South Park’s jab at Meghan and Harry the latest in a long lineage of royal satire

Long-time fans of the adult animated comedy South Park will let you know that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are equal-opportunity satirists. Be it Tom Cruise, Barbara Streisand, or a parody of the Canadian royal family, no one is truly off limits for the pair, who were in the Forbes top ten highest-paid entertainers of 2022.

Their latest targets are a pair who have been under public scrutiny and debate since the release of his tell-all book and subsequent media appearances from late 2022 to 2023; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In the latest episode, titled “The Worldwide Privacy Tour”, though they are not explicitly revealed by name, even a brief look at the characters in the episode scream “that’s Harry and Meghan.”

Perhaps the most damning moment from the 20-minute episode (and there are a few) stems from when the pair appeared on the fictional Good Morning Canada. The host begins their interview with Harry by explaining ‘You’ve had everything handed to you. But you’re saying your life has been hard and now you’ve written all about it in your new book Waaaagh,” to which the portrayal responded, “Yes, that’s right.”

Meghan then interjects saying “Yeah, I just told him you should totally like write a book because your family is like stupid and so are like journalists.” “So you hate journalists, right?’ the host replies. ‘Now you wrote a book that reports on the lives of the royal family. Right? So you’re a journalist.”

The response the host received from the pair was: “We just want to be normal people.”

While royalists may not be amused, South Park has a knack for picking up topical issues and using them as single-story narratives - as evidenced by the South Park documentary 6 Days to Air - and with Meghan and Harry once again the topic of discussion ahead of King Charles III’s coronation in May, the creators felt now was the time for the pair to be ripe for parody.

The South Park episode however is the latest in a long lineage of royal satire and parody in the media and one that throughout history has been plumbed for humour. One can go back to the 18th century, during the era of King George III, to find one of the first instances of satire which at the time was viewed as a scathing indictment of the royals by James Gillray. Gillray also took aim at Queen Charlotte, portraying her as haggard and naked, and her son George IV as a sexually ravenous libertine emerging from beneath a woman’s skirt.

Though the royal family has remained tight-lipped about their satirisations throughout time, the public seems to have at times less of a sense of humour regarding the establishment being punched up against. But it’s become a tried and true tradition for the Royal Family to be parodied - including these examples Peopleworld has looked at.

Spitting Image

During its heyday, Spitting Image was considered the satirical show on television during the ‘80s, with politicians and celebrities considered ripe for parody. The Royal Family was no exception to this rule either, with the overly-exaggerated rubber faces portraying Queen Elizabeth, The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles.

Queen Elizabeth was more often than not seen with her beloved corgis while Charles was the bumbling, upper-class “twit” constantly calling the Queen “mommy.” Upon its revival (currently available on the streaming service Britbox), there was more of a focus on the modern royals - William, Kate, Harry and Meghan. We do think however that despite the exaggerated nature these caricatures are meant to have, the model of Meghan is a little harsh.

The Prince

The Prince was touted as HBO’s next breakout animated hit and features an all-star cast in voice acting roles that included Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, Lucy Punch and Orlando Bloom. The cartoon was also written and created by Gary Janetti, who previously wrote for Family Guy and Will and Grace, alongside having one of the more amusing Instagram accounts on the platform.

Debuting on HBO Max in 2021, the show bombed, with reviewers calling the cartoon focusing on Prince George of Wales “unfair and inappropriate” and drawing comparisons to Janetti’s previous work on Family Guy, albeit “not nearly as biting and funny," Decider mentioned in their review.

The Windsors

Written by the co-creators of Star Stories, Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie, The Windsors is a satirical portrayal of the British royal family featuring Harry Enfield as King Charles III that aired on Channel 4 between 2016 to 2020. Reimagined as a soap opera, the show would draw from real-life events and how they would affect the royal family themselves.

While it finished its initial season in 2020, a fourth season of the show has been commissioned for later in 2023, including a special based around the coronations of King Charles III. But will the writers of the story draw influence from the whirlwind media tour Harry and Meghan embarked on while the show was off-air?

2DTV

In between the original and reboot of Spitting Image, 2DTV filled that void left behind for prime-time satire. True to Spitting Image form also, the Royals were frequently mined as a source of parody throughout the run of the series from 2001 to 2004.

Again, Queen Elizabeth was parodied as the put-upon mother and grandmother of the Royal family, complete with her beloved corgis, while Prince Phillip was the out-of-touch, haphazardly mannered older gentlemen Elizabeth sometimes despaired about.

Watching 2DTV and Spitting Image side by side did reveal that in terms of parodies regarding the Royal family, Queen Elizabeth was frequently portrayed in a good light - and for her part, Queen Elizabeth never publicly mentioned that she was upset by her portrayal. She got off lighter than other celebrities 2DTV parodied…

Blackadder the Third

… unlike the portrayal of George VI in Blackadder the Third. Played with such enthusiasm and energy by Hugh Laurie, writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton savaged George VI in what could be considered a nod to the work of James Gillray.

Rowan Atkinson and Sir Tony Robinson returned as the ever-scheming Edmund Blackadder and his often-bullied sidekick Baldrick, Laurie’s performance had the then Prince Regent foppish, spoiled, childlike and above all else just plain stupid. Watch the clip of Blackadder trying to teach George and Baldrick how to play charades and you come to realise that perhaps Baldrick isn’t the least intelligent of the three.

King Ralph

While British humourists would focus on the personalities of the Royal family themselves, the 1991 movie King Ralph instead took aim at the antiquated policies of the King or Queen of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

While more a fish-out-of-water tale of a Las Vegas lounge singer, played with lovable charm by John Goodman, the setup for the unlikely scenario did pour some scorn on the royal family. What other ‘90s film would kill off the entire bloodline of the royal family, only for some “yankee” to ascend to the throne while learning the roles and responsibilities a King is expected to have?