Prince William is villain for 'not speaking on racism' in new TV film

Prince William is villain for 'not speaking on racism' in new TV film

09/06/2021

Prince William is portrayed as villain for ‘refusing to speak out on racism’ and ‘scoffing at comments about Archie’s skin tone’ in controversial new TV film Escaping the Palace

  • William will be portrayed as the villain in a new TV film about Prince Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family
  • Promotional photos show the actors playing William and Harry arguing as Duke of Sussex lectures his brother 
  • Harry berates William for ‘not speaking out on racism’ while William scoffs at comments made about Archie
  • It comes just days after it was revealed the movie will open with a dream sequence which sees Meghan, 40, involved in a car accident – just like Princess Diana’s 

Prince William will be portrayed as the villain in a controversial new TV film about Prince Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family.

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace, the third made-for-TV movie from US cable channel Lifetime, will dramatise the Sussexes’ ‘controversial conscious uncoupling from the crown, after the birth of their son Archie’, according to its synopsis.  

And the latest promotional photos released show the actors playing William and Harry arguing as the Duke of Sussex lectures his older brother from not speaking out on racism.

It comes just days after it was revealed the movie will open with a dream sequence which sees Meghan, 40, involved in a car accident – just like Princess Diana’s.

Prince William will be portrayed as the villain in a controversial new TV film about Prince Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family. Jordan Dean and  Jordan Whalen are pictured as William and Harry

Latest promotional photos released show the actors playing William and Harry arguing as the Duke of Sussex lectures his older brother from not speaking out on racism. Jordan Dean and Jordan Whalen  are pictured as William and Harry

Images show Prince Harry (played by Jordan Dean) and Prince William (played by Jordan Whalen) arguing in a Kensington Palace garden.  

William tells Harry: ‘What causes problems isn’t colour, it’s culture. Meghan an American. She acts more like a celebrity than a Royal.

In the on-screen bust-up, an angry Harry tells William he needs to address racism.

‘You need to bloody well make a statement with me decrying racism.  As future King, you need to push on this horrific bullying.

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace, the third made-for-TV movie from US cable channel Lifetime, will dramatise the Sussexes’ ‘controversial conscious uncoupling from the crown, after the birth of their son Archie’, according to its synopsis. Pictured Harry and Meghan (played by Sydney Morton)

Harry is also seen arguing with Prince Charles on the phone because Charles has refused to see him about his concerns. Steve Coulter is pictured as Prince Charles 

The drama claims to explore the ‘real details’ behind the decision that eventually drove the couple to leave their royal life behind

William also scoffs at comments made about Archie’s skin-colour, saying: ‘For the last time I agree diversity in the family is a good thing.’

The fall out is watched by worried Kate (played by Laura Mitchell) and Meghan (played by Sydney Morton).

Harry is also seen arguing with Prince Charles on the phone because Charles has refused to see him about his concerns.

The drama claims to explore the ‘real details’ behind the decision that eventually drove the couple to leave their royal life behind.

The brothers have been separated by a rift that began in March 2019 when William reportedly threw Harry and Meghan out of Kensington Palace over the alleged bullying of staff, with the Sussexes breaking up their joint foundation and setting up a new office at Buckingham Palace. 

The brothers have been separated by a rift that began in March 2019 when William reportedly threw Harry and Meghan out of Kensington Palace over the alleged bullying of staff, with the Sussexes breaking up their joint foundation and setting up a new office at Buckingham Palace. Pictured the actors in the new film 

Harry first publicly said his brother and father were ‘trapped’ by the institution of monarchy, and that feels ‘really let down’ by his father Charles. The duke also accused the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.

The claims emerged in Robert Lacey’s book Battle of Brothers, published before Harry and Meghan went on Oprah to accuse the Royal Family of racism and claim they were abandoned when the Duchess of Sussex was suicidal and six months pregnant.

Harry first publicly said his brother and father were ‘trapped’ by the institution of monarchy, and that feels ‘really let down’ by his father Charles. The duke also accused the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.

In a series of astonishing claims, Harry alleged that the Prince of Wales cut off contact with him in the wake of his decision to step away from The Firm.  He told how, during his time in Canada, his father refused to answer his calls as tensions within the family rose and their relationship soured.

The movie was shot in Vancouver, and Harry is given a full head of hair – despite having thinning locks in real life, while his balding brother William is portrayed by an actor who has lost most of his hair. 

Stills also show passionate embraces between the couple in bed in their luxurious Montecito mansion.  

Meghan Markle lies ‘dying’ beneath an overturned car following a horror crash in the controversial opening scene of a new film

As her overturned car is surrounded by photographers, a desperate Prince Harry, 36, pushes his way through the mob before pulling the door open in Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace

The ordeal is just a nightmare and Harry wakes up and is comforted to see his wife and their son Archie

The clip also shows passionate embraces between the couple in bed in their luxurious Montecito mansion

The first teaser released earlier this year saw several heated discussions between Harry and Meghan, during which the former was seen expressing his fears that his wife is being ‘hounded to death’.

‘I see you literally being hounded to death and I’m helpless to stop it,’ the actor tells his on-screen partner, echoing comments made by Prince Harry during his Apple TV+ series, in which he said that his late mother, Princess Diana, was ‘chased to death’ and admitted that he was afraid of ‘history repeating itself’ with Meghan.  

