For the royal family, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 will be a bit of a tumultuous start. As Marie Claire reported yesterday, an untitled Netflix documentary about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be released on December 8, and is reportedly the reason the Sussexes will miss the annual Royal Family Christmas celebration at Sandringham this year.

The docu-series, directed by Liz Garbus, will be immediately followed by the release of Harry's highly anticipated memoir, Spare, on January 10.

Season 5 of The Crown will be released on Netflix on November 9 (of course, Harry and Meghan are not directly involved, but they work for the streaming service), the documentary will be released on December 8, and the confessional book will be released on January 10! The one-two-three punch will not bode well for family relations. According to the Daily Express, the Sussexes are hoping that "tensions will cool down" in the months following the release of the spare and leading up to the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla on May 6, 2023, and will eventually accept the invitation. (Coincidentally, the coronation falls on the same day as their son Archie's fourth birthday.)

The status of Harry and Meghan's invitation to the coronation is still unknown, but given that Harry is the monarch's son, it is likely. However, much seems to be up in the air, with the documentary and book still unknown. On the latest episode of the "Royally Us" podcast, host Christine Ross said that the couple seems to be hoping that the months between the one-two-three punch and the coronation will ease tensions between the Sussexes and other family members. Ross's fellow moderator Christina Garibaldi said the couple's invitation to the coronation depends on "what's in the book," "what's in this documentary," and "how much of the bridge is likely to be burned."

"I think it all depends on what we see in the next couple of months," Garibaldi says. Ross agrees, adding, "Maybe they [Harry and Meghan] are hoping that between January 10 and May, there will be enough time for tensions to cool down." Ross also added that "there are a lot of rumors that last-minute edits are being made."

Tensions between the Sussexes and other family members date back to 2018, when the couple ultimately decided to step down from active membership in the royal family in January 2020. The Sussexes moved from the United Kingdom to the United States that same year and appeared in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, which did little to mend fences with the royal family. Since then, Harry and Meghan supported the royal family at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Festival this past June and mourned with other family members at the funeral of their late Majesty in September, but the documentary and book have always hung overhead like dark clouds, and it remains to be seen how the royal family will react to the two pieces of content ...