Harry and Meghan Lifetime film slammed for ‘sick’ scene in which Duchess dies in car crash like Princess Diana

‘Who thought this was a good idea?’ one viewer questioned

Lifetime’s new Prince Harry and Meghan Markle film has been met with outrage for including a dream sequence in which the Duchess of Sussex dies in a car accident.

Airing on Lifetime on Monday (6 September), Harry & Meghan: Escaping The Palace dramatises the events that led to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepping down from their royal duties in 2020 and their subsequent tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

It is the network’s third film about the royal couple, following on from 2018’s Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance and 2019’s Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal.

In a series of new images released on Friday (3 September), Meghan (Sydney Morton) is shown in a car crash similar to the one that killed Princess Diana in 1997.

She is seen surrounded by photographers while lying under an overturned car as Harry (Jordan Dean) tries to open the door.

The scene plays out in the film as part of a dream sequence, with Meghan then waking up next to Harry and their son Archie.

Nonetheless, the photos were widely condemned on social media, with Twitter users branding the scene “distasteful” and “sick”.

“Who thought this was a good idea?” asked Fox presenter Elizabeth MacDonald, while another tweet branded the pictures: “Sick. Sick. Sick.”

“Lifetime movie stoops to new low of tastelessness,” one Twitter user wrote. “New film inspired by Princess Diana’s death sparks outrage. As it should. Harry drawing a parallel between his mother and his wife is a joke.”

“I find it incredible the depths of depravity people will go to these days,” another tweet read. “How utterly distasteful. How would the producers like a movie about their partner dying in a car crash?”

The Independent has contacted Lifetime for comment.