Paparazzi clips in Netflix's 'Harry & Meghan' from unrelated events were 'not meant to be literal,' according to a source familiar with the project

• An unnamed source spoke to The Telegraph about the use of stock paparazzi clips in "Meghan & Harry."
• The source told The Telegraph it's "standard practice" to include stock content in documentaries.

An unnamed source said to be privy to the making of Netflix's "Harry & Meghan" spoke to The Telegraph about the inclusion of out-of-context and unrelated shots of paparazzi in the upcoming docuseries, calling it "standard practice."

Volume I of Netflix's docuseries about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is set to premiere on December 8, with Volume II following on December 15.

Ahead of the premiere, Netflix released a teaser trailer, which included previously unseen photos of the couple, on December 1 and a more in-depth trailer on Monday.

Netflix as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were criticized for both trailers because they included photos and videos of paparazzi that appeared to be unrelated to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex or were not shown with context.

Multiple clips of paparazzi in the trailer were from events unassociated with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

The teaser trailer included a shot of photographers at what appeared to be a royal event, but the photo was actually taken at the 2011 premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two," according to The Sun.

The second trailer also included photos and clips of paparazzi that were unrelated to Harry and Meghan, including a video of President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen's car being swarmed by photographers in 2019 and a separate video of photographers in front of a UK court for the sentencing of model Katie Price for drunk driving charges in 2021, as Buzzfeed's Ellie Hall reported.

Representatives for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as well as Netflix did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

On Tuesday, an unnamed source said to be "familiar with the making of the Netflix documentary" of Harry and Meghan told The Telegraph's royal editor, Hannah Furness, that the inclusion of stock clips is "standard practice in documentary and trailer production."

"You use stock images to tell a story," the unnamed source said, according to The Telegraph. "It's not meant to be literal in a trailer."

The source also told The Telegraph that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not have editorial control over the documentary, so it was not their choice to include the footage in question.

Evening Standard royal editor Robert Jobson said on Twitter on Monday that one clip included in the trailer lacked important context.

The clip showed Meghan and Harry walking with Archie in an aerial view, with a camera lens in the side of the shot.

As the clip rolls, Harry says via voiceover, "You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories."

Jobson said the photo was used to "suggest intrusion by the press" and that it was a "complete travesty," as he said the picture was taken by a member of an accredited press pool at Archbishop Desmond Tutu's home in Cape Town, South Africa, adding that Harry and Meghan "agreed to the position" of the photographers.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did reportedly face security threats when they lived in the UK

Despite the backlash to the trailers, Harry and Meghan faced real safety threats when they lived in the UK.

In a recent interview, outgoing Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu was asked by Channel 4's Cathy Newman whether he was convinced there was a "genuine" threat on the Duchess of Sussex's life on more than one occasion.

"We had teams investigating it," he replied. "People have been prosecuted for those threats."

Harry also spoke about the "pain and suffering" of women who married into the royal family in the second trailer, which included clips of the paparazzi following Princess Diana and Kate Middleton.

Harry has previously voiced fear that Meghan would meet the same fate as his mother, who died in a car crash in 1997 after being chased by photographers, in the 2021 Apple TV+ docuseries "The Me You Can't See."

"History was repeating itself," Harry said in the series. "My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone who wasn't white, and now look what's happened. You want to talk about history repeating itself? They're not gonna stop until she dies."