Netflix today announced Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first TV series following their multi-million pound deal with the network, which will be a documentary series about the Invictus Games.
The programme, Heart of Invictus, will follow competitors around the world training for the Games at The Hague which had been expected to take place in 2020 but were delayed until next year due to the pandemic.
Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions are working with director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara on the series which will follow both the athletes and organisers as they prepare for the event.
The Duke of Sussex, 36, who will appear on camera and be an executive producer, has been living in an £10million mansion in Montecito, California, with his wife Meghan, 39, since last summer after they both quit as senior royals.
The couple, who have also signed a multi-million-pound deal with Spotify and gave a bombshell interview to Oprah Winfrey last month, are expecting a baby girl while their son Archie will turn two next month.
Talking about the new show today, Harry said: ‘Since the very first Invictus Games back in 2014, we knew that each competitor would contribute in their own exceptional way to a mosaic of resilience, determination, and resolve.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex speak to Oprah Winfrey in their bombshell tell-all interview which first aired on March 7
‘This series will give communities around the world a window into the moving and uplifting stories of these competitors on their path to the Netherlands next year.
‘As Archewell Productions’ first series with Netflix, in partnership with the Invictus Games Foundation, I couldn’t be more excited for the journey ahead or prouder of the Invictus community for continuously inspiring global healing, human potential and continued service.’
Harry previously explained the Netflix and Spotify deals in the Oprah interview by saying: ‘My family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.’
Dominic Reid, chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation, said: ‘We’re very excited about the opportunity to shine the global spotlight of Netflix on the men and women that we work with, in order to ensure that even more people can be inspired by their determination and fortitude in working towards their recovery.
‘This partnership will also bring in significant funding to the charity. We are extremely grateful to our Founding Patron for his continued efforts to support the military community, and for making this partnership happen.’
And Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive and chief content officer, said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Archewell Productions team are building an ambitious slate that reflects the values and causes they hold dear.
‘From the moment I met them, it’s been clear that the Invictus Games hold a very special place in their hearts, and I couldn’t be happier that their first series for Netflix will showcase that for the world in a way never seen before.’
The announcement comes hours after Piers Morgan accused the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of ‘complete hypocrisy’ over their interview with Oprah and said he has the ‘universal support’ of the British public.
Morgan left his job on Good Morning Britain last month after saying he did not believe what Meghan had told Oprah.
The duchess said she was ignored when raising concerns about her mental health and that racist comments had been made before the birth of her son, Archie.
Netflix today announced Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ‘s first TV series for the network, about the Invictus Games
Prince Harry’s postponed 2020 Invictus Games has been pushed back again, it was announced today. Pictured: The couple in 2018
In his first TV interview since he departed Good Morning Britain, Morgan spoke to US conservative news personality Tucker Carlson and stood by his comments, accusing the couple of the ‘most extraordinarily disingenuous smear, hit job’ on the royal family.
Piers Morgan slams ‘stand-in weather guy’ Alex Beresford for ‘pre-meditated’ Meghan Markle attack that cost him his job on ITV’s GMB
Piers Morgan has slammed Alex Beresford for launching a ‘premeditated attack’ during their on-air Meghan Markle row that cost him his job at Good Morning Britain (GMB) in his first TV interview since he quit the show.
The 56-year-old journalist caused a social media firestorm last month after he said he ‘didn’t believe a word’ of what the duchess said during her extraordinary interview with US chat-show legend Oprah Winfrey.
Piers Morgan gave an hour-long interview to the Tucker Carlson Today programme on the Fox Nation streaming service
It led to an explosive on-air clash with GMB weatherman Beresford, who accused Morgan of ‘trashing’ the Suits actress before he stormed off set. Later that day, the MailOnline columnist quit the ITV breakfast show.
Sitting down with US TV host Tucker Carlson on Monday to tell ‘MY truth’ about the controversy surrounding his criticism of the Sussexes, Morgan said Beresford’s comments were part of a ‘premeditated attack’.
During his hour-long interview with the Tucker Carlson Today programme on the Fox Nation streaming service, Morgan hit out at Beresford, calling the 40-year-old ‘the stand-in weather guy’ and ‘not a journalist’.
He also revealed he was ‘disappointed’ by his co-host Susanna Reid’s apology after he stormed off set – but said he believed she may have acted ‘in the grip of fear’ of a ‘huge Twitter pile-on’ if she had defended him.
Morgan even poured cold water on allegations that Meghan received racist coverage in the British Press, saying: ‘I never saw that, I don’t believe that’ as he pointed to the media’s positive coverage of the Royal wedding in 2018.
Instead, he doubled down on his original comments, saying he was right not to believe the duke and duchess in their interview with Oprah because 17 of their claims have since been proven false, exaggerated or unverifiable.
And he said he has the backing of the public. Morgan said: ‘Old, young, black, white, it didn’t matter. They’ve been coming up to me in their droves all day every day.’
Morgan said people either agree with his comments on Meghan or defended his right to free speech. ‘The British people have seen through this,’ he told the Tucker Carlson Today programme on the Fox Nation streaming service.
Morgan said he has had a ‘lot’ of job offers since leaving Good Morning Britain and explored the circumstances surrounding his departure. He briefly walked off the set after a confrontation with weather presenter Alex Beresford.
Morgan described his former colleague as ‘the stand-in weather guy who does the weather occasionally’. He added: ‘He’s not a journalist. But he’s somebody I’ve helped with his career a number of times when he’s asked me to.’
Morgan accused Beresford of a ‘premeditated attack… on a personal level’.
He said he should not have walked off the set. And Morgan addressed his former Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid’s on-air statement regarding his departure. He said he ‘didn’t particularly like it’, but suggested she was ‘in the grip of fear’.
Morgan added: ‘I honestly think she was in the grip of fear. I think she was fearful that if she went too far in saying nice things about me, the same thing might happen to her, that there would be a huge Twitter pile on.’
In his interview with Carlson, which lasted for more than an hour, Morgan described Meghan, who rose to fame starring in TV drama Suits, as the ‘delusional duchess who is on the make’.
Criticising the couple for their commercial deals with the likes of Spotify and Netflix, Morgan said, ‘they’re not making all this money through talent – Meghan was an OK actress on a show not many people watched’.
And of Harry, Morgan praised his work in the Armed Forces, before adding: ‘What’s happened to that guy? That he’s turned into this whiny brat in his mid-30s complaining his dad isn’t still financing everything he does.’
Asked by Carlson what the future holds for the duke, 36, and duchess, 39, Morgan said: ‘She has a track record of ditching everyone and everything when they cease to be of use to her so my advice to Harry is make sure you remain of use.
‘And his primary use, it seems to me, is he has a royal title and she has been ruthlessly exploiting that title to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.’
He accused the couple of telling ‘so many ridiculous whoppers’ in their March interview with Oprah and dismissed claims he was racist for not believing them.
He said the interview was ‘tacky, tasteless, disingenuous, and I’m afraid, I believe, in some cases, downright lying on a global scale’.
And Morgan used his appearance on Carlson’s show to rail against what he described as the ‘woke mob’ and urged the public to ‘stand up and say ‘no”.
He pointed to Sharon Osbourne’s recent departure from a US chat show as an example of so-called cancel culture. Osbourne left The Talk after defending Morgan against allegations of racism over his comments on Meghan.