Palace lawyers were on standby as BBC removed claims William and Harry's team briefed against each other

After strong backlash from the royal households, BBC's controversial new documentary is seemingly taking a step back from its claims that Prince William and Prince Harry's staff briefed against each other during the latter's exit as a senior royal.

The second part of "The Princes and The Press" documentary, which aired on Monday, did not elaborate on the claims it made in its first installment about royal households feeding stories to the media. It comes after Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and Clarence House all came together to accuse BBC of peddling "overblown and unfounded" allegations in its new documentary and slammed it for not offering them a right to reply.

Meanwhile, Prince William had removed BBC as the broadcaster of a special Christmas concert being hosted by his wife Kate Middleton, and a blanket boycott by all the royal households was also reportedly in the cards. According to a report in Mail Online, palace lawyers were also on standby as the second part of the programme was aired, and were preparing to examine it with a fine-tooth comb to lodge a formal complaint if needed.

However, the programme was mellowed down when it aired on Monday night after some last-minute editing. BBC has also postponed its plans to air an accompanying podcast, in an apparent sign of reconciliation with the royal houses.

A royal source said that it is "unlikely the matter will be taken further" after the BBC has taken a step back from its claims. Contrary to the second part, the first episode had featured an interview with "Finding Freedom" author Omid Scobie claiming that royal households had fed negative stories about the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex.

The second part avoided the topic, though it gave more screen time to Jenny Afia, Meghan Markle's lawyer who had appeared in the first instalment defending her from the bullying allegations. Afia said in her second appearance, "The overall allegation was the Duchess of Sussex was guilty of bullying. No, absolutely not. I think the first thing to be really clear about what bullying is."

"What bullying actually means is improperly using power repeatedly and deliberately to hurt someone, physically or emotionally. The Duchess of Sussex absolutely denies ever doing that," she added.