The British Royal family may well be one of the most documented families in the world.

From the ten o’clock news to The Crown and even South Park, it is hard to flick through the channels without coming across a fictional version of our beloved royals.

So what happens when you take three of the Mail’s royal experts and ask them to watch portrayals of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as seen on our screens throughout the years?

Will they find the clips realistic?

Is there any truth to the Hollywood retellings of Megxit?

And what would really happen if a senior royal came out as gay?

Find out on Acting Royal – a brand new series available exclusively on the Daily Mail’s Royal YouTube channel.

In the first episode, Rebecca English, the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor, Richard Eden, the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor, and Charlotte Griffiths, the Mail on Sunday’s Editor at Large, give their verdict on four films and two series that depict the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – with varying degrees of accuracy.

Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace (2021)

Set three years after the royal wedding, Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace follows the couple as they step down from their frontline duties as senior royals following the birth of their first son Archie. It received a 10 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the clip shown to the Mail’s royal experts, Harry, played by Jordan Dean, and Meghan, portrayed by Sydney Morton, are told by a courtier that the Queen can only meet with them in ’23 days time’.

‘We British tend to be rather good at pretending something isn’t happening for so long, it’ll simply just go away,’ the courtier says.

‘That was a great line from the courtier,’ Rebecca, who has covered the royal beat for the Daily Mail since 2004, said. ‘That was definitely the Palace’s reaction to what Harry and Meghan were asking.

‘Harry and Meghan had been speaking to the Palace for a very long time about their desire to have this half-in, half-out relationship where they didn’t have to be full time working royals and they could pursue commercial interests but still retain the perks and also do some of the work.

‘That actually did happen,’ she confirmed.

Adding his own two cents, Richard, who edits the newspaper’s diary, said: ‘Essentially Harry thought that if he sat down with his grandmother Elizabeth and talked things through, she would understand what their concerns were and they would be able to work things out.

‘But he later complained that even though she had initially agreed to meet him, then it became difficult and courtiers started putting up barriers, saying they’d have to wait and they couldn’t meet.

‘That eventually forced them to rush out statements,’ he added.

‘When Harry wrote Spare, I think he was imagining this in his head,’ Charlotte said. ‘It’s almost like it’s Spare vomited onto a TV screen – it’s such nonsense, it’s so unrealistic.’

Spencer (2021)

Starring Kristen Stewart, Spencer follows Princess Diana as she spends her Christmas holidays at Sandringham with the Royal Family – all while knowing that her husband is having an affair.

The film was met with critical acclaim with Stewart later picking up a Satellite Award for Best Actress.

In one touching scene, Diana is seen with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry discussing presents.

‘This is Prince Harry at his sweetest,’ Richard said. ‘Lying their with his head in his mother’s lap. 

‘It’s a picture of innocence really and how they had their ideal life with their mother. It’s a very nostalgic portrayal.

‘Generally when we see representations of William and Harry with their father, it tends to be quite formal and stiff.’

Referencing the bestselling book Spare, Richard added: ‘Harry has written about that in his memoir, how his father would come and say goodnight to him and it always felt quite formal.

‘But here we have Harry just lounging around, lying with his head resting in his mother’s lap. 

‘It couldn’t be a more intimate, natural setting and I presume that’s what the filmmakers are trying to portray.’

Red, White and Royal Blue (2023)

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, Red, White And Royal Blue follows Alex, the son of the American President, as he develops a romantic relationship with Prince Henry, the self-described ‘spare’ rather than heir to the British throne.

‘This is definitely not The Crown,’ Rebecca said as a half-naked British prince is found hiding in a hotel wardrobe by the White House’s Deputy Chief of Staff. 

‘I can’t believe you’ve put me on the spot with this one,’ she added.

Recoiling at a rather crude line in the film, Richard said: ‘This is very cheeky to include this, isn’t it?

‘It’s certainly an amusing fantasy,’ he said. ‘And you’ve got the practicalities as well.

