Prince Harry is back in the headlines this week, talking about slipping into depression after the move to Canada and about how the smell of his mother's perfume unlocked memories he'd shut away. Every time that happens, my group chat does the same thing. Somebody asks "wait, which season of The Crown is that?" and then three people give three wrong answers about where to stream it.

So let's fix the wrong answers. We already have a separate rundown of Harry's own documentaries on this site, so this one is about the bigger royal saga he keeps getting pulled back into: The Crown, the Diana films and docs, and the slightly ridiculous Harry and Meghan TV movies. Myth by myth, because that's how the misinformation arrives.

Myth 1: "The Crown is the show about Harry"

Not really. Harry barely gets any lines. The Crown runs from the 1940s to 2005, and Harry is a boy for all of it. The final season covers Diana's death in 1997 and William's early years at St Andrews, with Harry mostly in the background, sulking in a way that reads very differently now.

If you want Harry's side of the story in his own words, The Crown isn't it. Harry & Meghan, the 2022 docuseries, is. So is The Me You Can't See, the mental-health series he made with Oprah, which is the one that actually matches this week's news. That one is on Apple TV, not Netflix, and people get this wrong constantly.

What The Crown does do is show the machine Harry says crushed him. Seasons 4 through 6 are the Diana years, with Emma Corrin playing her in season 4 and Elizabeth Debicki taking over for 5 and 6. Debicki's season 6 is the one I'd rewatch after this week's interviews. Harry's distress comes across more powerfully through how the camera treats his mother than through any scene he's in himself.

Myth 2: "You need Netflix for all of it"

You need Netflix for a lot of it. All six seasons of The Crown are Netflix originals and they aren't going anywhere. Harry & Meghan, Heart of Invictus, and the filmed Broadway production Diana: The Musical (so misguided it loops back around to must-see) are Netflix too. The ad-supported plan is $7.99 a month right now, the ad-free Standard plan is $17.99, and there's no contract, so one month gets you through most of this list.

But the Diana films and documentaries are scattered. The Princess, the 2022 HBO documentary built entirely from archival footage with no talking heads, lives on HBO Max. The Oprah interview that kicked off the whole post-royal era aired on CBS, which puts it in Paramount+ territory, but check the app before you subscribe because it has come and gone from that catalog before. And the Lifetime movies are their own problem, which I'll get to.

Myth 3: "Spencer and The Queen are on Netflix"

Twice this year someone has told me, confidently, that Spencer is on Netflix. It isn't, and it never has been in the US. Kristen Stewart's Diana movie came out through Neon, and its streaming home has moved around. It has lived on Hulu before, but I'd search the title on JustWatch or your TV's search bar before assuming anything.

Same story with The Queen, the Helen Mirren film about the week after Diana died. I just rent it when I want it, usually $3.99 on Prime Video or Apple TV, because chasing it between services isn't worth the ten minutes. Rentals give you 48 hours once you press play, which is plenty.

Rule of thumb for this whole genre: Netflix handles the royal series, and the royal movies are rentals.

Myth 4: "The documentaries are all the same, so pick whatever's free"

They are very much not the same. The Princess on HBO Max is the one that will actually land after this week's headlines, because there's no narrator telling you how to feel. It's just the footage, and watching the press pack chase her through the 80s and 90s is uncomfortable in a way that hits harder now that Harry has talked about what it did to him as a kid. HBO Max with ads is $9.99 a month.

Diana: In Her Own Words, the National Geographic film built around her private recorded tapes, takes the opposite approach and is worth it purely for her voice. It's a Nat Geo title, so Disney+ or Hulu is where I'd check first.

Then there's the churn. Tubi, Pluto TV, and The Roku Channel carry a rotating pile of cheaply made royal "specials," free with ads. A few are fine. Most are an hour of stock footage with a narrator who sounds like he's selling you a used car. If the title is something like "Diana: The Untold Story" and you've never heard of the production company, it's filler. Free is fine. Just don't confuse it with the good stuff.

Myth 5: "The Harry & Meghan movies are on Netflix with the documentary"

No, and I understand the confusion. Lifetime made three TV movies: Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance (2018), Becoming Royal (2019), and Escaping the Palace (2021). They are what they are. I have watched all three. I'm not proud.

They stream on Lifetime's app with a pay-TV login, or through Philo, which is the cheapest live TV package that includes Lifetime at about $28 a month with a free trial. They also show up for rent on Prime Video and Apple TV for a few dollars each. They are not on Netflix, and the Netflix Harry & Meghan is the real couple, not actors. If you're searching Netflix and getting confused, that's why.

Myth 6: "You need cable to keep up with the royal news cycle"

Not really. The interview clips driving this week's trend hit YouTube within hours, posted by the networks themselves. The Sunday shows and newsmagazines like 60 Minutes land on Paramount+ the next day. If you want to be the person watching the full broadcast live, a $25 antenna pulls in ABC, CBS, and NBC in most US cities for free, which covers Good Morning America, Today, and whatever special sit-down comes next. No subscription at all.

Myth 7: "I'll have to keep all of these"

Please don't. This is the entire point of a guide like this. My actual approach, for what it's worth:

  • Keep Netflix if you're going to work through The Crown. Six seasons is a couple of months at a human pace, and most of the royal series live there anyway.
  • Add HBO Max for one month for The Princess, plus whatever else you've been meaning to watch there. Cancel before the renewal.
  • Rent Spencer and The Queen rather than hunting for them. Two rentals cost less than one extra subscription.
  • Skip Philo unless you genuinely want the Lifetime movies. If you do, use the free trial and watch all three in a weekend. That's an appropriately silly way to spend a weekend.

What's actually new this week (time-sensitive)

Harry's comments about depression, the Canada move, and his mother's perfume come from a new round of interviews making the rounds this week. As of this writing there's no new documentary or special attached to them. If a streaming special does get announced, Netflix is the likeliest home given his history with the service, but don't believe it until you see it in the app. Everything else above (The Crown on Netflix, The Princess on HBO Max, the rentals) has been stable for a long time and should stay that way.

If you watch only one thing after reading this, make it The Princess, then season 6 of The Crown, in that order. The documentary gives you the real footage; the drama gives you what the kids in the back of the car might have been feeling. Argue with me about it if you like. I'll be the one re-subscribing to HBO Max for the third time this year.

Priya

— Priya Raman