestion that another photo has been used to illustrate press intrusion, when it was actually taken at an event with a small number of photographers whose attendance was controlled and agreed upon in advance.

On Tuesday, veteran royal correspondent Jennie Bond criticised the trailers for their "extremely sloppy production values", after ITV host Lorraine Kelly described the use of the images and footage as "bizarre".

Here are five instances that have been highlighted from the first teaser trailer, released last week, and the extended trailer, released on Monday. The first three episodes from the series will come out on Thursday.

1. The Harry Potter premiere

A photograph of paparazzi appears in the first trailer, just before a clip of Harry saying he "had to do everything I could to protect my family".

However, it is said to have actually been taken at a Harry Potter premiere, five years before the duke and duchess met.

Analysis of the image by the Sun shows a large number of similarities between the paparazzi scrum at the film premiere, and the photo used in the Harry & Meghan trailer.

The image of the photographers is the first one that comes up if you search the word "paparazzi" on picture agency site Alamy.

Alamy says it was taken on 7 July 2011 - the date of the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

"Of course, that's not to say that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have never been hounded by a tonne of photographers before - we all know that they've struggled with press intrusion and being so in the spotlight in the past," noted Cosmopolitan.

"But the inclusion of this particular image, while demonstrative of what they've experienced, isn't a factual representation of a real day/time that the Sussexes were feeling stressed by the press."

2. The Katie Price trial

A clip in the second trailer, which apparently illustrates paparazzi hounding the couple, was actually taken when former model Katie Price arrived at Crawley Magistrates' Court last December.

Shortly before that shot, the Duke of Sussex is heard speaking of the "pain and suffering" of women marrying into the Royal Family, adding that he did not want "history to repeat itself", as a clip shows men apparently chasing someone with cameras.

The clip was in fact recorded as Price arrived to be sentenced over a drink-driving charge, according to analysis by news outlets including Sky News, LBC and Metro.

The analysis says the footage has been flipped horizontally, so the photographers who were in reality facing to the left, are facing right in the trailer.

Photographs of the same incident, which feature a cameraman wearing the same clothes, are on Getty Images.

3. The Michael Cohen trial

One section of the second trailer also features clips of reporters, photographers and cameramen apparently in close pursuit of the couple.

However, one particular media crush seen by viewers was not targeting the royal couple, but rather President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.

He was surrounded by photographers as he left his New York apartment in 2019 to serve time in prison for financial crimes, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.

The use of this footage in the Harry & Meghan trailer was noted by publications including the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail.

Similar footage, which was filmed in the aftermath of the Cohen trial and shows the same group of photographers outside his apartment, is available on Getty Images.

4. The overhead camera shot

One shot sees Harry and Meghan being photographed from above, as Harry's voiceover talks about the leaking and planting of royal stories in the media.

However, the royal editor of the Evening Standard, Robert Jobson, who has been critical of the Sussexes in the past, said these pictures were not taken invasively.

"This photograph used by Netflix and Harry and Meghan to suggest intrusion by the press is a complete travesty," he wrote on Twitter.

"It was taken from a accredited pool at Archbishop Tutu's residence in Cape Town. Only three people were in the accredited position. H & M agreed the position. I was there."

His account was backed up by ITV's royal editor Chris Ship, who tweeted: "The filming of Archie at Archbishop Tutu's residence was highly controlled.

"And the ITN Productions camera filming the Sussexes' Africa documentary was there with their permission. It was not a media scrum. They spoke to [ITV News presenter] Tom Bradby inside."

5. The picture cropping

In the teaser, the Duke of Sussex tells viewers there is a "hierarchy of the family", as an image of the Royal Family standing on the Buckingham Palace balcony is shown.

It was taken during Trooping the Colour in June 2019.

However, analysis by the Telegraph showed the image had been cropped in such a way as to make the now Prince and Princess of Wales appear close to the centre, with the late Queen to the right.

In fact, the newspaper noted, Queen Elizabeth II was standing in the middle of the balcony for the RAF flypast, and Harry and Meghan were actually standing closer to her than the Cambridges, as the couple were then known.