Prince Harry as he appears in the 'Harry and Meghan' documentary on Netflix.Image via Netflix
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Collier Jennings
Published 2 hours ago
Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with a substantial amount of experience under his belt. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. Using his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's been able to tackle a wide variety of articles.
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While he might be royalty, Prince Harry seems to be far more interested in the entertainment industry, especially if his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is any indication. The Duke of Sussex dropped by Colbert's show, jokingly saying that he was on his way to an audition for a Hallmark-style film titled The Gingerbread Christmas Prince Saves Christmas in Nebraska. Once Colbert promptly asked why he would do that, Harry simply replied: " You Americans are obsessed with Christmas movies and you’re clearly obsessed with royalty, so why not?"
Leaving aside the fact that Harry probably isn't going to be starring in any Hallmark movie any time soon, he does have a point about Americans loving shows based on royalty. Take The Crown, which wrapped up its lengthy run in 2023; not only is it one of Netflix's biggest shows, but it kept drawing in viewers season after season — especially when Queen Elizabeth II, whose life The Crown chronicles, passed away. Royalty also tends to play a major role in holiday movies, both in ones that Harry jokingly described and actually work put out by Netflix or Hallmark. In short, we love seeing royalty on the small screen.
Royals Are Becoming Less of a Power Structure and More of a Source for Entertainment
Harry and Meghan Netflix interviewImage via Netflix
While England is still technically ruled by a monarchy, when it comes to said monarchy, Americans prefer to watch the glitz and glamour surrounding the royals rather than their actual governance. Take Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, for example. The entire event was televised live; the guest list included notable names like Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Markle's castmates from Suits; and nearly 30 million people in America tuned in to watch the ceremony. When Harry and Meghan stepped back from the royal family and gave a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, it set records on Google's search history.
Why is America drawn to the going-ons in the royal family? Perhaps it's far easier to watch the monarchy's problems rather than consider the flaws in our own government. Or perhaps it's due to the fact that ideas of royalty are fully intertwined with our culture. High schools crown kings and queens for proms. We use the terms "yas queen" or "yes king" to hype up our friends. Even our pop culture loves to touch on royalty — Princess Leia in the Star Wars saga, all the different Disney princesses, or superheroes like Black Panther and Aquaman who hold royal titles. Even King Arthur, who's arguably the figurehead for British royalty, continues to inspire films and TV shows.
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Posts By Collier Jennings Aug 25, 2024Knights and Princes Have Become a Fixture of Netflix's Recent Holiday Films
If we love watching the stories of real-life royals, Netflix's recent holiday-themed films prove that fictional monarchies are just as big of a draw. Vanessa Hudgens dipped into this well not once, but twice: not only did she star in The Princess Switch trilogy of films where a chef and a princess switch places, but also The Knight Before Christmas, where she falls in love with an actual knight. There's also A Christmas Prince, which features a royal who's basically Prince Harry in all but name...and winds up falling for a reporter (Rose McIver) who's sent to get dirt on him.
Most of these films are fairly predictable; the royal and the girl have a meet-cute, they slowly get to know each other over the course of the film, and by the time the credits roll, they've fallen in love. It's gotten to the point where Netflix might be beating Hallmark at their own game, yet it continues to prove that we love seeing princes and princesses fall in love. In fact, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have their own long-term deal with Netflix, which produced a docuseries and a holiday special. Maybe Henry's joke about being the star of a Christmas film could actually come true.
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