Irish Examiner view: Pick a side in the royal dilemma

Does watching 'Harry and Meghan' constitute support for an innocent couple persecuted by a racist media apparatus or make viewers complicit in celebrities' canny manipulations?

Plenty of viewers in Ireland with a thirst for the minutiae of Windsor family dramas will watch 'Harry and Meghan' on Netflix, but what of the casual viewer? 

Now that winter has truly arrived, with a noticeable drop in temperatures, readers are no doubt burrowing into the couch at home and considering home entertainment options rather than venturing out into the cold.

The arrival of the first three episodes of the documentary series Harry and Meghan on Netflix means the online streamer will be one of those options for many people. The couple have been in the headlines ever since Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, met Meghan, a prominent TV actress, and their growing estrangement from the rest of the British royal family in recent years has kept them in the public eye.

This brings us to the classic dilemma for those who are not already devotees of the various narrative threads tying the royal family together. There are plenty of viewers even in Ireland with a thirst for the minutiae of the Windsor family dramas who will watch the series anyway, but what about the casual viewer?

There’s an interesting consideration for the person dithering over the remote control. 

Does watching this series constitute support for an innocent couple who have been persecuted for years by a merciless, racist media apparatus, or does it make the viewer complicit in the canny manipulations of two celebrities determined to have their cake and eat it when it comes to publicity?

The question can always be sidestepped with another choice. Anything but The Crown.