TL;DR:
- Prince Harry released a statement about Meghan Markle, and the U.K. media’s treatment of her, in November 2016.
- In Spare, Prince Harry wrote King Charles III and Prince William felt the statement “made them look bad.”
- Some royals considered the onslaught of tabloid coverage a “rite of passage” for women marrying into the family, Prince Harry previously said.
Prince Harry called out racism in the U.K. press by way of an unprecedented statement about Meghan Markle in 2016. In his Spare memoir and TV interviews, the Duke of Sussex recalled how it made King Charles III and Prince William “furious.” Ahead, the 38-year-old’s explanation for why the statement made his father and brother angry. Plus, the headline that drove him to speak.
Reading an article spurred Prince Harry to release a November 2016 statement defending Meghan Markle
In his highly-anticipated memoir, Spare, which dropped in full on Jan. 10, Harry reportedly recalled putting out a statement about the Duchess of Sussex in 2016. The pair had started dating in July of that year, and their relationship became public four months later.
Harry remembered feeling “ashamed” and “angry” upon seeing a headline reading, “Harry’s new girl is (almost) straight outta Compton,” (via Us Weekly). “My Mother Country. Doing this? To her? To us? Really?” he asked.
Harry went on, sharing that a Huffington Post article in which his silence was called “unforgivable” led to his statement.
On Nov. 8, 2016, Harry’s communications secretary issued a statement on his behalf. Still available in its entirety on the royal family’s official website and social media, Harry spoke out on the “wave of abuse and harassment” Meghan experienced.
He highlighted “racial undertones of comment pieces,” “outright sexism and racism” from “social media trolls,” and “nightly media battles.”
The statement also touched on Harry’s concern for Meghan’s safety and his disappointment “he has not been able to protect her.”
Harry claimed King Charles and Prince William gave him ‘an earful’ after releasing the statement about Meghan Markle
In Spare, Harry wrote releasing the 2016 statement about Meghan “generated a whole new onslaught” from his family.
“Pa and Willy were furious,” he wrote, saying they gave him “an earful.”
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“My statement made them look bad, they both said,” he continued. “Why in hell? Because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed.”
Harry discussed this particular part of Spare in his Jan. 8 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper. “You write that your dad and your brother, William, were furious with you for doing that,” the CNN anchor said. “Why?”
“They felt as though it made them look bad. They felt as though they didn’t have a chance or weren’t able to do that for their partners,” Harry replied (via CBS News).
“What Meghan had to go through was similar in some part to what Kate [Middleton] and what Camilla [Parker Bowles] went through very different circumstances,” he continued. “But then you add in the race element, which was what the press — British press — jumped on straight away.”
Harry added he “went into this incredibly naïve,” having “no idea the British press were so bigoted.” Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with— with Meghan.”
I didn’t see what I now see,” Harry concluded when Cooper asked if he thought he was “bigoted” before his relationship with Meghan.
Media harassment ‘almost like a rite of passage’ for royal women, Harry said in Netflix docuseries
Harry — and Meghan — discussed the statement and media harassment in their six-part Netflix program, Harry & Meghan. After sharing that the “direction from the palace” had been “don’t say anything,” Harry remarked much of the royal family saw Meghan’s experience as a shared one.
“As far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well,” Harry explained. “So it was almost like a rite of passage.”
“And some of the members of the family were like: ‘My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently?’” he continued. “‘Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?’ And I said, ‘The difference here is the race element.’”
Meanwhile, Meghan commented on the ‘Compton’ headline. “Firstly, I’m not from Compton, I’ve never lived in Compton, so it’s factually incorrect,” she said. “But why do you have to make a dig at Compton?”
