How Harry and Meghan have hired ‘divisive’ PR head who oversaw mortifying Royal programme that showed Diana’s ghost and Harry as a Nazi: Shock move revealed in full by ALISON BOSHOFF

Prince Harry and Meghan have turned to the PR executive who was responsible for promoting Netflix’s controversial Royal Family drama The Crown to manage their public image.

In a stranger-than-fiction twist it can be revealed that Emily Robinson, announced last week as their new ‘director of communications’, was in charge of the programme from series three to six.

She oversaw global publicity for storylines such as Harry in Nazi fancy dress, Diana’s controversial Panorama interview and ‘ghost’ Diana talking to the Queen. She was also on the team which fought against calls for a disclaimer when, in series five, the show depicted Charles plotting against his mother and savouring the possibility of her abdicating.

It’s widely believed The Crown was a source of irritation, mortification and offence to the Royal Family – and Robinson was the one who promoted it as a prestige drama depicting essential truths about the monarchy.

Sources say she ruled publicity for The Crown ‘with an iron fist’ and was a ‘divisive’ figure at Netflix as a result. She left her job in April 2024, a few months after the final, most controversial, series aired.

That one (series six) featured a sympathetic portrayal of Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend Dodi, hinting he might have been the victim of a ‘racist’ Establishment. Allegations that Fayed was a sexual predator were circulating widely before the show aired, and have since apparently been confirmed in dozens of accounts from women who fell prey to the Harrods boss.

A source says: ‘In the circumstances, it’s almost beyond belief that Harry and Meghan would hire someone straight from The Crown.’

The combination of Netflix and Harry and Meghan has already caused the Royal Family considerable pain – notably with the Sussexes’ incendiary tell-all docu-series.

The Crown’s series six featured a sympathetic portrayal of Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Princess Diana ’s boyfriend Dodi (left), hinting he might have been the victim of a ‘racist’ Establishment

Emily Robinson was announced last week as the Sussexes’ new director of communications

In that programme, Meghan claimed she’d been prevented from getting help when she was suicidal. Prince Harry, meanwhile, accused the Royal Family of ‘unconscious racial bias’, and of briefing against him and his wife.

It’s understood that the Sussexes are fully aware of Robinson’s link to The Crown, but regard it as simply one part of her long career. However, Prince Harry has previously said he did not mind The Crown’s fictionalising of some of the Royal Family’s most intimate moments.

In 2021, he told James Corden in an interview: ‘They don’t pretend to be news. It’s fiction. But it’s loosely based on the truth.’

He continued: I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself.’

Later, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2023, Prince Harry confirmed: ‘Yes, I have actually watched The Crown.’ Asked if he did any ‘fact-checking’ while watching, he said: ‘Yes, I do, actually. Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right.’

A source said of Robinson: ‘She was always very charming and supportive to Peter Morgan and all the actors in The Crown. She is one of the breed of publicists who think that the talent can do no wrong.’

Angelina’s charity gives handout to LA school nepo babies

Angelina Jolie was made an honorary Dame by the late Queen in 2014 for her work advocating for the end of sexual violence in war zones, and her services to UK foreign policy.

Yet, closer to home, there are question marks over the most recent filing by her charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which she set up with ex-husband Brad Pitt.

Documents show it gave money to various refugee organisations and hospitals, as well as disaster relief efforts. It also, though, forked out money to the Buckley School in LA: a fee-paying institution which is most famous for being the alma mater of children of celebrities. Notable alumnae include Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

The $5,000 donation is described as a ‘Buckley Financial Assistance Endowment’. A spokesman for the charity said it was ‘targeted to assist qualified students who otherwise could not afford to attend’.

Angelina Jolie (pictured) was made an honorary Dame by the late Queen in 2014 for her work advocating for the end of sexual violence in war zones

He added the money constituted ‘approximately 3 per cent of direct giving’ and that direct giving is ‘only part of the Foundation’s mission’.

He did acknowledge that overall expenditure by the charity had declined in recent years – from around $3million to $1million – saying: ‘The Foundation is in the process of winding down its endowment … as Ms Jolie redirects her giving and efforts to a stand-alone operation.’

Sources in the Pitt camp indicate he has not been actively involved in the charity for some time, and referred queries to Jolie.

