{"id":182650,"date":"2026-04-01T20:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182650\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:57:09","slug":"queen-elizabeth-and-ted-sarandos-shared-this-harry-and-meghan-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/182650\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth and Ted Sarandos shared this Harry and Meghan problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Prince Harry liked to publicize having a special bond with his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, she didn\u2019t necessarily reciprocate those feelings after he and his wife, Meghan Markle, acrimoniously left royal life in 2020, according to a new biography of the queen.<\/p>\n

The long-reigning monarch even began to ask for another person to be present in the room with her whenever Harry called from California \u2014 especially after he and Meghan criticized the royal family in their bombshell 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, Hugo Vickers writes in\u00a0 \u201cQueen Elizabeth II: A Personal History.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distress the Sussexes caused the queen in the last years of her life cannot be overestimated.\u201d Vickers, a longtime friend of the royal family, sensationally writes in his book, according to Page Six.<\/a><\/p>\n

And as the queen always asked for a lady-in-waiting to be present when Harry called, she\u2019s not the only famous, internationally powerful person to become cautious about their dealings with either the Duke or Duchess of Sussex. In a recent expose on the couple\u2019s falling out with Netflix, Variety reported<\/a> that Ted Sarandos, the streaming giant\u2019s co-CEO, also became wary about taking business calls from Meghan without a witness present \u2014 in his case a lawyer<\/p>\n

The report said that Sarandos had become \u201cpersonally fed up\u201d with the couple during the five years that Netflix invested millions of dollars into trying to produce documentaries, feature films and other projects with them. Netflix, of course, famously produced \u201cThe Crown,\u201d the popular, six-season historical drama,\u00a0 detailing the queen\u2019s reign from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Elizabeth reportedly enjoyed watching the first few seasons of \u201cThe Crown,\u201d perhaps because it offered a generally respectful portrait of her, a royal expert said after her death in 2022.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the company\u2019s relationship with the queen\u2019s self-exiled grandson and his wife had been far from \u201ca fairy tale,\u201d Variety reported. Executives and staff at the company were no longer willing to tolerate their business missteps, the lackluster ratings for Meghan\u2019s lifestyle show, \u201cWith Love, Meghan,\u201d the couple\u2019s \u201cpoor communication\u201d practices and their problematic \u201cbedside manner,\u201d Variety said.<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Ted Sarandos arrives at the premiere of \u201cThe Electric State\u201d on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP, File)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month, it was reported that Netflix had divested from Meghan\u2019s As Ever consumer-products venture, though it would continue to have an arrangement with the couple to get a \u201cfirst look\u201d at any proposed streaming projects. \u201cThe mood in the building is \u2018We\u2019re done,\u2019\u201d one Netflix insider told Variety of \u201cthe vibe on Meghan and Harry.\u201d Netflix also is \u201cexhausted\u201d by the couple\u2019s \u201cperceived pattern of selling repackaged versions of the same story about their exit from royal life,\u201d Variety added.<\/p>\n

Representatives for both Netflix and the Sussexes pushed back against these reports, with a lawyer for the couple also denying that Sarandos ever said anything about wanting a lawyer present during his meetings with Meghan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is blatantly false,\u201d said the attorney, Michael J. Kump. \u201cIn fact, Meghan texts and speaks with Mr. Sarandos regularly, and has been to his home, sans lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Variety reporter, chief correspondent Matt Donnelly, has stood by his his story in an interview with Daily Beast royal correspondent Tom Sykes.<\/a><\/p>\n

This image released by Netflix shows Daniel Martin, left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a scene from \u201cWith Love, Meghan.\u201d (Netflix via AP)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Vickers is similarly standing by his book\u2019s assertions about the queen\u2019s caution around her grandson.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I know any of this?\u201d Vickers writes, according to Newsweek.<\/a> \u201cMy new book is based on 60 years of observation and research, at first from afar (rather like a trainspotter or stamp collector) but gradually closer to the centre and more focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vickers wrote that the queen \u201cclearly wanted some kind of protection\u201d when it came to Harry and Meghan, who developed a reputation for monetizing royal family secrets to promote their brand. An insider told Vickers that the queen wanted her lady in waiting by her side during Harry\u2019s calls for \u201cmoral support and protection\u2026 to ensure there was a record of what was said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Queen was also on her guard with Harry because she was so hurt by what he had done,\u201d the insider added to Vickers.<\/p>\n

The insider was no doubt referring to the March 2021 Opran Winfrey interview, during which Meghan talked about how unhappy she was as a senior member of the royal family. She also accused unnamed royals \u2013 later reported to be King Charles and Kate Middleton \u2013 of saying racist things about her unborn son Archie.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 18: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry attend at the annual Chelsea Flower show at Royal Hospital Chelsea on May 18, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Simmonds – WPA Pool \/ Getty Images)\u00a0<\/p>\n

As has been widely reported, that March 7 interview aired while the queen\u2019s husband, 99-year-old Prince Philip, was in the hospital. Vickers also revealed that Philip had been privately battling pancreatic cancer since 2013, and underwent heart surgery days before the interview aired, as Newsweek also reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the interview, the queen issued her famous statement, \u201cSome recollections may vary.\u201d Her husband died a month later on April 9, 2021.<\/p>\n

Even following the Winfrey interview, Harry and Meghan continued to claim that they had a special bond with his grandmother, with Harry telling Hoda Kotb on the \u201cToday\u201d show in April 2022 that they had a \u201cspecial relationship.\u201d Harry also known to be penning his tell-all memoir, \u201cSpare,\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n

But Vickers reported that Elizabeth didn\u2019t think much of Harry\u2019s choices after moving to California and building a new life with Meghan in Montecito. \u201cThe queen took a dim view of her grandson,\u201d Vickers wrote, \u201cSaying to a confidante: \u2018And now Harry has opted out, and for what? To be a carer for Archie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Sussexes traveled with their children, Archie and Lilibet, to the U.K. in June 2022 for the queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee, she also refused to see them by herself when they visited her at Windsor Castle, according to Vickers. It was the first time the queen met Lilibet. \u201cThey visited the Queen with the children, again with a lady-in-waiting present,\u201d Vickers wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Prince Harry liked to publicize having a special bond with his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1214,48238,11167,157,85,232,9,24,63,122,124,123,904,48239],"class_list":{"0":"post-182650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-celebrity-alert","10":"tag-coffee-break","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-lifestyle","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-queens","18":"tag-queens-headlines","19":"tag-queens-news","20":"tag-things-to-do","21":"tag-tv-streaming"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}