The confirmation of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship appears tohave been taken down from the Royal Family’s website. Back in 2016, Prince Harry issued a statement confirming his relationship with the then-actress, passionately defending her from racist abuse.
However, this is no longer accessible on the Royal Family’s official site, leaving users unable to find a live link. Newsweek brought attention to the issue, highlighting that the statement stopped being available from early December. The internet archival service, Wayback Machine, managed to capture a working iteration last on December 3, 2023.
A week later, their attempt was unsuccessful, reports The Express.
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It read, in part: “Meghan Markle has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper, the racial undertones of comment pieces, and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.
“Some of it has been hidden from the public – the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life.”
It also said that Prince Harry was ‘worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her’.
A statement from Kensington Palace expressed Prince Harry’s concern for Meghan Markle’s well-being, stating: “It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.
“He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game.’ He strongly disagrees. This is not a game – it is her life and his.”
Prince Harry spoke of the statement in his memoir Spare: “We needed a statement out there – within a day we had a draft – strong, precise, angry, honest.
“He wrote: “By the time she landed at Heathrow my statement was everywhere. And changing nothing. The onslaught continued.”
He went on to say that it did not stop the abuse Meghan received and even left his father then-Prince Charles and his brother Prince William ‘furious’.
The Duke said: “In fact, my statement generated a whole new onslaught-from my family. Pa and Willy were furious. They gave me an earful. My statement made them look bad, they both said. ‘Why in hell?’ Because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed.”
