FIGHTING BACK The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stand strong and united
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex unite in their battle against the ‘ruthless’ treatment she’s endured, her father speaks out in his defence
After a solo visit to a Malawi health clinic on October 1, the Duke of Sussex was being ushered into a waiting car when a reporter’s lastminute question invited an uncharacteristic scolding from the usually affable royal. “That short conversation, what do you hope to achieve through it?” asked Sky TV’s Rhiannon Mills. “What? Ask them,” he replied, flashing a strained grin. When Mills asked another question, Harry shot back, “Rhiannon, don’t behave like this.”
Coming, as it did, just hours before Harry released a lengthy statement blasting the British tabloid media’s “relentless” hounding of his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, the awkward exchange left many wondering if the popular prince was cracking under the pressure of what has proved to be a challenging initiation into married life and parenthood. “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son,” wrote Harry, 35, in his highly personal piece. “I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.”
The duke went on to call out “the double standards of this specific press pack that has vilified her almost daily for the past nine months”, referencing the glowing reports of Meghan, 38, on the African tour, their first as a family with Archie, 5 months. “I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in.”
The statement, which Harry reportedly wrote without guidance from Buckingham Palace or his advisers, revealed that the duchess has commenced legal action against an outlet that published an unspecified “private document”, believed to be a letter Meghan wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, printed by the Mail on Sunday in February. (A spokesperson from Schillings, the law firm representing the duchess, confirmed she is pursuing legal action against the Mail on Sunday and its
“I have been a silent witness to her suffering”
— Prince Harry
parent company, Associated Newspapers.) “Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces,” reads part of the emotional letter, which is handwritten in the duchess’ elegant cursive.
Her father wasn’t the only family member who caused heartache for the duchess in what should have been a joyous time of her life – her half-sister, Samantha, 54, has attacked Meghan in multiple interviews. Her latest tirade was in August, when she branded Meghan “a disgrace” and her nephew’s christening “faked and photoshopped”. Throughout, the Sussexes maintained a dignified silence, even as negative coverage of Meghan escalated while she was on maternity leave (which Harry alluded to in his statement, writing, “they have been able to create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible”). Among other things, she was criticised for holding a glamorous baby shower in New York and her guest editorship of the September issue of British Vogue – “Me-Me-Meghan Markle” was the headline of a blatantly mean-spirited article by columnist Piers Morgan, who wrote, “As a B-list actress, she’s probably craved all her adult life to be a Vogue star.”
Most recently, she was slammed, along with her husband, for their use of private jets. “‘Eco-warriors’ Meghan Markle and Prince Harry fly on private jet again …” screamed The Sun’s headline on August 17. For Harry, the situation might be causing déjà vu in more than one sense. In 2016, he took the unusual step of condemning press treatment of Meghan, his then girlfriend, detailing “a wave of abuse and harassment” the actress had endured, which included “outright sexism and racism”.
Yet his pain and fury can be traced back further, to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997, a connection the prince shared in his blistering statement. “My deepest fear is history repeating itself. I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
The day after his statement was made public, the duke and duchess stepped out smiling and hand-in-hand on October 2 for the final day of their 10-day royal tour of South Africa, where they visited a township near Johannesburg and met local youth entrepreneurs. Reunited with his wife, an at-ease Harry seemed to have put the previous day’s run-in with the reporter behind him. The couple each gave uplifting speeches, and without addressing his statement directly, Harry made his position clear. “We will firmly stand up for what we believe,” he said. “We will do everything that we can to play our part in building a better world.”
For Harry and Meghan, that begins with looking after one another. “They are a unit,” a source tells WHO, explaining that negative headlines only draw the couple closer. “They definitely lean on each other during challenging times.”
“They’re a unit ... they lean on each other ”