Amazon Prime’s Citadel starring one of Meghan Markle’s best friends makes sexual insult against Kate
A big budget thriller starring one of the Duchess of Sussex’s best friends makes a crude and sexual jibe about the Princess of Wales.
Citadel, which is being screened on streaming giant Amazon Prime, stars Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jones who has repeatedly backed Meghan publicly.
Ms Chopra Jones, 41, plays the leading lady, an elite espionage agent Nadia Sinh in the five-part spy action series.
And in the third episode, she is involved in a scene with a crime boss named Balduino Basto, portrayed by Sen. Monro.
Richard Madden’s character Mason Kane goes to see Basto in Morocco under Nadia’s instructions and she is speaking to him in his ear.
Priyanka Chopra and Meghan Markle pictured together, seemingly during an evening out to watch Hamilton on Broadway
Meghan Markle (left) has often been publicly supported by Priyanka (right)
Basto is then asked for help to break into the armed forces chief’s office.
It prompts him to say: ‘The chief of armed forces? You might as well have asked me how to get between the legs of the Duchess of Cambridge!’
It comes after it was claimed last week that the new live action remake of Disney movie The Little Mermaid, which is one of the Duchess of Sussex’s favourites, contains a dig at her sister-in-law.
A critic who saw an early screening of the film noted the apparent jibe against the Princess of Wales, in the script for the movie.
The reviewer pointed to the scene where Ariel and Prince Eric meet, after she’s given up her voice to get to the surface and he has to try to guess her name.
He said: ‘His first guess is Diana. His second guess is Catherine, but after [Ariel gives a disgusted] reaction [concludes] ‘OK, definitely not Catherine.’
‘Disney would be disingenuous to imply those name choices were coincidental.’
Diana is of course the name of Prince Harry’s late mother, who died in August 1997 following a car accident in Paris.
And Catherine is the full name of his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, who is more commonly known as Kate.
Ms Chopra Jonas and the Duchess of Sussex, 41, became friends when they met at an Elle magazine event in 2016 and soon after the Duchess of Sussex interviewed her for her blog The Tig, which is no longer in existence.
They were also seen at the theater together on New York’s Broadway where they were watching the musical Hamilton shortly after.
Ms Chopra Jonas plays the leading lady, an elite espionage agent Nadia Sinh, in Amazon Prime’s Citadel
The third episode contains a crude sexual reference to the Princess of Wales, although refers to her by her previous title, the Duchess of Cambridge
Priyanka (right) attends the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018 (pictured with Abigail Spencer, left)
In 2018, Ms Chopra Jones wrote an open letter about her friend before the royal wedding in 2018, around the time Meghan made it onto the TIME 100 list.
She said: ‘More than anything else, Meghan is an important influencer in a world that needs strong public figures to respect and look up to.
‘People the world can be inspired by. Meghan, standing shoulder to shoulder with Harry, will be a princess to the people.
The 36-year-old Bollywood actress, who boasts a three-year friendship with the Duchess, has insisted that while Meghan has been heavily scrutinized due to her mixed heritage, her ‘progressive, modern’ friend can ‘handle’ the criticism.
On Meghan, daughter of a black mother and white father, facing criticism from the media, the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador told the Sunday Times in 2019: ‘I’ve seen that and it’s really unfortunate. But if there’s anyone who can handle it, it’s her.
‘Of course it has to do with racism, it’s an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she’s been herself through all of this. A lot of people got to know her after everything, but I knew her before and she’s the same chick.’
Indian screen star Priyanka went on to reveal the pair connected through their similarities in how they ‘see the world and as girls’, which echoes Meghan’s previous comments on their friendship.
In an interview with Press Trust of India in 2016, the royal gushed over how she and Priyanka ‘just clicked’.
She said: ‘It was just an easy, natural progression. We’ve managed to keep in touch via email and text, and try to see each other whenever we’re both in the same town.’
However, the pair were hit with claims of a feud earlier in 2019 after the Miss World 2000 winner failed to attend Meghan’s baby shower.
The actress was grilled over whether she skipped the occasion as she was angry the Los Angeles native didn’t attend her wedding to Nick Jonas in India the year before.
During a discussion on Watch What Happens Live earlier this year, Priyanka laughed off the rumours, insisting it was simply ‘not true’.
Years before the apparent jibe at the Little Mermaid emerged, Meghan previously admitted she drew a comparison between the story and her own struggles as a working royal after marrying Prince Harry.
In her interview with Oprah in 2021 she recalled watching the classic 1989 animation during her troubled time in the UK after her 2018 wedding.
‘I was sitting in Nottingham cottage and The Little Mermaid came on,’ Meghan said.
‘And who as an adult really watches The Little Mermaid but it came on and I was like, ‘Well I’m here all the time I might as well watch this’.
‘And I went, ”Oh my God, she falls in love with the prince and because of that she loses her voice”.
‘But in the end she gets her voice back.’.
Citadel is one of the most expensive television shows, with a production budget of almost £300 million. It premiered on April 28 and a second season has recently been commissioned.