King Charles chooses a side against Harry, Meghan, and Netflix as he teams up with rival streaming service in surprise move

Filming is already well underway at Dumfries House, a 2,000 acre estate that’s part of The King’s Foundation. The feature-length Amazon special aims to show viewers how to “transform people, places and ultimately the planet” focusing on nature and green causes – something which has always been of great importance to Charles. 

The documentary will be adapted from his 2010 book Harmony: A New Way of Looking At Our World. A palace source told The Times: “The King is greatly looking forward to seeing how the Harmony concept can be communicated to a new and international audience, using some of the best creative talents in TV.” (Via the Mirror.)

King Charles’ new documentary deal pits him against his own son

This new documentary marks a significant shift in the royal family’s approach to television. In the past of the family have always worked with British networks for any on-screen appearance. Has Charles taken a leaf out of his younger son’s book by choosing to partner with the US media behemoth known as Amazon? Or is it simply a case of Charles moving with the times? He wants to get his message to as many people as possible and knows that streaming giants like Amazon are better designed to suit his purpose.

Regardless, his decision to partner with Amazon puts him at odds with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who signed a $100 million contract with Netflix in 2020. So, not only are the father and son estranged, but they are now directly competing with one another, working for opposing streaming platforms. 

While we’ll have to wait and see how well Charles’ documentary performs on Amazon, we know that royal content hasn’t been particularly well-received on streaming services in the past. Harry and Meghan haven’t had it easy, with their shows and docu-series tanking on Netflix upon release. 

But then again, the Sussexes haven’t created anything interesting in a long time. Their Netflix shows (and that Spotify podcast) were pretty bland and unimaginative and that, coupled the bad PR they tend to attract, creates the perfect recipe for a flop. Perhaps Charles will see more success, or at the very least, maybe he has some interesting ideas.

Either way, Charles has chosen his side now, his documentary will compete with Harry and Meghan’s Netflix shows. Maybe things really are too far gone at this point for any hope of reconciliation between the father and son.