ROYAL STALEMATE

AS HARRY AND MEGHAN UP THE ANTE WITH THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE ROYAL FAMILY, BIG BROTHER WILLIAM HAS BECOME A SURPRISE DEFENDER.

Now they've come after the Crown. While the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan focused on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's contentious relationship with the British press, part two of the docuseries, which dropped Dec. 15, takes aim at the house of Windsor itself. Claiming, among other things, that palace sources leaked negative stories about her to the press, a wide-eyed Meghan says at one point, "I wasn't being thrown to the wolves. I was being fed to the wolves."

Such allegations have made the docuseries Netflix's highest-rated ever. But the carefully crafted tell-all isn't winning the Duke and Duchess of Sussex many popularity points. They've been bashed by everyone from Rotten Tomatoes users to Howard Stern, who blasted the two as "whiny b****es" on the Dec. 12 episode of his SiriusXM show. Yet sources tell Star Harry has one surprise defender his estranged older brother, Prince William. "For all their differences, he still loves his brother very much," says an insider. "If anyone says negative things about Harry in his presence, they're shut down immediately."