Prince Harry, Meghan's Doc Trailer 'Put Huge Strain' On Relationship With William And Kate: Report

Prince William and Kate Middleton were not happy about the timing of the release of the first trailer for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's docuseries, a report has claimed.

Netflix dropped the first promo for "Harry & Meghan" on Dec. 1, the second day of Prince William and Middleton's three-day tour of Boston, Massachusetts, and a day before his second annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony.

An anonymous source claimed to Us Weekly that the release of the docuseries teaser in the middle of the future king and his wife's first visit to the United States in eight years fueled the tension between them and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. International Business Times could not independently verify this information.

"Kate and William were left flummoxed when the Netflix trailer aired during their trip to Boston," the insider claimed. "It's put a huge amount of strain on relationships that are already hanging by a thread."

Royal expert and author Christopher Andersen also told Us Weekly that Prince William, whose relationship with Prince Harry is said to have remained strained since the younger royal quit public duties in 2020, is "very angry" at his younger brother over the docuseries trailer.

The "King: The Life of King Charles III" author said Prince William has a "temper," which Andersen claimed he "tries to hide" but "it doesn't work."

"I'm sure he is very, very angry at his brother and cannot understand what he's doing," the royal expert told the outlet of the heir to the British throne.

Some royal fans and pundits had accused Prince Harry and Markle of attempting to steal the Waleses' thunder over the trailer release last week — a sentiment apparently shared by British journalist and royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti.

"To drop it as they have on the first or second day of the Prince and Princess of Wales's trip to the U.S. for the Earthshot Prize shows just exactly how much they wanted to hijack that publicity," Sacerdoti told Us Weekly earlier this month. "It just shows how much they will go to any end at all for as much publicity as possible."

The release of Prince Harry and Markle's Netflix trailer was believed to be a "coordinated campaign" to overshadow the Prince and Princess of Wales' U.S. trip, Page Six reported, citing unnamed sources.

One palace insider told the outlet they believe the Sussexes tried to "disrupt and clash" with Prince William and Middleton's tour.

Royal watcher Hugo Vickers, a friend of the royal family, told Page Six of the timing: "Surprise, surprise, how very boring of Harry and Meghan. But this sort of thing is inevitable. It does sound a bit pretentious what they have produced."

In a trailer released Monday for their docuseries, the Duke of Sussex, 38, seemingly claimed that the royal family planted negative stories about him and his wife, 41, before they stepped back from royal duties and moved to California in 2020.

"There's a hierarchy of the family," Prince Harry said, as the trailer showed footage of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at Trooping the Colour in 2019.

"You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories," he added.

The first three episodes of "Harry & Meghan" stream on Netflix Thursday.

The remaining three episodes will air on Dec. 15.