Does King Charles already have a palace war room for Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’?

The timing of Netflix’s Harry & Meghan is pretty great. December 8th is the three-month anniversary of QEII’s passing, and December 15th is the Princess of Wales’s sad Christmas carol concert. Kate’s gonna have to pull out her Wiglet of Distraction next week and wear all of Diana’s jewelry all at once. Maybe Kate will go on stage and mumble-sing some carols solo to pull attention. Anyway, the gossip going around for a few days is that Buckingham Palace has created a “war room” to deal with the fallout from the Sussexes’ Netflix series. Katie Nicholl at Vanity Fair says no, of course not. Her palace sources claim that while William will complain, explain, whine, scream, cry and peg about the docu-series, King Charles will take a “heads down, carry on” approach.

Palace aides are said to be bracing themselves for further damaging headlines and revelations, but despite reports senior courtiers have been locked in crisis talks, well-placed sources tell Vanity Fair that the strategy is to ride out the storm without drawing too much attention to the TV series.

“It’s likely going to be tricky but the intention is to keep heads down and keep going,” a royal source says. “It’s a tried and tested strategy and has served them well in the past. William is letting his work speak for itself as we saw in Boston and the King has a busy program of events. The message from the palace will be duty.”

The teaser, however, suggests the program, which comes just weeks after the latest season of The Crown, could be more than a distraction and has the potential to damage the royal family and its reputation internationally.

While King Charles’s communications team are understood to be reluctant to be drawn into publicly commenting, Kensington Palace, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ household, could take a different approach. Prince William has made it clear that he will not tolerate accusations of racism and has previously defended the royal family after Harry and Meghan claimed that a family member voiced concern over the color of their unborn son’s skin. When asked if the royals were racist, William responded, “We are very much not a racist family.”

According to one insider, the prince could have his comms team make a comment if the documentary makes untrue and or damaging allegations. “While Charles believes in the age-old mantra ‘never complain never explain’ William could be more inclined to speak out particularly if he feels he has to defend himself or the family over something serious like racism,” the source says.

In addition to the British press, the Sussexes also take aim at courtiers and the palace as an institution — whether they single out family members remains to be seen. The series of images in the latest trailer show Meghan in tears and Harry with his head in his hands as the couple’s lawyer Jenny Afia says, “There was a war against Meghan to support other people’s agendas.”

[From Vanity Fair]

I remember just after the Oprah interview aired last year, Queen Elizabeth’s staff had to talk Charles down from issuing a multi-page screed against the Sussexes. It will be interesting to see what his instincts are now that he’s king – we’ve been told repeatedly that Charles wants some kind of reconciliation with the Sussexes, but I have my doubts that Charles is willing to do literally anything to provide accountability for how the Sussexes were treated or even apologize to them. Now, William? William doesn’t have the good sense god gave a goose, so he will be huffing, puffing, whinging and lying all month. Good times. Also: I absolutely believe that BP and KP have war rooms going. I would imagine that Middleton Manor has a war room going too, because ultimately, William doesn’t give a f–k if Harry & Meghan tell all about Kate.

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