‘In this case, they are talking about “the spare” so it is not the direct line of succession but if it was the heir to the throne then you are thinking about children and the implications of that.

‘It’s a really interesting scenario but we will stick with fantasy just for now.

‘This is something which we have never seen in Britain,’ Richard added. ‘An openly gay member of the royal family, let alone, in this case, a very senior one.

‘It was a big story when a very junior member of the extended Royal Family, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, came out as gay and got married so this is really something I find hard to envisage at all.’

Indeed, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who recently appeared on the Traitors US, is the first member of the British monarch’s extended family openly in a same-sex relationship, and upon marrying his partner James Coyle in 2018, he was the first to have a same-sex wedding.

Adding her own commentary about Red, White and Royal Blue, Charlotte said: ‘Obviously completely mad but very funny. I wonder if they’ve ever watched it?

‘I think it’s about time we had a gay member of the Royal Family. We’ll have to see what happens in the future.’

The Prince (2021)

The Prince is a controversial adult cartoon series which premiered on HBO in 2021 but was cancelled after one season. It followed an animated Prince George as he navigated ‘the trials and tribulations of being a royal child’.

But it also featured caricature versions of Harry and Meghan on the made-up reality show ‘Royally Screwed’ where the royal couple renovated houses to turn them from ‘drab’ to ‘fab’.

In the episode played to the Mail’s royal experts, the Anderson Family is taken into their new kitchen by the animated Duke and Duchess who reveal that they spent $100,000 on ‘solid gold inlay’.

‘That’s very good,’ Charlotte said while pausing the video. ‘They are alluding to their big spending habits.

‘At the time, they had just done Frogmore Cottage up for £2.4million so I am sure that’s what that is riffing on.’

‘This clip is particularly funny,’ Rebecca said.

‘It really sums up very effectively the money for old rope-ism of what Harry and Meghan have been doing since leaving the Royal Family in terms of their Netflix and media deals.

‘That’s been a criticism that has been levelled at them a lot,’ she said. ‘Taking vast sums of money and producing sub-standard content for it.’

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance (2018)

First aired on Lifetime, this film follows Harry and Meghan throughout their courtship as they struggle with the mounting media attention.

The Mail’s Royal experts were shown a clip of Meghan, played by Parisa Fitz-Henley, as she rants about the paparazzi hounding her family.

‘I spent the entire day asking, no, begging, my nearest and not-so dearest friends and family to turn the press away, to refuse cold-hard cash and deny that Meggie is dating Harry because your family would not consider that dignified,’ the fictional Meghan says in the Lifetime film.

‘That is pretty insulting,’ Rebecca said in reaction to the line.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Richard said while gesturing at the screen. ‘This idea that Meghan here was upset by the news coming out.

‘I remember distinctly that when a newspaper broke the story of Harry and Meghan’s romance, Meghan appeared to be loving it.

‘She was smiling for the cameras who had flocked to her house in Canada. 

‘Didn’t she later say that she was asked not to smile so much because it was sort of awkward for the Royal Family?’ he questioned.

‘This idea that she was horrified by the reaction I think is absurd.’

Family Guy – Season 22, Episode 3 (2023)

The creators of Family Guy are more than used to poking fun at celebrities – and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are no exception.

‘Sir,’ an animated butler says as he approaches an animated Harry and Meghan sunbathing by a pool in an episode of Family Guy which aired in 2023. ‘Your millions from Netflix for no one knows what.’

‘Put it with the rest of them,’ Harry replies.

‘Babe,’ Meghan interjects. ‘Time to do our daily $250,000 sponsored Instagram post for Del Taco.’

‘Well, that’s very funny,’ Charlotte said. ‘The Instagram thing isn’t true because they didn’t use Instagram for ages.

‘The thing about not knowing why on earth they are being paid so much by Netflix has definitely come to pass.

‘So well done Family Guy,’ she said. ‘I think that was a good take.’ 

To watch more of our experts’ reactions to portrayals of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on screen, watch the first episode of Acting Royal now and subscribe to the Daily Mail’s Royal YouTube channel.