Prince Harry attacked the “racial roots” of the media coverage of his girlfriend Meghan Markle in a special statement in which he warned that he fears for his safety.
The prince said “a line has been crossed” by comparing his relationship with the American actor, 35, who lives in Toronto.
“Part of what has been very public,” said his spokesperson in a statement. “The smear on the front page of a national newspaper, The nuances racial comments;. And pure sexism and racism social media trolls and web Article comments”
The statement confirms for the first time that the pair is in a relationship, but launches a powerful and unprecedented attack in the media by the prince.
“Prince Harry is concerned Ms. Markle security and is deeply disappointed that he was unable to protect her,” he said. “It’s not just a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subject to such a storm.
“He knows that commentators say it is” the price she must pay “and that” all part of the game. ” We strongly disagree.
This is not a game – it’s his life and his. He asked that this statement be published in the hope that those in the press who led this history can pause and think before any further damage is done.
He knows that it is unusual to make a statement like this, but hope the fair people will understand why he felt it necessary to speak publicly.
The actor, whose father is black and mother is African American, wrote about his legacy on its website, describing themselves as biracial and “half black and half white.”
His father, Thomas Markle, is a lighting director who worked on the American TV show Married with Children, while his mother, Doria Ragland, is a social worker and a yoga therapist. The couple had divorced when she was six.
It is understood that the “smear” the first page mentioned in the declaration of Prince Harry was the play of the Sun on Markle appearing on Pornhub, an adult website.
It was entitled “Harry’s girl on Pornhub”, even if that was displayed was his clips appearing in network television show, costumes, and not pornography.
A comment piece in the Mail on Sunday, Rachel Johnson, said: “Genetically, it is blessed.
If there is an issue of his alleged union with Prince Harry, the Windsors thicken their blue blood, watery and thin and their pale skin and their hair ginger with a rich and exotic DNA.
On Wednesday, the Sun ran a headline above an interview with the sister of Markle, saying: “Do not fall for my little sis Harry, she would be the next insisting princess”.
UK News, publisher of the Sun and Sun on Sunday declined to comment. Executives said they were tracking the national and international coverage to include details of Prince Harry’s concerns about lagging and harassment of his family.
The statement of the prince also attacked what he called “substantial bribes offered by papers” the former friend of Markle. by this means a large payment offered by a British newspaper.
Kensington Palace listed a string of complaints it had about the conduct of newspapers, citing:
“Nightly legal battles”, understood to be by Markle’s lawyers, to keep allegedly defamatory stories out of papers.
Her mother “having to struggle past photographers” in order to get to her front door in Los Angeles.
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”.
A palace source said Markle had had people trying to get into her house in Toronto. In one incident, a photographer is said to have chased an assistant through her garage door and barged through behind her and the person had to be removed physically from her house and the police were called.
The statement said: “Since he was young, Prince Harry has been very aware of the warmth that has been extended to him by members of the public. He feels lucky to have so many people supporting him and knows what a fortunate and privileged life he leads. He is also aware that there is significant curiosity about his private life.
“He has never been comfortable with this, but he has tried to develop a thick skin about the level of media interest that comes with it. He has rarely taken formal action on the very regular publication of fictional stories that are written about him and he has worked hard to develop a professional relationship with the media, focused on his work and the issues he cares about.
“But the past week has seen a line crossed.”
The palace is concerned that some of the press coverage has given licence to social media users, on platforms such as Twitter and in newspaper website comment sections, to troll Markle, with racist slurs a particular worry. Royal officials have never before seen the coverage of a royal relationship balloon so fast in traditional and social media and Prince Harry felt he had to speak out, a source indicated.
A source at one tabloid newspaper said it had not been engaged in nightly battles with palace lawyers, as the prince’s statement suggests.
“Any journalist worth their salt will leave no stone unturned,” said Katie Nicholl, royal correspondent of the Mail on Sunday, in an interview on LBC radio. “If he really wants this to go away there is one or two things he could do. You give the press what they want. You make a statement, or you give an interview or you issue a picture. There has not been one picture of them together. Fleet Street will not rest until they have got their picture of them together and they have got some words either from Prince Harry or Meghan about the relationship.”
A senior source of Sun defended the story first page of Pornhub, clearly saying the “steamy scenes” to which he referred appearing on the adult website came from the American drama series Suits.
The source said that the newspaper was surprised by the statement and Harry said his reference to legal battles, to bribe or racial nuances was not a reference to the tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, but rather to paparazzi in the USA.
Saturday, Sun told readers that the history of Markle had more in common with the modern British family as those in the “royal corridors FUSTES” and was more relevant for the modern woman that the Duchess of Cambridge.
“Meghan, with her divorce, ethnicity and false work ethic, it’s more the wife of the twenty-first century”, something which “the future of the royal family can depend on.”
The source said that Prince Harry’s communications team had failed to offer advice when reports emerged of their relationship in the Sunday Express last month.
“They had three days to stop this story,” said the source. “Any decent press office would have made a statement that they are in a relationship, saying they have a right to privacy, etc. and that would have been. But they did not.
A source told the Daily Mail that they were astonished by the reference Harry harassment, bribes and the crossing of a line. They said they did not know what his communications staff referred.
