Prince Harry says Palace saw Meghan Markle’s media harassment as rite of passage | Web Series
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have broken their silence on the media hype surrounding their marriage and the scrutiny she faced when the two went public years ago. The two have bared their heart in their new Netflix series titled Harry & Meghan. The first three episodes of the show released on Thursday and featured Harry talking about what Meghan had to face and how it reminded him a lot of how his mother, the late Princess Diana was treated by the media. Also read: Queen Elizabeth II didn’t care about Harry and Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview
Harry & Meghan is a Netflix special centred on the lives of the royal couple. Since their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, this is the first time, the couple has addressed their relationship in public and in particular, the response of the Royal Family to what Meghan was put through. In the early days of their relationship, a section of the British press vilified Meghan, putting her under intense scrutiny that many called excessive and bordering on harassment.
On the show, Harry recalled that Buckingham Palace, the seat of the royal family, instructed everyone to not react to the bad press. “The direction of the Palace was, ‘Don’t say anything’. But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they’d been put through as well. So it was almost like a rite of passage. Some of the members of the family were like, ‘But my wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment, why should she be protected?’ And I said that the difference here is the race element,” Harry said.
The Duke of Sussex said he also saw parallels with how his mother, the late Princess Diana was treated by the press all through her life, particularly after her divorce from his father, King (then Prince) Charles. “My mum was harrassed throughout her life with dad. After they separated, the harassment went to new levels. The moment she divorced, the moment she left the Institution, she was by herself. Yes, she may have been one of the most influential, powerful women in the world, but she was… completely exposed to this. I saw things, I experienced things, I learned things… The pain and the suffering of women marrying into this Institution,” he added.
Meghan Markle, a former actor known for her role in Suits, began dating Harry in July 2016. They tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed their son Archie in 2020. Later that year, the couple moved to the US and withdrew from undertaking official royal engagements.
