Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell was accused of being "biased" after he branded Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's claims in their new Netflix docuseries "absurd".
Viewers have been gripped by the first three episodes of the highly anticipated programme, where the Sussexes promised to tell "the full truth".
But Nicholas, who appeared on BBC News at Six to report on the programme, said that it was "relatively benign", although added that it "suggests there is what amounts to a conspiracy between Buckingham Palace and the press."
In one of the emotional scenes, Meghan said: "At that point, I was still very much believing what I was being told, which was, ‘It will pass, it will get better, it’s just what they do right at the very beginning’.
“But truth be told, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how good I was, no matter what I did, they were still going to find a way to destroy me.”
Nicholas said: "First point, who is ‘they’ she is referring to, I think it is the Palace but, most particularly, it is to the press; but the idea that anyone was out to ‘destroy’ her, frankly, I think is absurd and simply does not stand up to proper and reasonable scrutiny.”
But viewers were unimpressed by his comments, with many accusing him of being "biased" against the couple.
“BBC News should book Nicholas Witchell on unconscious bias training immediately,” one person tweeted.
“He can barely disguise his disdain of the couple and his tone especially when questioning Meghan’s claim that she felt media wanted to destroy her sounded spiteful and blindingly biased.”
“Seriously don’t give two flying f***s about this Harry and Meghan s*** but quite funny to see a clearly furious Nicholas Witchell pretending to be impartial on the news. They don’t like you, Nick.” another fumed.
“Regardless of people’s view of the Harry and Meghan situation, Nicholas Witchell demonstrates his obvious bias as usual,” a third chimed.
“It’s getting very tiring. C’mon BBC, your reporters are supposed to be ‘neutral’!”
Some viewers also dug up Nicholas's reaction to the King while he was still the Prince of Wales.
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Charles was heard saying: “These bloody people. I can’t bear that man. I mean, he’s so awful, he really is.”
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Nicholas said that the King was "quite right" to call him an "awful man".
“You could take the view it was the best thing that happened to me, because it showed that it is our job as BBC journalists to report fairly and accurately, but not seek approval. We’re not there to be liked.”
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