Prince Harry and Meghan's Netflix docuseries to be screened on December 8

Duke of Sussex speaks of 'dirty game' involving leaking and planting of stories by royal family in second trailer

The Duchess of Sussex in the documentary. Netflix

Harry & Meghan, the Sussexes’ behind-the-scenes docuseries, will make its debut on Netflix this Thursday, the streaming company has announced.

The second trailer for the “Netflix Global Event” was screened on Monday, with Prince Harry speaking of a “dirty game” involving the leaking and planting of stories by the royal family.

He also referenced “the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution,” and a “feeding frenzy”.

The six-episode docuseries will also “share the other side of their high-profile love story”, said Netflix.

The couple is shown receiving rapturous applause while conducting royal duties, announcing their engagement and their wedding in 2018, as a news clip voice-over by Piers Morgan says: “She's becoming a royal rock star."

It cuts to Meghan saying “and then” before snapping her fingers, with Harry adding: “Everything changed”.

Volume one of the series will launch on December 8 — exactly three months after the death of Harry's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II — with the second volume to be released on December 15.

The new one-minute teaser video opens with a voice-over by Harry saying: “It's really hard to look back on it now and go 'What on earth happened?'”

He continues the narration throughout, saying: “There's a hierarchy of the family, you know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories. It's a dirty game."

Clips of paparazzi photographing the couple are then shown alongside old footage of Harry's mother, Princess Diana, being followed by the media as he adds: “The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution, this feeding frenzy. I was terrified, I didn't want history to repeat itself.

“No one knows the full truth. We know the full truth.”

The first teaser for the £88 million ($108 million) series was released on Thursday, while Prince William and his wife Kate were in Boston for the Earthshot prize ceremony, and in the aftermath of a new racism row involving Prince William's godmother.

In one frame Meghan is shown holding her head in her hands as Prince Harry says: “No one sees what's happening behind closed doors,” before the image flips to a shot of Catherine, Princess of Wales, glaring during a 2019 service for Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey.

Prince Harry and Meghan have delivered stinging criticism of the British monarchy since stepping down from royal duties two years ago. That has included allegations of racism, which led to a rift with the rest of the family, most notably with Prince Harry's father, King Charles III, and his elder brother, Prince William.

The last time Prince Harry and Meghan opened up about their relationship with other members of the royal family, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, it plunged the institution into its biggest crisis of recent times.

Meghan, among other revelations, has previously spoken about how she thought about committing suicide and experienced racism from an unnamed member of the royal family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex through the years — in pictures

There were several “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born”, Meghan had said, referring to when she was pregnant with her son Archie.

Royal commentators say the docuseries is likely to widen the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William.

The release of the first trailer came a day after Lady Susan Hussey resigned from her honorary role last week after repeatedly asking a prominent black advocate for survivors of domestic abuse where she “really came from” during a reception at Buckingham Palace.

US-based royal watcher Kristen Meinzer told The National that Lady Susan's comments were proof “racism and colonialism are not just issues of the past, or of a few outliers”.

“They are systemic issues that the monarchy and modern society were built on,” she said. “And yes, environmentalism and racism are closely linked — with centuries of pillaging done in predominately brown nations for the benefit of predominately white, wealthy ones.”