Prince Harry’s reaction against “utterly disgusting” media treatment of Meghan Markle had swerved the established royal “process of doing things” and made King Charles and Prince William “look bad,” a new royal book says.
Meghan was subject to a wave of inflammatory stories when her relationship with Harry was first revealed at the end of October 2016, including an infamous story stating she was “(almost) straight outta Compton,” when in fact she was from another part of Los Angeles.
Harry fired back at the media in a statement from his spokesman, Jason Knauf, just more than a week after the news broke—but the prince argued in his own book how it made Prince William and King Charles look bad “because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed.”
Now, William and Catherine, by Russell Myers, has given the royal perspective on the frustration the debacle caused, suggesting Harry bypassed the normal protocol for tackling the media.
Myers wrote: “On 8 November 2016, a statement was issued highlighting ‘a wave of abuse and harassment…the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments’ that Meghan has been subjected to.
“Harry had taken a stand, but he had left his father and brother utterly furious. A royal source said, ‘The feeling was that Harry had made them both look bad. Granted, he was rightly outraged about the treatment his girlfriend was receiving, some of the coverage was utterly disgusting, but the royal family have a specific way or process of doing things. This wasn’t it.’”
Why It Matters
Harry’s perspective on the cause of the breakdown in relations with his father and brother owes largely to his belief they did not do enough to support Meghan in her problems with the media.
Myers suggests this early incident was the beginning of that dynamic, with Harry believing they should have helped rather than criticized his actions.
Prince William’s Anger and the Seeds of Royal Rift
“Harry was infuriated that his father and brother admonished him for his rash actions, and the tense conversations left Harry astounded that his own kin were refusing to offer their support, even after their spouses had endured years of being hounded by the media,” Myers wrote.
“William was angered that their shared communications team had not thought to consult him before issuing such a formal
rebuke. He also, as Harry related in his memoir, questioned the seriousness of Harry’s relationship to his face.
“Harry also says that William openly mocked him for suggesting that their late mother sent Meghan to him in some form of spiritual guidance, ‘Well now, Harold … I’m not sure about that. I wouldn’t say THAT!’
“Harry did not like having his feelings challenged, nor did he appreciate being told what to do. It is not hard to sympathise with Harry here. Why should his older brother have any say over who he should date or how he should feel?”
In fact, the book argues this incident, at the very start of Meghan’s relationship with the British public, may have been the first concrete sign of the disintegration in royal relations that would ultimately end with Harry and Meghan quitting the palace for a new life in America in 2020, some four years later.
“A palace source close to the brothers told how this period did indeed mark an outward shift in their relations,” he wrote. “Suddenly it was harder to get them in the same room, each giving various excuses as to why they could not—or perhaps would not—be available to engage with meetings together.”
“Was William simply looking out for his brother, or did he have an eye on the impact on the monarchy if Harry were to marry a woman who, at the time, he barely knew?
“While that may have been his obvious concern, the way he asked the question, and his audacity to ask it at all, would drive a wedge between the brothers that could possibly be seen as the precursor to the eventual demise of their bond.”
Prince Harry’s Version of Events
Harry said in Spare that the statement was released just before Meghan arrived for a visit to Britain from Canada, where she was living before their marriage.
“By the time she landed at Heathrow my statement was everywhere. And changing nothing,” he wrote. “The onslaught continued. 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.”
William and Harry’s Existing Tensions
According to Myers, the tensions were built on existing disagreements that had caused strain in Harry and William’s relationship for years, including arguments over which of them should campaign for good causes in Africa and which should help veterans.
Harry felt they could both do good in the same areas while William felt they should divide and conquer and that he should take on veterans, arguing that as a future king he would one day be commander in chief of the British armed forces.
“The relationship between them [William and Harry] was already tense and this didn’t help,” a former aide quoted in the book said.
“Harry was intent on the palace doing more,” Myers wrote. “He felt as though William wasn’t backing him up and had already told him to slow down with the relationship and the criticism of the media, which only served to anger Harry even more.
“Was William looking out for his brother or himself? Only he would know that, but it was clear even back then that things were heading in the wrong direction.”
In the years to come, a breakdown in Meghan and Harry’s relationship with the staff at Kensington Palace would further fuel the rift between the brothers culminating in the Sussexes being forced out of Kensington Palace in 2019 and ultimately deciding to quit the Monarchy in 2020.
