Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made a list of requirements for their 2021 visit to New York City, according to newly released emails, which showed requests such as a new carpet and cushions when attending one of the city’s low-income schools.
Royal editor Robert Jobson spoke with TalkTV’s Sarah Hewson about the couple’s apparent demands, which were released in emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
He said: “I mean I’m not sure whether you can be sure whether it’s Megan and Harry laying down the law or whether it’s some overzealous PR”.
The couple made a special visit to Harlem’s PS 123 Mahalia Jackson in September 2021, which is located in a low-income area, during their high-profile visit to the city.
Harry and Meghan’s Archewell team raised the idea of bringing cushions and a new carpet to the public school, allegedly to better fit with Meghan’s aesthetic.
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The emails show that the couple’s aides went through a list of schools in the city and edited multiple press releases to make their appearance sound “more substantial”.
The press list was restricted only to ‘Meghan-friendly’ publications, according to the Daily Mail.
Media that was able to attend included Vogue, but British tabloids were banned.
The Sussexes’ trip to New York in September 2021 was designed to showcase them as world leaders as it included a stop at the United Nations to talk about vaccine equity.
Meghan read her children’s book ‘The Bench’ to the second-grade Harlem pupils during the visit.
The files secured by the Daily Mail also allege that students and faculty at the elementary school were required to sign consent forms for filming.
During their stay, the couple are believed to have filmed some of the scenes, featured in their bombshell Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
According to the emails, three days before the couple jetted to Manhattan, Archewell reps contacted the school “with a ‘location’ and ‘appearance’ release form for filming and asked them to run it by their lawyers.”
The gag order then barred the participants from talking about the Netflix documentary to others and didn’t allow them to make negative statements about the former actress and her husband.
“I agree to not make negative, derogatory, or otherwise unfavorable statements about, or otherwise denigrate or disparage, any of the Released Parties,” the document reportedly said.
Royal photographer Arthur Edwards, speaking on TalkTV, called the gag order “ridiculous,” stating: “That is such a PR thing.”
Jobson said, recalling on his previous dealings with Harry, that the Duke “wouldn’t be bothered about anything like that,” claiming that the demands were probably made from “behind the scenes” rather than from the couple, themselves.
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