Meghan’s hounding ‘is just like Diana’

Prince Harry and his wife have launched an extraordinary attack on the press, filing legal action for breach of privacy.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are suing a London tabloid, saying he feared history was repeating itself. He likened media coverage of his wife Meghan to the way his mother Diana was treated by the press.

Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, have launched an extraordinary attack on the press, filing legal action against the Mail on Sunday for breach of privacy.

The prince accused the media of lying and conducting a ruthless campaign at the expense of his wife Meghan. He also referred to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997 after being hounded by the media.

“Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one,’’ Harry said. “Because 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.

Princess Diana and Meghan.

He added: “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 was to explain why Meghan was suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing a letter she had written to her estranged father Thomas Markle, alleging breaches of the data act, privacy legislation and copyright.

The article in question was published in February this year based on a letter released by Mr Markle, who was upset by a US People magazine article that quoted Meghan’s friends and portrayed him poorly.

The row exposes the sensitivity of Meghan’s toxic relationship with her father, whom Prince Harry has never met.

Harry claimed the letter was intentionally destructive and some paragraphs and words were “strategically omitted”, The Mail on Sunday said it would vigorously defend the action and specifically denied changing the meaning of the letter.

The Mail on Sunday columnist Piers Morgan said Harry’s statement was a savage attack and disingenuous.

I've never read a more savage attack on the press than this one by Harry/Meghan.
Nor a more disingenuous one.
They've had the praise & criticism their behaviour has warranted.
They talk of bullying but this is their attempt to bully the press into fawning sycophancy.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 1, 2019

Princess Diana and Harry.

“I’ve never read a more savage attack on the press than this one by Harry/Meghan,’’ he tweeted. “Nor a more disingenuous one. They’ve had the praise & criticism their behaviour has warranted. They talk of bullying but this is their attempt to bully the press into fawning sycophancy.’’

Extraordinarily, even though the Sussexes have an extensive team of media and legal advisors and unprecedented and easy access to media outlets, Harry says he and Meghan have been unable to correct “the continual misrepresentations”, and this was “exploited on a daily and sometimes hourly basis”. He insisted the press pack has been able to “create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible while on maternity leave’’.

Ever since their dreamy Windsor Castle wedding in 2018, the Sussexes’ relationship with the British media — and the public — has nosedived.

Diana, Princess of Wales with her sons Prince William, left, and Prince Harry, right, in 1990.

The public supports the Royals because they are visible, caring and working for causes. But Harry and Meghan have been criticsed for virtue signalling, celebrity courting and “wokeness”. The discord has also put pressure on a two-decades-old agreement behind the scenes between the Royals and the British media that they do not publish unauthorised photographs, especially of the royal children.

The British public was furious the Sussexes used more than $4 million of taxpayer money to refurbish their home, Frogmore House, yet couldn’t be open about when Meghan had gone into labour or tell even who Archie’s godparents were or which hospital she had given birth in.

Days after, Prince Harry lectured the public about climate change, he and Meghan hopped on a succession of private jets. It didn’t need a poll by The Express to show 80 percent of people were annoyed by this.

There has been an uneasy jarring of styles, with Meghan’s celebrity demands - the eye wateringly expensive outfits and the private jet travel grating with her insistence on privacy and bucking traditional Royal protocol.

After Harry’s outburst Ellen DeGeneres tweeted:’’I’m proud to call Meghan and Harry friends, and I’m even more proud of them for finally saying enough is enough.’’

The British Labour MP David Lammy said: All power to Harry and Meghan. I hope you wipe the floor with them.’’

Earlier this month the couple forewent a trip to Balmoral to see the Queen, a traditional visit by members of the Royal family, while Meghan flew across the Atlantic to see her friend Serena Williams play the US Open tennis. Royal fans noted the disappointment of the Queen. At Wimbledon this year too there was a furore because Meghan’s team had cleared rows of seats and admonished a spectator for taking a photo, raising unflattering comparisons of diva demands compared to other royal members who sit among the public.

The timing of Harry’s alleged bullying, came just after a hugely successful tour of Africa and extensive coverage, and where the proud showing off of their son appeared to mark a friendlier relationship with the public. That has all been turned upside down.