Queen Elizabeth ‘upset’, threatens to boycott BBC over new documentary

The Royal family is reportedly outraged about the upcoming two-part BBC documentary The Princes and the Press which throws the spotlight on the alleged feud between royal brothers, Prince Harry and Prince William.  

According to The Daily Mail, the 95-year-old monarch is ‘upset’ that the national broadcaster would air the “tittle-tattle” documentary without the royals previewing such sensitive material first, and has sided with her grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, in threatening to ‘boycott’ the BBC if it chooses to go ahead with the controversial programme.  In jeopardy is the long and mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed by the Royal Family and the BBC; with the Palace allegedly threatening not to co-operate on any future projects in a highly unusual “tri-household boycott”. 

Despite numerous meetings between Prince William’s representatives and the BBC, sources say the corporation is still refusing to preview the programme to the Royals before the planned broadcast tonight, Monday, November 22, at 9pm. 

Intense media speculation about the rift between William and Harry was confirmed when Harry gave a revealing interview in 2019 during a tour of South Africa.

“We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him and I know he will always be there for me. We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we are so busy but I love him dearly,” the Duke of Sussex told ITV’s Tom Bradby .

So far, the BBC has said the documentary will only offer ‘context’ for the brothers’ relationship with the media. The Daily Mail says a source inside the Palace believes the film will portray how Prince Harry and Prince William pitted the media against each during the peak of their feud.  According to their source, “there is upset about it. The households are all united in thinking this is not fair. No one at the Palace has seen it.”

This isn’t the first time a documentary focused on the brothers faced backlash. Back in July 2021,  a scene had to be cut in an ITV documentary Harry and William: What Went Wrong?  in which royal biographer, Omid Schobie, alleged that Prince William planted stories about his brother’s mental health struggles to the press. 

Representatives from both the Cambridges and Sussexes repeatedly denied the allegations that the brothers used the press against one another.

Meanwhile, the once harmonious relationship between the Royal household and the BBC has become increasingly strained after the corporation was forced to apologise to the Queen in 2007 for “misrepresenting” her in one of their documentaries. 

In May of this year, the Duke of Cambridge accused the BBC of “fuelling” his mother’s paranoia during the now-disgraced Martin Bashir interview aired by the network in 1990. 

Fuelling royal anxiety about tonight’s documentary is the fact that director Amol Rajan has previously called the British monarchy “absurd” and reportedly has over 80 hours worth of interviews at his disposal. 

The BBC continues to remain tight-lipped about what exactly the documentary will say about the Princes and their relationship with the media.