Ironically, I wrote this before the Sussex Netflix deal was announced so now its just fitting to talk about Netflix and the British royals.

The corporation which best depicts the British royal family also known as the ‘The Firm” is Blockbuster Inc. Blockbuster was the king DVD rental company in the early 2000s. If you returned a DVD late even by 1 minute while waiting in the long lines you were hit with a penalty. If you forgot to rewind the video back in the VCR era again you were hit with a penalty. My experience with Blockbuster was paying fines for breaking rules and protocols.

 The endless silly rules and stiff penalties for those who broke its protocol is very akin to the ‘The Firm’. The pleasure and joyful experience of watching the video or DVD were almost always zapped by the penalties which resulted from failure to follow rules and protocols of Blockbuster. Sometimes you paid more in penalties than you did to actually rent out the video or DVD.

When Netflix came along the experience of renting a DVD was simply different. You could mail in your DVD, no stupid rules, or penalties. For the first time you felt like this business actually cared for you as a customer. When Netflix introduced streaming, it was goodbye Blockbuster. There were no more drives to the store with Netflix. You could watch a DVD for longer than the 3 days at Blockbuster without incurring the rules of limited day rentals. What a fantastic new customer experience. Who knew what we wanted before everyone else? Well Netflix did; just like the Duke and Duchess could see the winds of change blowing.

In the world of royal watching particularly to those of us in the Commonwealth and around the world the focus of the reporting was on fashion. The emphasis was on making the mundane tasks done by royals sound extraordinary. The body language readers and the usual royal fan stuff all monotonous and out of touch with the audience. Duchess Dolittle and Duke Workshy as they were dubbed by the British press just did not offer anything worth watching.

Then came Meghan and Harry who like Netflix created a meaningful royal interactions. The focus was on the work and the impact on communities. Meghan and Harry showed genuine interest to the people they met while on royal engagements. Harry and Meghan made it a point to search out people who had been excluded by the Royal institution and make them feel welcome. Remembering all the protocols and rules like in Blockbuster is exhausting. So along came Harry and Meghan the Netflix royals who could hug and share ideas and suddenly the experience was different. Meghan and Harry transcended the institution.

Harry and Meghan are really not considered the most senior members of the royal family, and suddenly they became the most talked about couple on the planet. People who didn’t care about the monarchy before felt that, with Meghan, there was a woman in the House of Windsor that represented someone that they hadn’t seen there before: It changed what it meant to be “royal and regal” — those connotations were no longer only associated with being white. This made Meghan a huge draw for the royals — but being a draw, you will also attract jealousy.

Omid Scobie Interview The Cut

The royal brand is so much like Blockbuster Inc. In the year 2000 Netflix asked Blockbuster to partner with them. Blockbuster had the name recognition and bullhorn much like the British royals with the royal rota. Everyone at Blockbuster thought Netflix was some fringe niche entity and ridiculed that suggestion. When Harry and Meghan suggested part time royal work the courtiers mocked them. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan wanted to bring change and harness the power of connections to spread the influence of the Windsor dynasty. Not only did the courtiers seek to humiliate them with a resounding ‘No’. Meghan and Harry were even told they could not use the word ‘royal’ because of brand infringement.

Meghan and Harry were told they could not take their 11.3 million Instagram fans or use the word ‘Royal’ for their future endeavors. Harry and Meghan’s global popularity could have been used to cement brand Windsor. Now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s mega Netflix deal gives them access to 193 million fans. That’s a bigger audience than the royal rota combined. The courtiers are cringing because they missed a golden opportunity to elevate and make them appear inclusive just like Blockbuster missed streaming service.

The same courtiers and royal reporters who insisted people use the name Meghan Markle when she worked as a royal now insist on using the title the Duchess of Sussex. The reason is simple, it’s to make the royal connection an attempt to make royals relevant again.

The royal road to irrelevancy is paved by men in grey suits and Angela Kelly.