WILLIAM and Kate have banned the BBC from screening their Christmas carol concert amid fury over a royal documentary.
Instead the charity fund-raiser, hosted by the Duchess at Westminster Abbey, will be shown on ITV.
The Celeb Report understands the Westminster Abbey showpiece will be hosted by the Duchess, with Wills expected to be watching proudly from the audience.
Children Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and three-year-old Prince Louis, could even attend — making it perfect festive viewing.
But the couple decided to shun Auntie after it pressed ahead with a two-part documentary claiming Wills had briefed against brother Harry and his wife Meghan.
Wills did not see Monday night’s first part as he was giving out the environmental Tusk Awards at London’s South Bank.
Last night a TV source said of the royal snub to the Beeb: “This is a real coup for ITV. It is a brand new format — the royals have never hosted a televised TV concert before. And to have the Duchess leading on it is a big deal.
“Naturally most royal programming goes automatically to the BBC as the national broadcaster. Now it looks like they will work more with ITV in the future.”
The source added: “ITV were very surprised but delighted to get the late call offering them this incredible exclusive. It will be a fantastic Christmas carol concert that will be TV gold for viewers at home.
“It was all arranged to be on BBC1 but it was switched in the last few days because of the terrible row over the documentary.
“And things are likely to get a lot worse between the Royal Family and the BBC before they get better as the second part of the documentary threatens to go further.”
The Royal Family had already warned BBC chiefs they could report them to Ofcom over anti-Monarchist Amol Rajan’s documentary The Princes and the Press.
The Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla, and William and Kate issued a robust joint statement after the first part of the BBC2 programme blasting bosses for airing “overblown and unfounded claims” by contributors.
The was also Palace anger that Meghan arranged for her lawyer to appear and answer questions on her behalf.
ITV ‘DELIGHTED’
She was the only Royal Family member to take part — raising the possibility the BBC told her what was going to be in the documentary while leaving the rest of the royals in the dark.
She was defended on camera by Jenny Afia, of Schillings, who represented Meghan in her High Court case against the Mail on Sunday.
She denied accusations in the Press that Meghan had bullied staff which led to her nickname “Duchess Difficult”.
Ms Afia insisted: “This narrative that no one could work for the Duchess of Sussex that she was too difficult and demanding a boss and that everyone had to leave is just not true.”
Part two will be shown on Monday. In a trailer, Ms Afia was shown saying: “The overall allegation was that the Duchess of Sussex is guilty of bullying.” Rajan asked: “And is she?” Ms Afia replied: “Absolutely not”.
Just a week ago Meghan was dubbed Little Miss Forgetful after admitting to a judge that she had “forgotten” evidence she had helped brief the authors of controversial biography Finding Freedom.
Meghan apologised to the court and said she had emailed a list of five bullet points and 31 “reminders” that “may be helpful to have” for an aide to brief its authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.
Scobie also appeared in the documentary. Ms Afia had earlier backed Meghan’s now-discredited account in her High Court privacy case over a letter she sent to her estranged father.
In a signed witness statement dated September 17, 2020, Ms Afia wrote: “The Claimant and her husband have also publicly stated that they were not interviewed for, and did not contribute to, the Book.”
But evidence in court showed Meghan and Harry had extensively briefed press secretary Jason Knauf before he met the authors.
Last night a source said of the documentary: “Meghan was clearly given a look at the whole thing and got her lawyer on there to protect her reputation.
“The whole documentary was skewed as if it was from Harry and Meghan’s mouths.
‘DOCUMENTARY WAS SKEWED’
“It is all their interpretation of events — that the media was racist and they targeted Meghan because William and his team were leaking against them from the start. The documentary quite simply took Prince Harry’s side.”
In a joint statement Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Clarence House said: “A free, responsible and open Press is of vital importance to healthy democracy.
“However, too often overblown and unfounded claims from unknown sources are presented as facts and it is disappointing when anyone, including the BBC, gives them credibility.”
Palace sources last night said they have also not been told what is in the BBC’s accompanying four-part podcast starting next week called Meghan, Harry and the Media.
The clashes come hot on the heels of William slamming the BBC for allowing Martin Bashir to con Princess Diana into taking part in her infamous Panorama interview.
It is thought next month’s Westminster Abbey carol concert will support good causes close to the hearts of Wills and Kate — including NHS Charities Together, which funds mental health support for young people and counselling for NHS staff.
Both Kensington Palace and the BBC last night declined to comment.