Packham takes a pop at ‘flabby’ docs

Springwatch presenter Chris Packham seems happy to make enemies. He has taken a huge swipe at TV programme makers, saying: ‘There’s a lot of really bad TV made these days. If I were the young Chris now, I wouldn’t be getting the enrichment from TV that I got back in the 60s and 70s.

‘I struggle, particularly with documentaries made by the streamers. They are so desperately slow!

‘The streamers seem to want to make long programmes and lots of episodes. And that discipline of cutting back until you’ve got a very good, lean programme – which tends to be the case with those made by the BBC – seems to have gone out of the window.’

He added: ‘There are exceptions, where streamer documentaries have held together well. But most of them frustrate me enormously.

‘There is a flabbiness in documentary-making today which is regrettable.’

Ewan’s girl: All mother-daughter relationships are difficult 

Ewan McGregor’s 23-year-old daughter Esther

Ewan McGregor’s daughter Esther is starring in a new Prime Video drama called We Were Liars. It’s based on a best-selling YA book about a Kennedy-type family, one of whom winds up almost dead – with amnesia – on a beach.

Esther, 23, said she related to the complex family dynamics explored in the show. Her father Ewan left mother Eve in May 2017, after falling in love with American actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Esther was 15 at the time. She also felt a connection to her teenage character, Mirren. ‘I find a lot of myself in her, especially at that age,’ she admitted. She said that Mirren’s relationship with her mother was ‘complicated … as all mother-daughter relationships are’.

Mirren is raised to be ‘proper and perfect and presentable: your hair is well done and your clothes are nicely put together’. ‘Many of my battles were similar,’ Esther said. ‘Trying to be perfect is also something that I thought was achievable for a long time. As much as [Mirren’s behaviour] triggered me to want to pursue that perfection, I can’t achieve that. It’s not me.’

The series airs from June 18.

How I made Maggie’s day – with 22 bottles of rosé

Matthew Goode – wonderful in Netflix’s Dept Q – says he’s honoured to have played a small but essential part in Dame Maggie Smith’s ‘favourite day on a set, ever’.

The Downton Abbey stars were in Oxford to film a wedding scene for the show. Goode told Deadline: ‘Our green room for 20 actors was the garden of an ex-Concorde pilot. This is going to sound jolly unprofessional, and it is a bit unprofessional…

‘He came out with a bottle of rosé and just put it on the table … All the other actors looked at it and they’re like, “No. Well, obviously we can’t do that.” And I said, “I’ll have a glass, thank you so much.” And I sat and I quaffed it… and I said, “Is it OK if I have another one?” ’

At this point, the rest of the cast realised what they were missing – ‘particularly the ones that didn’t have any lines that day’. The filming involved was ‘just a big ensemble piece’, Goode, who played Henry Talbot in the show, explained.

Downton Abbey stars Dame Maggie Smith (left) and Matthew Goode (right) were in Oxford to film a wedding scene for the show

‘None of us had that much to do, really. So we all started drinking. We went through 22 bottles of rosé. No one was drunk. But my God, were we merry. And if you’ve made Maggie Smith happy, then it can’t be wrong.’

He said the national treasure came off set and announced: ‘I think that might’ve been my favourite day on a set, ever.’

He added quickly: ‘I wouldn’t do it again, though. For any future producers listening.’

Martin Clunes is a real cool customer. While making a documentary about working dogs he allowed himself to be buried under a mound of snow in Yellowstone National Park, to see if one of the trained search-and-rescue animals would find him and dig him out. ‘It was arranged, and to be honest I wasn’t remotely scared,’ he insisted. ‘I was watching Dad’s Army on my phone in the hole.’ Possibly listening to Lance Corporal Jones saying ‘Don’t panic!’

Calling all intimacy couches…

Danny Dyer says there is so much bonking in Rivals 2 – which is currently being filmed – they have hired every intimacy coach in Britain.

Danny Dyer with Lisa McGrillis, who plays his on-screen wife Valerie on the set of Rivals 2

Dyer, who plays self-made man Freddie Jones in the show, said: ‘We are doing 12 episodes of Rivals and we are filming until March next year. It is brilliant, but it is a mad thing to do a sex scene. If you think about it, you are legally allowed to tongue someone else. It is part of your job!’ he cried, adding: ‘It’s OK if you fancy it, I am not going to lie.’

And it’s not just Freddie who’s at it. ‘On Rivals there are a lot of intimacy coaches,’ said Dyer. ‘I think we used every intimacy coach in the land.’