Royal plea: ‘I lost my mother, I don’t want to lose my wife too’ – Harry
PRINCE Harry last night criticised UK tabloid newspapers for hounding his wife, Meghan Markle.
In an extraordinary statement, the prince said: “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
The duchess has taken a legal case against ‘The Mail on Sunday’ for allegedly publishing one of her private letters.
BRITAIN’S Prince Harry has said his “deepest fear is history repeating itself” as he issued an impassioned defence of his wife, Meghan Markle, in the face of a “ruthless campaign” by the tabloid press.
His comments come as the Duchess of Sussex started legal action against ‘The Mail on Sunday’ over an allegation it unlawfully published one of her private letters.
Law firm Schillings, representing the duchess, said she had filed a High Court claim against the paper and its parent company Associated Newspapers over the alleged misuse of private information, infringement of copyright and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
In a highly personal statement published on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s website yesterday, the prince said the couple had been driven to take legal action after the “painful” impact of “relentless propaganda” against his wife.
Referencing press coverage of his mother Princess Diana, he said his “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,”
he added.
“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.
“There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face... I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.
“Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe.
“One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chippaper.”
Harry has been incredibly protective of his wife in public life, dating back to the early days of their relationship in 2016 when he released a statement attacking the behaviour of certain outlets, accusing them of racist and sexist coverage.
The couple are currently in the middle of a royal tour around South Africa, alongside their four-monthold son Archie.
Prince Harry noted the positive coverage around their visit in comparison to the previous year.
“The positive coverage of the past week from these same publications exposes the double standards of this specific press pack that has vilified her almost daily for the past nine months; they have been able to create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible while on maternity leave,” he added.
“She is the same woman she was a year ago on our wedding day, just as she is the same woman you’ve seen on this Africa tour.
“For these select media this is a game, and one that we have been unwilling to play from the start.
“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.”
‘I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long’