By Katie Hind Consulting Editor Showbusiness
12:28 20 May 2023, updated 13:47 20 May 2023
- Priyanka Chopra Jones stars in Amazon Prime’s new spy thriller series Citadel
- She has often spoken out in support of Meghan, including before the wedding
A big-budget thriller starring one of the Duchess of Sussex’s best friends makes a crude and sexual taunt about the Princess of Wales.
The Citadel, which is being streamed on streaming giant Amazon Prime, stars Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jones, who has repeatedly publicly supported Meghan.
Ms Chopra Jones, 41, plays the female lead, Nadia Singh, an elite espionage agent, in the five-part espionage action series.
And in the third episode, he is involved in a scene with a crime boss named Balduino Basto, portrayed by Sean Monroe.
Richard Madden’s character Mason Kane goes to see Basto in Morocco under Nadia’s instructions and she ends up talking to him in his ear.
Basto is then asked for help in sneaking into the office of the Chief of the Armed Forces.
This prompts him to say: ‘Chief of the Armed Forces? You must have also asked me how to get between the Duchess of Cambridge’s legs!’
It comes after it was claimed last week that the new live action remake of Disney film The Little Mermaid, one of the Duchess of Sussex’s favourites, takes a dig at her sister-in-law.
A critic who saw an early screening of the film found an explicit taunt against the Princess of Wales in the film’s script.
The reviewer pointed to the scene where Ariel and Prince Eric meet, when she gives up her voice to come to the surface and he has to try to guess her name.
He said: ‘His first guess is Diana. His second guess is Katherine, but after [Ariel gives a disgusted] reaction, that [concludes] ‘Well, certainly not Catherine.’
‘It would be disingenuous for Disney to imply that those name choices were coincidental.’
Diana is of course the name of Prince Harry’s late mother, who died after a car accident in Paris in August 1997.
And Catherine is the full name of his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, 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 were soon interviewed by the Duchess of Sussex for her blog The Tig, which no longer exists.
They were also seen in theater together on Broadway in New York watching the musical Hamilton shortly after.
In 2018, Ms Chopra Jones wrote an open letter about her friend ahead of the royal wedding in 2018 after Meghan made it onto the Time 100 list.
She said: ‘More than anything else, Meghan is a significant influencer in a world that needs strong public figures to honor and respect.
‘People from whom the world can be inspired. Meghan will be a princess to the people, shoulder to shoulder with Harry.
The Bollywood actress who claims a three-year friendship with the duchess has insisted that while Meghan is heavily scrutinized because of her mixed heritage, her ‘progressive, modern’ friend can ‘handle’ the criticism.
On Meghan, the daughter of a black mother and white father, facing media criticism, the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador told the Sunday Times in 2019: ‘I’ve seen it and it’s really unfortunate. But if there’s anyone who can handle it, it’s him.
‘Of course it has to do with racism, that’s an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she has been through it all herself. After everything a lot of people came to know her, but I already knew her and she is the same girl.’
Indian screen star Priyanka revealed the pair linked through their similarities in how they ‘see the world as more girls’, echoing Meghan’s previous comments on their friendship.
In an interview with the Press Trust of India in 2016, Shahi gushed about how he and Priyanka ‘just clicked’.
She said: ‘It was just an easy, natural progression. We have managed to keep in touch through emails and texts, and try to see each other whenever we are in the same city.
However, the pair were hit by claims of a feud in early 2019 after he failed to attend Miss World 2000 winner Meghan’s baby shower.
The actress was questioned whether she skipped the occasion because she was upset that the Los Angeles native had not attended her wedding with Nick Jonas a year ago in India.
During a discussion on Watch What Happens Live earlier this year, Priyanka laughed off the rumors and insisted that it was not true.
Before the apparent jibe at The Little Mermaid emerged, Meghan previously admitted she drew comparisons between the storyline and her struggles as a working royal after marrying Prince Harry.
In his 2021 interview with Oprah he recalled watching the 1989 classic animation during his troubled time in the UK following his 2018 marriage.
‘I was sitting in Nottingham Cottage and The Little Mermaid came on,’ Meghan said.
‘And who as an adult actually watches The Little Mermaid, but it turned on and I was like, ‘Well, I’m here all the time, I might as well watch it’.
‘ 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 he gets his voice back.’
With a production budget of around £300 million, Citadel is one of the most expensive television shows ever made. It premiered on 28th April and the second season has been launched recently.