The Sussexes were slammed for signing with streaming platform Netflix, but as one royal expert claims the deal is quite tame in comparison to other royal “sell-outs”.
Speaking on The Royal Beat, royal author Robert Lacey said it’s hypocritical for anyone to criticise Harry and Meghan when other Firm members make a profit from being royal.
While discussing the issue of Megix, the Sandringham Summit and the royal rift, Robert raised the issue of how the Sussexes have been criticised for trying to earn their own money.
Referring to when Harry and Meghan announced their dramatic exit, Robert said: “At the time, the sort of issues were ‘how dignified is it to set up Sussex Royal and sell T-shirts?’
“Well, they haven’t done that… they’ve actually done a deal with Netflix to do rather boring social documentaries.”
Robert then compared the heavily criticised Netflix deal to other royal business ventures, which he explained could be seen as a “selling out”, making them appear as “self-righteous”.
“You go to Buckingham Palace, there’s a shop there, you can buy a shower cap with the Queen’s coat of arms, and you can buy the Queen’s gin,” Roberts said.
Royal Beat host Kate Thornton chimed in: “So what’s good for the goose surely should be good for the gander,” to which Robert replied: “exactly”.
He went on to say: “For Buckingham Palace to get self-righteous about ways to make money… I mean, they should make money so they don’t depend on the taxpayer.”
In a separate interview with Express, Robert said that he believes what Harry and Meghan’s Netflix deal – however lucrative – is “perfectly respectable”.
“It is Buckingham Palace’s shops that sell shower caps with the Royal Coat of Arms, Buckingham Palace gin, Prince Charles sells Duchy biscuits…so it’s the pot calling the kettle black,” Robert said.
“The monarchy has stooped to all sorts of commercial devices,” he added.