In previous films Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance and Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, the couple were played by Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley, and Charlie Field and Tiffany Smith respectively.

The drama, which will be broadcast in the US today, will explore the ‘real details’ behind the decision that eventually drove the couple to leave their royal life behind.

It will ‘detail Meghan’s growing isolation and sadness, their disappointment that The Firm was not defending them against the press’s attacks, and Harry’s fear that history would repeat itself and he would not be able to protect his wife and son from the same forces that caused his mother’s untimely death’.

The trailer – which Lorraine Kelly branded ‘hideous’ – revealed it will re-enact Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, and dramatise the moment Meghan suffered a miscarriage. 

It sees the Duchess questioning whether she ‘made the world’s biggest mistake’ by marrying into the Royal Family, while Harry insists that he ‘will do everything in his power to keep his wife and son safe’. 

Another still shows Harry and Meghan kissing on the bed, with the Duchess wearing the linen dress by Reformation which she wore on a trip to Fraser Island in Queensland on their tour of Australia in 2018

The trailer sees the actors playing out imagined conversations between Meghan and Harry before their Oprah interview, during which they tell one another, ‘I can’t lose you’

Pictures released yesterday show American newcomers Jordan Dean and Sydney Morton playing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the US TV film Meghan and Harry: Escaping the Palace

The film opens with the Duchess of Sussex under an overturned car, as a seriously injured Meghan then pleads with Prince Harry to help her – but the ordeal is just a nightmare and the duke wakes up and is comforted to see his wife and their son Archie. 

Speaking to Newsweek, Sydney said she feels a ‘responsibility to be respectful’ while playing the Duchess. 

‘Because she is a living breathing person and I’m playing her pretty much right now in her life, I definitely felt a responsibility to be respectful and very grounded and make her a three-dimensional person and not portray her as this tabloid cartoon,’ she told the publication.

‘I think that it’s a different thing when you’re playing someone who is alive and experiencing things in real-time you definitely want to approach it with care.’ 

 The film features Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey (pictured)

Prince William is played by US actor Jordan Whalen, while Singapore-born Laura Mitchell takes on the role of Kate in the film which has been dubbed ‘cheese at its finest’ by royal fans


Her Majesty, played by Maggie Sullivun, also makes her debut in the second trailer, in which she firmly insists that ‘the Monarchy will always survive’ 

The trailer also offers an insight into the stuffy way in which other senior royals will be depicted, revealing glimpses at the on-screen versions of the Queen, Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The Duchess of Cambridge will be played by television actress Laura Mitchell, while Her Majesty will be portrayed by Maggie Sullivun.   

The reported tension between Meghan and Kate, 39, is also alluded to in the trailer, with Kate’s character insisting that that those marrying into the Royal Family know what ‘they signed up for’.

‘This is the life we signed up for. Here, we value dignity above all else,’ she says, while flashing a copy of the large sapphire engagement ring that once belonged to Princess Diana and was given to Kate by William when he proposed in 2010.

Jordan Whalen will play Prince William and is seen in the trailer saying: ‘Let everyone understand it, the Monarchy is at stake,’ he says – while the on-screen Queen states: ‘The Monarchy will always survive.’


The trailer shows Dean modeling a military uniform, which suggests that the movie will cover the Sussexes’ final days in the royal family. After Megxit, Harry was stripped of his honorary military titles and can no longer wear his uniform


At one point Dean tells Morton that she is being ‘hounded to death’ and that he is ‘helpless to stop it’, echoing Harry’s comments about his mother, Princess Diana, being ‘chased to death’ and his fears about ‘history repeating itself’ with Meghan

One clip shows the Queen, Prince Harry, Prince William, and Kate Middleton all sitting in a room together in what appears to be an imagining of the talks that took place between the senior royals in the lead-up to Megxit in January 2020.

At the time, it was revealed that Harry, 36, had a private heart-to-heart with the Queen following a family meeting at Sandringham, and it is understood that Her Majesty made the decision to allow her grandson and his wife to quit their royal roles after this talk.

Harry and William’s late mother Princess Diana is also featured in the quick trailer, with actress Bonnie Suter stepping into her shoes.

In a flashback scene, Suter is seen standing at a podium making a speech, while wearing a black silk jacket with a velvet lapel – a near-identical design to the dark green ensemble worn by Diana in December 1993, when she publicly announced that she would be stepping back from her public duties in order to take on ‘a more meaningful public role with a more private life’.

The new teaser came just a few weeks after Lifetime offered the first glimpse at Dean and Morton stepping into their royal roles 


During a flashback scene, actress Bonnie Suter steps into the shoes of Princess Diana in what appears to be a reenactment of the December 1993 speech in which the royal announced she was ‘reducing’ her public duties 

The speech was made one year after Diana and Charles announced that they were separating, and saw the former opening up about her struggle to deal with the ‘overwhelming attention’ she had received in the wake of that news.

‘I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become,’ she said at the time. ‘Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner, that’s been hard to bear.’

Many have drawn clear comparisons between Diana’s 1993 speech and the announcement that Meghan and Harry made when they revealed they would be stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family in order to ‘carve out a new progressive role within the institution’.   

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