Sussexes are to blame for 'civil war': Queen's chaplain says Harry and Meghan ... trends now

One of the Queen's chaplains has said that Prince Harry and Meghan are to blame for the 'civil war' in the Royal Family after they launched hostilities.

Dr Gavin Ashenden, who was a chaplain to Her Late Majesty for nine years until 2017, said that the Royal Family should be deeply concerned about the 'docu-series'.

In  the new trailer for the couple's Netflix reality show Harry and Meghan's lawyer, Jenny Afia, talks about a 'war' being waged against her clients.

However, Dr Ashenden believes it was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who started the hostile environment among the senior royals. 

'I'm afraid they have to be very worried,' Dr Ashenden said. 'Meghan and Harry have created a kind of existential civil war and there's no doubt at all they're capable of landing severe damage on the Royal Family, partly because they're fitting in with a certain social mind set, and society is divided into two halves, a reactionary and a progressive half.

'The progressive half will support them without thinking, and the reactionary half, the conservative half, if I can call it that, has no protection against them.

'It would be much better if this civil war wasn't happening, but it is, and it will cause damage all round.'

Dr Ashenden, 68, resigned as chaplain to the Queen after criticising a service at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, at which a Muslim student had been invited to read, in Arabic, a passage from the Koran that explicitly declared that Jesus is not the Son of God.

'The [royal family] have to ignore it and pretend it's not happening,' he said on LBC. 'Given the position they hold in society, they don't have a mandate to attack.'

Royal experts today described the incendiary series as 'an amazing act of revenge' that will 'widen the rift' with Prince William and weaken the very institution he will inherit when he becomes King.

In a new-one minute preview, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex lash out at the 'hierarchy of the family', claim insiders 'leaked and planted' stories about them, describe royal life as a 'dirty game', then - after footage of Princess Diana and Kate being hounded by photographers - talk about 'the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution'.

The teaser will no doubt horrify courtiers bracing for further allegations that are likely to widen the rift between the Sussexes and the Waleses. 

Speaking to MailOnline, royal author Richard Fitzwilliams speculated that the effects of the Netflix docuseries will be felt for years to come. 'This is a full frontal, extremely destructive attack on the Royal Family - the institution as well as members of those households,' he said. 

He said: 'I think this will widen the rift between the brothers. There is no doubt that this Netflix series is an amazing act of revenge designed to weaken the very institution that William will inherit as future King. Of course everyone will be asking how King Charles will react to this in the short-term, but the effects of this will be felt in years to come. That's the whole point.

'This is a full frontal, extremely destructive attack on the Royal Family - the institution as well as individual households and members of those households. This series I suspect will greatly weaken the royals in the eyes of the world, especially among young people.'

The late Queen's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter called the series 'one long whinge', adding: 'I think that William and Kate will watch this trailer and think to themselves, ''oh God, here we go again''. 

'This is just one long whinge, and for what? Harry says he's doing this to protect his family - protect them from what? Meghan says if we only knew what happened behind closed doors - why should we? What exactly is it that they have to say which we haven't heard before?'. 

During the teaser, a friend is heard claiming that the couple's experience has been 'about hatred, about race' as a strikingly intimate and previously unseen clip flashes up of an exasperated Harry holding a hand to his face as Meghan passes behind him while heavily pregnant with their daughter, Lili. 

After a series of clips of photographers and newspapers being printed, Meghan says, 'I realised, they're never going to protect you' before she is seen once again crying. Harry then adds, 'I was terrified, I didn't want history to repeat itself.'

Royal experts are rounding on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their latest Netflix documentary trailer used a picture taken during an approved photo opp in South Africa was used to suggest intrusion from the press.

Just days after an image in the first teaser was revealed to be a scrum of photographers at a Harry Potter premier and another dated from when Harry was dating Chelsy Davy, it's now emerged that parts of the second advert also aren't as they seem.