No sign of new love Meg as Harry attends rugby clash
Prince Harry doesn’t want history to repeat itself — but Meghan Markle is different to Princess Di, writes Sarah Caden
BRITAIN’S Prince Harry attended England’s rugby clash against South Africa at Twickenham yesterday without his US actress girlfriend Meghan Markle.
It was widely speculated he would appear at the game with her in what would have been their first public appearance together.
But as Harry took to the Royal Box to watch the match, in which England beat the Springboks for the first time in 10 years, the dark-haired American could not be seen.
Harry recently confirmed they were an item and Markle is said to have been seen returning to Kensington Palace after a shopping trip.
The prince took his previous girlfriend Cressida Bonas to an England-Wales match in March 2014, sitting with her in the stands among other spectators, and was photographed a number of times with long-term love Chelsy Davy at Twickenham watching the national side.
His relationship with Meghan Markle, which began in the summer, was officially confirmed last Tuesday by his communications secretary, Jason Knauf.
A strongly worded statement released by the palace, which described the “wave of abuse and harassment’’ she has experienced, said the prince was “worried about Ms Markle’s safety’’ and “deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her’’.
WHEN it comes to Harry and his love life, Diana will always hang over everything. And in various ways. And Diana, in her life and death, accounts in part for the strong back-off message her younger son issued to the press and to the world last week in relation to his romance with American actress Meghan Markle.
Last week, when Kensington Palace issued Harry’s statement, it was about much more than just ‘come on, everyone, let’s give the lovebirds some breathing space’. It was about more than Harry’s descriptions of Markle’s mother being hassled and stories that he believed to be smearing and abusive.
Really, at its heart, it was about Harry sending a warning shot about history repeating itself. He’s not going to have another Diana. He’s not going to let any of the madness of his childhood happen again, though whether that is what is sparking off here is a repeat of that is debatable.
The key sentence in Harry’s statement, the sentence which pointed up his real concerns, was this: “Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.”
It’s all in there. He could neither protect nor save his mother; from her life or from her death, but he was a kid then. This is his life, and he’s all grown up and it’s going to be different.
And, of course, it is different. Partly because Meghan Markle is no Diana. Not in a way that slights either woman, but it’s quite simply not the same situation.
Last week, Prince Harry’s statement arrived on the heels of confirmation that he and Markle have been going out together for months.
This followed a solid week of speculation, photographs of police and private security outside Markle’s home, social-media snooping that yielded relationship ‘clues’ such as matching bracelets and visits by her to London in recent times.
The official statement lent tone to the confirmation, though. Harry wasn’t happy about going public.
His statement talked about how he has always been accepting and understanding about the interest in his life, and that this was different.
“But the past week has seen a line crossed,” it said. “His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public — the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
Reports suggested that the “smear” referred to a piece about how sex scenes from the TV series Suits, in which Markle stars, had been uploaded to a porn site. He was also said to be angry about articles speculating on the reasons for her 2013 divorce.
In a further paragraph that describes harassment of Markle’s mother and money offered to an ex for a tell-all, however, the shadow of Diana is cast, before Harry’s distress and desire to protect his girlfriend is raised.
It’s understandable that this should arise for Harry, but that doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate. After all, Markle
is a public person. She has a public profile and she has participated in promoting herself thus since before she ever met Harry. She is an actress, with a clothing line and a lifestyle blog and a history of being very publicly open and on display.
Also only the day after reports of a romance with Harry surfaced, Markle posted on Instagram a picture of two bananas, spooning in a cuddle, with the message “sleep tight xx”. That’s not entirely the action of a woman who wants everyone to avert their eyes.
But then, Diana wasn’t that woman either. We forget now that Diana was no slouch in courting and manipulating the media when it suited. The problem was that she couldn’t turn it off when it didn’t suit. It was a game until it wasn’t a game.
The anger of Harry was hard to ignore in the speed with which he second-guessed media reaction to his statement.
“He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game’,” it said. “He strongly disagrees. This is not a game, it is her life and his.”
Which, of course, is true. They aren’t characters, they’re people. But Harry is a young man in a public and privileged position by birth, while Markle is both by choice. Which makes her better able than Diana ever was.
‘He could not protect, nor could he save his mother — from her life or from her death — but he just was a kid...’