Reportedly, Prince William and Kate Middleton have banned the BBC from airing their Christmas carol concert due to the ongoing dispute with the broadcaster's new royal documentary. Usually, most of the royal programmes go directly to the BBC, as they are national broadcasters. However, this time, the Christmas Carol charity fundraiser will be aired on the rival ITV network.
Discover our latest podcast
The charity event will be hosted by the Duchess of Cambridge herself at Westminster Abbey. Prince William would sit in the audience with their three children, making it a perfect festive viewing. On this shift from the BBC to ITV, an industry insider commented:
It was all arranged to be on BBC1 but it was switched in the last few days because of the terrible row over the documentary.
Real Coup for ITV
The Royal Family had already told BBC executives that anti-monarchist Amol Rajan's documentary The Princes and the Press could result in a complaint to Ofcom. As such, the TV insider said:
And things are likely to get a lot worse between the Royal Family and the BBC before they get better as the second part of the documentary threatens to go further.
While the BBC and royal family deal with their feud, it seems like ITV is really enjoying the rift. A source confirmed:
ITV were very surprised but delighted to get the late call offering them this incredible exclusive. It will be a fantastic Christmas carol concert that will be TV gold for viewers at home.
Once the couple opted to avoid the BBC after the show went forward with a two-part exposé alleging that William spoke against Harry and Meghan, it became a delight for ITV as the royals might work more with ITV now.
This is a real coup for ITV. It is a brand-new format — the royals have never hosted a televised TV concert before. And to have the Duchess leading on it is a big deal.
BBC favours Prince Harry
The palace is enraged that Meghan's lawyer appeared on the show to answer questions on her behalf. This made her the only member of the royal family that took part in the documentary. Meaning, the Sussexes possibly already knew about the contents of the documentary and approved of it. A TV insider claimed,
Meghan was clearly given a look at the whole thing and got her lawyer on there to protect her reputation. The whole documentary was skewed as if it was from Harry and Meghan’s mouths.
It is all their interpretation of events — that the media was racist and they targeted Meghan because William and his team were leaking against them from the start. The documentary quite simply took Prince Harry’s side.
