Prince Harry Blames Meghan Markle's Miscarriage on Stress From Legal Case with Tabloid

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have not minced words in their most recent episodes Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan.

In the last episode, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex expressed that they believe Markle had a miscarriage as a result of the stress caused by the press intruding into their lives, specifically after the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline printed sections of a private letter Markle sent to her father, Thomas Markle, after her wedding in 2018.

"I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what the Mail did," Harry said on camera. "I watched the whole thing. Now, do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was caused by that? Of course, we don't."

Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is seen during The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.

"[But] bearing in mind the stress that caused the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was, I can say from what I saw, that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her," Harry continued.

The couple had just moved into their new home in Montecito, California, when the Duchess felt like something was off.

"The first morning that we woke up in our new home is when I miscarried," she said.

According to her lawyer, Jenny Afia, she knew the "toll it was taking" on the Duchess to seek legal action against Associated Newspapers in 2020, adding that even though Markle was pregnant, she was not able to sleep due to the pressure she was facing.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex tend to their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor at a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Markle later wrote about the miscarriage in a The New York Times article in November 2020, detailing her painful experience and how she felt.

"I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second," she wrote as the conclusion to what started as just another July morning.

"Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins. Find that missing sock. Pick up the rogue crayon that rolled under the table. Throw my hair in a ponytail before getting my son from his crib," Markle said.

Adding, "After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right."

Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten.

After several years of litigation in London's High Court, the Mail on Sunday issued a full public apology in December 2021. In the front-page apology, they detailed how as required by MailOnline and Mail on Sunday, they breached her privacy in February 2019 by printing pieces of the five-page letter written to her father.

The publisher had initially challenged the claims. However, the Court of Appeal in London upheld the decision on December 2, 2021.

"Following a hearing on 19-20, January 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May, 2021, the Court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement," they wrote on page three. "The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online. Financial remedies have been agreed."

Photo by EMILIO MORENATTI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Catherine (R), Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince William (2nd R), Prince of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry (L), Duke of Sussex, and Meghan (2nd L), Duchess of Sussex, leave after paying their respects at Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, where the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lay.

Markle responded to the win in a statement, writing that the victory was not only hers but "for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right."

"While this win is precedent-setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create," she wrote.

She continued with, "From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong. The defendant has treated it as a game with no rules. The longer they dragged it out, the more they could twist facts and manipulate the public (even during the appeal itself), making a straightforward case extraordinarily convoluted in order to generate more headlines and sell more newspapers—a model that rewards chaos above truth. In the nearly three years since this began, I have been patient in the face of deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks."