Four days ago, the major American network HBO launched a scathing animated comedy about the Royal Family called The Prince which casts a camp and bitchy eight-year-old Prince George in the central role.
The series by the acerbic Family Guy writer and social media sensation Gary Janetti is as nasty a depiction of our monarchy that you’ll ever see in the mainstream media.
The Queen is sweary and unstable, shown shooting a courtier within six-minutes of the first episode.
Prince William is portrayed as an emotionless diva who demands his servants carry him to the toilet in the middle of the night.
Prince Charles is the pathetic king-in-waiting, resentful of his own mother (‘she’s had her go, now it’s my turn,’ he says of the Queen in a conversation with Camilla).
The Duchess of Cornwall herself is presented as a domestic abuser who, in one disturbing scene, slaps Charles so hard across the face he plunges to the floor.
But it’s the depiction of Prince George – the main character who is on screen more than any other royal – that is so mortifying.
DAN WOOTTON: It’s the depiction of Prince George – the main character who is on screen more than any other royal – that is so mortifying
DAN WOOTTON: As we all know, Prince Harry and Meghan have been waging a prominent campaign against the media in recent years. HBO’s show The Prince is everything Harry and Meghan claim to despise – a baseless attack based on mistruths in order for a media conglomerate to make a profit – so why the silence?
Effeminate, camp and weight-obsessed, the implication of what Gary – a 55-year-old gay man – is trying to say about this young boy is clear for all.
The series by the acerbic Family Guy writer is as nasty a depiction of our monarchy that you’ll ever see in the mainstream media, writes Dan Wootton (pictured)
Janetti’s Prince George dances to Lady Gaga songs in his room, sits with his legs crossed, bitches about his hapless pals and demands royal courtiers apply moisturising cream on his face before bed.
It’s a genuinely disturbing and twisted watch that I believe could have implications for the mental health of our future king, given he is coming close to an age where his schoolmates and friends will soon be exposed to this nonsense on the internet.
As we all know, Prince Harry and Meghan have been waging a prominent campaign against the media in recent years.
It’s now been over 100 hours since this comedy was launched in the US on a major platform and there is radio silence from the Sussexes over this direct attack on their family, including their innocent young nephew.
Given how quick they have been to blast other media organisations for far less, surely that is rank hypocrisy?
After all, The Prince is everything Harry and Meghan claim to despise – a baseless attack based on mistruths in order for a media conglomerate to make a profit – so why the silence?
Prince Harry is shown coming to terms with his post-royal life as he and Meghan arrive in an LA apartment. Looking around, he says: ‘This might be the smallest palace I have ever been in’
The Duke of Edinburgh, voiced by Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, is portrayed as drooling and vacant, and at one point collapses onto the floor while the family continues to talk around him
The Duke of Edinburgh eats pureed, mushy food while the rest of the family sits down to a hearty meal in one scene from The Prince
I know exactly why.
This show is made by their new Hollywood mates – neighbour Orlando Bloom even voices the animated version of Harry.
It targets their main royal rivals the Cambridges, while leaving the Sussexes themselves largely unscathed.
Compared to the other royals, the way Harry is portrayed as slightly dim and Meghan as mildly ambitious is positively sedate.
And their own child Archie is not featured as a main character, unlike William and Kate’s children George, Charlotte and Louis.
That’s just like Janetti’s brutal Instagram account – followed by over 900,000 people, including many influential celebrities – which saved its toughest barbs for the Cambridges.
The Hollywood hypocrisy of the celebrity class knows no bounds.
In May, the Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner spoke out against paparazzi photographers taking pictures of her one-year-old daughter with husband Joe Jonas, saying: ‘She did not ask for this life … it’s disgusting.’
Now she’s signed up to receive a massive HBO pay cheque for voicing an unflattering portrayal of the six-year-old Princess Charlotte.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
TV series The Prince, created by Family Guy producer Gary Janetti, depicts Prince George as a child tyrant with expensive taste, a withering sense of humour and a dim view of his family
The 12-episode series – which is available to stream in the US on HBO Max but is not yet airing in the UK – was originally due to premiere in the Spring but was delayed following the Duke of Edinburgh’s death on April 9. It has now been released but still features Prince Philip
Or look at the verbal somersaults attempted by Orlando Bloom to justify being part of a series that trolls his new mate Harry’s blood relatives.
In a recent interview he said: ‘I hadn’t met [Prince Harry] when I signed up to do it, and I subsequently met him and he’s such a nice guy. This guy is so nice, and I think he’s got a great sense of humour. I hope he maintains that through this because they’re sort of on a pedestal. We’re showing real adoration to them in one form or another. I try to justify it, because quite frankly, if I’m honest, it’s not like me to poke fun at anyone but it is done with affection. When I was in my mid-20s, there was so may different people poking fun at me and, in a way, it’s a sign of appreciation.’
Er, you keep telling yourself that mate.
Prince William and Kate have developed, in the past five years, a far more mature attitude about how to deal with the media.
They now accept that coverage of them is fair game, given their role as a future king and queen, but have tried to cultivate a positive working relationship with newspapers and TV broadcasters, while speaking out on matters that really matter to them, like William’s blistering attack on the BBC in the wake of the damning investigation into Martin Bashir’s interview with his mother Princess Diana.
But the one area of their life that has been non-negotiable is the protection of their children at any cost.
They will rightly both be horrified at the HBO series, given it casts their three beloved kids as the main characters.
Some of their fury will also likely be directed at the Sussexes.
It’s undeniable that Harry and Meghan’s constant attacks on the royals has created such a toxic climate that allows a show like The Prince to be considered acceptable in the US when it wouldn’t be in the UK.
The Sussexes want Americans to think the Royal Family is full of racist and sexist bullies who cruelly dismiss mental health concerns.
As far as the American media is concerned, the British royals are now fair game.
Harry and Meghan are the Californian woke champions who should be celebrated with fawning documentaries, TV series, podcasts and articles because they have been brave enough to break free.
Now I’m not for one second saying the Royal Family shouldn’t be satirised or expect difficult coverage.
I’ve never moaned about Channel 4’s unfunny comedy The Windsors, for example, because it leaves the kids alone, and I believe news organisations have a duty to uncover unflattering royal stories that are in the public interest, just like Prince Andrew’s inappropriate friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein which has seen him banished from public life.
But The Prince is punching low – at a defenceless eight-year-old whose life is already going to be difficult enough.
If Prince Harry and Meghan don’t speak out against such a despicable series, even though it’s made by their Hollywood pals, then their credibility to ever criticise the media again is shot.