The monarch’s new doc raises many questions. Why Amazon? Will it compete with Harry and Meghan – or Clarkson’s Farm?

So King Charles is working on a feature-length documentary for Amazon Prime Video, which will apparently detail his philosophy on how to “transform people, places and ultimately the planet”. Times have changed. Before, you waited years for a royal TV project – now they all come along at once.

The royal documentary of old was a rare event, eagerly looked forward to, cherished and lovingly analysed – by royalists at least – for years to come: think of the BBC and ITV’s Royal Family in 1969. Now they’re ubiquitous, what with Harry and Meghan’s Netflix programmes – including how to lay a dining table in someone else’s house in California by Meghan – not to mention Channel 5’s endless Saturday night royal documentaries.

Stephen Bates is a former Guardian royal correspondent and author of Royalty Inc: Britain’s Best-known Brand

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