Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Battle with the Media and Where It's Ultimately Led Them

Since Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, the media has covered the couple extensively, but for the most part, not in a kind way. Much of the stir has been that Meghan was an outsider, an American, and a woman of mixed-race, who is unfit for the position of the Duchess of Sussex.

Other opinions have criticized the way that she's perceived to have influenced Prince Harry and caused a rift between him and the rest of his family. Nonetheless, it would be an understatement to say that the couple has not had it easy since the media began covering their every move and suffice it say, there may have been massive implications that we're just now seeing take effect.

One Final Stand by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

With the couple's recent bombshell announcement that they would be moving to North America and relinquishing senior member duties for the royal family, the media has gone on a full-blown attack of Markle, ironically culminating in what might have been one of the main impetuses for them leaving in the first place -- to get away from the negative coverage that has bombarded them for the last several years.

Since their announcement, coverage from the press, tabloids, royalists, and other alike, have called Markle a 'palace-wrecker', selfish, inconsiderate, among other pejorative words. It's almost as if the media feels as though they are losing a significant other to a breakup and will no longer have fodder to keep the fires going, and as a result, are unleashing one final, but an ungodly attack on the couple, ignoring that the media, themselves. might have been the reason for them to leave, altogether.

The Incessant Attacks by the Daily Mail Towards Harry and Meghan

In particular, the Daily Mail which has been known traditionally to support the monarch and affiliated family members has been scathing, to say the least. And recently, personally attacked the integrity of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stating, "It's almost as if nothing matters to this couple apart from their own immediate happiness and gratification, as though they are incapable of seeing beyond their own little bubble of privilege."

Piers Morgan, The Daily Mail US Editor-at-Large, even went on to criticize the couple, while at the same time, dispelling the narrative that the backlash has been a result of Markle's heritage and race. "The criticism of Meghan Markle has nothing to do with her skin colour and everything to do with her being a shameless piece of work doing huge damage to our Royal Family," he said. "How dare these two self-absorbed whining freeloaders treat the Queen like this? Who the hell do they think they are? Shameless and shameful."

Demonizing Parallels betwen Meghan and Prince Diana

And this is not the first time that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had problems with the Daily Mail. In fact, just this past October, the couple filed a lawsuit against the Daily Mail's parent company for publishing a privately written letter by Markle, earlier in the year. The publication infuriated Prince Harry who declared during the trial proceedings that media, and especially The Daily Mail, had conducted a ruthless campaign against his wife.

For Harry, he was beginning to see nightmarish parallels to the tragic fate of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car accident as the media and paparazzi relentlessly following their vehicle. On the couple's website, Harry posted a statement echoing these same sentiments and concerns. "I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person," he wrote. "I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

Leaving the Criticisms Behind for a Better Life Ahead

Markle knew that marrying into the royal family would not be easy, especially as an outsider and American. She didn't believe she would be the victim of racial diatribes and vitriol, though. In a 2019 documentary title Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, the Duchess of Sussex was quoted as saying, "I never thought this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair."

And it has been anything but easy for the couple. As a result, they are leaving the country to lead more independent lives, outside of the British media's damning presence, and probably for the good of their immediate family. After all, who would have thought this same sort of viciousness could have led to the death of Princess Diana?