Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Netflix documentary accused of editing Queen’s 21st birthday speech

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Netflix documentary is being accused of editing the Queen’s 21st birthday speech.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Netflix documentary is being accused of editing the Queen’s 21st birthday speech
The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Netflix documentary is being accused of editing the Queen’s 21st birthday speech

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Netflix documentary is being accused of editing the Queen’s 21st birthday speech.

A communications coach said the alteration changed “the meaning of the statement entirely”, as reported by the Mail Online on Wednesday. (14.12.22)

In a radio broadcast from South Africa on 21 April 1947, the then-Princess Elizabeth pledged to serve people across the nation and the Commonwealth for the rest of her life.

Her words were: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

But in an audio from Netflix - which appears as part of a discussion about the Queen’s mission to “fight” for the Commonwealth and a suggestion it could be seen as a British empire “2.0” – the princess is heard saying: “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Voice coach Susie Ashfield took to TikTok to highlight the removal of the words “your service” – leaving the focus entirely on the Commonwealth – and said: “I wasn’t going to say anything about the Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary because it’s nothing to do with me.

“I’m a communications coach. I help people make speeches. But I really like speeches, which is why when somebody told me about some potential editing that might have happened on the Queen’s 21st birthday speech. I had to check it out... did you hear the difference? And did you notice how just removing a few words changes the meaning of the statement entirely?

“I don’t know what the lesson to learn is here, but I suppose if you are going to be speaking and it will be recorded there is a chance you will get misquoted, your words might get taken out of context or in this case some part might be removed to change the meaning of the statement itself.

“So try not to let that happen to you. And if it does happen to you, remember there will be some people out there who might notice.”

In the third episode of the ‘Harry and Meghan’ show, writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsh, the author of the 2018 memoir ‘Brit(ish)’, described the Queen’s Commonwealth as being “Empire 2.0” before hailing the Duke of Sussex “anti-racist”.

The Independent said on Wednesday Netflix has yet to comment on why the words are missing.

When the late Queen, who died on September 8 aged 96 at her home in Balmoral, stripped the Sussexes of their royal patronages and Prince Harry of his honorary military roles after they left Britain for a new life in America, the couple faced accusations they mocked the monarch when a spokesperson for the pair said: “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.”