The Duchess of Sussex
‘Pursued, vilified, chased’?
George Clooney’s suggestion that the Duchess of Sussex is being “pursued, vilified and chased”, as Diana, Princess of Wales was, has raised eyebrows among those who consider ER to be a purely royal reference.
The former TV doctor turned Hollywood megastar, said to be friends with the Sussexes (although no one quite knows how or why), this week claimed that “history is repeating itself” and warned: “We’ve seen how that ends.”
The 57-year-old actor spoke in the wake of the fallout from a US magazine interview in which Meghan’s closest friends revealed she had written to Thomas Markle, her nowestranged father, in August, begging him to stop talking to the media.
A British newspaper subsequently published parts of the letter, after Mr Markle claimed that he wanted to set the record straight — reportedly prompting Kensington Palace to consider legal action.
“I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to see that. You’re taking a letter from a daughter to a father and broadcasting it everywhere,” added Clooney.
“[The Duchess] is getting a raw deal there, it’s irresponsible. I’m sort of surprised by that.”
Perhaps more surprising is that such a comparison should be made 22 years after Diana’s death, in an era that has arguably never seen royal privacy more respected by the press.
Is seven-months-pregnant Meghan really being “pursued, vilified and chased” — and if so, by whom?
Certainly not the paparazzi. As one photographer, who wished to remain anonymous, candidly told The Daily Telegraph: “The regulations — IPSO [the Independent Press Standards Organisation], the Leveson inquiry — had a massive effect on us, which is why you simply don’t see pap shots of the royals in the papers any more.
“I think I’ve seen pictures of Meghan going to yoga once. There was another of her out in Notting Hill last month. That’s about it.”
Veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards, who photographed Diana throughout the 80s and 90s, agrees that “it’s nothing like the old days”.
Recalling how he once crossed the line by photographing a heavily pregnant Diana in her bikini while she was on a private holiday on the Caribbean island of Eleuthera in 1982, Edwards says: “That photograph caused quite a lot of controversy. I remember Diana saying to me afterwards: ‘How much money did you make for that, Arthur?’ and I replied: ‘Nothing’. She just said: ‘Pass me the Kleenex’ — so even she wasn’t that bothered.
“Then the Palace would facilitate those media opportunities, but today it’s different. We wouldn’t dream of photographing them on their private holidays.”
“There are no paps chasing Meghan,” Edwards insists. “In Diana’s day, they used to photograph her going in and out of the gym; they’d get in the lift with her. What pap shots have we seen of Harry and Meghan? There was a race to get the first picture of them together after news of their relationship broke. Kensington Palace could have prevented that by releasing a picture of them to the media, but they chose not to. Since then, they have been completely left alone.”
Even Palace aides have struggled to identify times when Meghan has been chased or pursued, although “there have been occasions where a line has been crossed”, a source says. Such is the lack of intrusion into their lives that no one outside the Sussexes’ inner circle has even discovered the name of their Labrador — let alone seen photographs of the royal couple walking it. “That’s probably a good thing, especially for the likes of George, Charlotte and Louis,” he adds, referring to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children.
“I remember when Harry started nursery and there were 30 of us there — he hated it. The princes have put a stop to all that. Clooney can shoot the messenger as much as he likes, but the reality is a lot of this negativity is coming from the Markles.” Veteran royal reporter Robert Jobson is among many who have questioned the wisdom of Meghan’s friends speaking to People magazine. It is thought unlikely that they would have given such indepth interviews to the US’ bestselling weekly without Meghan’s permission.
“If her friends bypass the Palace press office and brief magazines then a lot of these issues become self-generated,” says Jobson. “When she died, Diana was being chased by paparazzi and she had no royal protection. The Duchess of Sussex is completely protected and is supported by her husband.”
He agrees that the worst of it is coming from her own family members: “The press coverage of Meghan has been largely positive, bar a few reports about her behaviour in the run-up to the royal wedding. The only vilification of Meghan is coming from her own family and a few online lunatics.”
Royal author Sally Bedell Smith “shudders to think how Diana would have coped with a world of internet trolls”, but points out that, at 37, and having built a successful career in a tough environment, Meghan is much better equipped to cope.
“Meghan sensibly shut down her blog and her Instagram account and, as far as I know, she is off that grid.”
As Sarah, Duchess of York pointed out earlier this week, social media is a “sewer”.
Fergie also complained about the way women are often pitted against each other in the press, addressing the so-called “feud” between Meghan and Kate, and likening it to how she and Diana were viewed as “rivals” — even though it was something “neither of us ever really felt”.
So has Clooney has made the classic mistake of tarring all media with the same brush and confusing legitimate royal reporting with online invective?
According to Phil Dampier, who was a royal editor at the height of Diana’s fame: “Diana didn’t have to cope with bullying on social media, just the physical presence of the paparazzi — who were often wrongly confused with the official royal press pack.
“I don’t think Meghan is being pursued in the way that Diana was. Yes, there has been some cyberbullying, but royal reporters have also found themselves on the receiving end of the Twitter crazies if they write anything remotely negative about Meghan.
“Clooney should arguably be directing his anger at Meghan’s father for speaking out, rather than those paid to report what he says.”