Royals deny they were asked to comment on Harry and Meghan Netflix series

Royal sources have claimed they weren't given the chance to comment on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's controversial Netflix show before it aired.

There's been a widespread reaction to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new Netflix series which was released yesterday, December 8th.

In the first three episodes of the docuseries, Harry and Meghan explain how they first met each other and give an insight into the difficulties they faced with the press and life within the royal institution. 

A row has now broken out over whether the royal family and the palaces were given the right to reply to the Netflix show.

A senior palace source insisted Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and members of the family were not approached for comment on content in the series.

This allegation runs contrary to a statement that “members of the royal family declined to comment on the content within this series” displayed on-screen at the start of the opening episode.

A Netflix source insisted the communications offices for the King and the Prince of Wales were contacted in advance and given the chance to react to Harry and Meghan’s claims.

Both Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace confirmed they did receive an email purporting to be from a third-party production company from an unknown organisation’s address and attempted to verify its authenticity with Archewell Productions and Netflix, but never received a response.

"In the absence of this verification, we were unable to provide any response. The substance of the email we received also did not address the entire series," a source said.

The UK's papers have joined calls for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to give up their royal titles after taking issue with the couple for attacking Britain’s institutions

The next installment of the six-part series is due to be released next week on December 15th.

A 30-second teaser available at the end of the third episode suggests they will focus on Harry and Meghan’s wedding, as well as their decision to quit the monarchy and ultimately move to the US.

The teaser ends with Harry saying: “There was no other option at this point. I said, ‘We need to get out of here.’”