Holly Byrnes: Why Prince Harry needs to protect Meghan from becoming the next Diana
The Duke of Sussex fears his mother Diana’s pain is being reinflicted by the press. Whatever you make of the monarchy, a man protecting his wife from bullying is a lesson for all husbands, argues Holly Byrnes.
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His mother was the ‘queen of people’s hearts,’ ‘the People’s Princess’ — now, by so staunchly defending his wife from a global campaign of abuse and harassment, Diana’s son Harry has proved himself beyond doubt, a true prince among men.
Royal titles aside, the affect of the young Duke of Sussex, standing firm and taking legal action against those forces who once traded on the daily humiliation of his mother, may seem a privileged rich person’s sport.
But whatever you make of the monarchy, a man protecting his wife from pain and suffering, undue criticism and outright bullying is a lesson for all husbands.
Marrying a mixed race American actor was Harry’s first act of defiance, flouting the Establishment’s expectations he would wed an heiress or English rose of the Tatler pack.
Instead, he followed his heart and fell deeply for a woman who dares to think deeply and act boldly about the causes she has long championed.
The same ugly gurgling of white nationalism which bubbles beneath the surface of the Brexit crisis has tried its best to poison this remarkable union for the ages — and Prince Harry’s rightly had enough.
Tabloid attacks on his wife have not been limited to Piers Morgan’s persistent tantrum over Meghan’s very wise decision to ghost him once her royal boyfriend would have advised what a dangerous path trying to appease the UK media can be (and Piers knows it).
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His mother found out the hard way that you can’t ever please the beast that is Fleet Street, which will cut you down as quick as they built you up.
No amount of private charity visits, brave community projects, historic stands for women, AIDS patients, the mentally ill, the poor, the marginalised, the homeless was enough to save Diana from the vicious slings and arrows directed her way after she had the audacity to call BS on the fraud of her unhappy marriage.
Does no one editing a paper or magazine which carries today’s stream of absolute garbage about Meghan not remember the damage done to the industry when the UK public and the world at large blamed the media for driving her to her death in a Paris tunnel; not to mention torment her final days and begrudge her a last love affair with Dodi Fayed?
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Shamed by all they had done to contribute to Diana’s mental anguish and suffering, the UK press made a quiet pact with Prince Charles and the Royal family to leave her sons alone for the duration of their schooling.
But the gloves are well and truly off now and the talons and pens have been sharpened once more because this upstart from Suits has had the temerity to play this game on her terms.
And her sins so far?
Daring to share the happy time of her pregnancy with her real friends at a baby shower paid for in full by one of them. How could she?
Taking her time to have her first child in private, rather than being paraded like a breeding zoo exhibit on the steps of the Lido Wing. The fiend.
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Controlling the release of Christening pictures of her precious son, Archie, who will never play a senior role in the royal family, when his cousins and uncle William ascends the throne.
This idea that Meghan, Harry and now their tiny son are some how the property of the UK tax payer, and by extension the press pack, is ludicrous.
They pay their way — as do most of the Royal family — through charity work, international ‘soft’ diplomacy, not to mention the tourism dollars they have drawn to Britain at a time when their own population are leaving the country in droves.
The fact her own family have joined the pile on is entirely on them, a despicable display of envy, justifying her decision to keep them all — bare her dignified mother, Doria Ragland — at arm’s length.
To have a letter she wrote privately, appealing to her own father’s sense of decency to stop selling off their dirty laundry, was rightly the last straw.
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And while she has been stoic in her silence and resilient publicly, does anyone really think this level of non-stop nastiness hasn’t brought her to tears behind closed doors?
Prince Harry said as much in confirming the couple’s planned legal action against the Mail On Sunday, writing: “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 — as so many of you can relate to — I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been.”
For the broken-hearted 12-year-old boy in Harry, this “ruthless campaign” is the worst of his family 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,” he said. “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
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Have they made missteps in their relationship with the press?
For all their perceived crimes, the private jet was perhaps the only saga they should have handled better — but even then, the backlash, and use of photos of brother Prince William and the Cambridge family on a budget airline to bait the rabid masses was — like the publication of Thomas Markle’s letter in February — was done so “in an intentionally destructive manner.”
Not surprisingly, royal sycophants like Penny Junor have dismissed his stand as “an emotional outburst” — just as they whispered about Diana’s mental fragility; citing some nonsense about protocol when it comes to going off script while on tour.
What absolute rot.
Harry’s heartfelt defence of his wife is both noble and necessary — protecting Meghan and now son Archie from the same gutless, faceless courtiers and critics who played their part in bringing his mother down.
Holly Byrnes is News Corp Australia’s national TV editor.