Prince Harry made the right decision. Prince Harry had loathing and contempt for the UK media before he met Meghan and now, he’s even more justified in how he feels because they have been waging a campaign of destruction against his wife, The Duchess of Sussex and their son Master Archie. He’s right to leave Britain for their mental and physical well-being. Here’s a compilation of him discussing his feelings about the British media on various occasions.
For three years and two months, beginning from when it was confirmed that Prince Harry and Meghan were dating, the British media have digitally pursued Meghan, writing one vitriolic and hate inciting screed after another. The first poison dart titled “Harry’s girl (almost) straight out of Compton” was crafted to tie her to Compton, so as to justify pushing a narrative about her growing up in a gang infested area. Why? Simple, the message was that she wasn’t good enough for Prince Harry and it’s all down to racism. For those who are unfamiliar with metropolitan Los Angeles, the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles where Duchess Meghan’s mom lives is relatively closer to Beverly Hills compared Compton. Even after Prince Harry’s November 2016 statement to request that the media stop publishing lies and propaganda steeped in xenophobia, sexism and racism about his then girlfriend, Meghan, they doubled down.
The incessant bullying of Duchess Meghan by the British media intensified after the announcement that she’s was expecting their first child. Almost as if the goal was to use the stresses on Duchess Meghan to induce a miscarriage or harm the baby in some way. If you think that sounds hyperbolic, consider the request for kindness towards Rebekah Vardy and Boris Johnson’s girlfriend, while both were pregnant and under the media spotlight for various reasons. This by some of the very media fixtures that perpetuated the abuse and harassment of Meghan, either because of how she dressed her gravid self, cradled her belly or for some completely fabricated birth arrangements. Was it simply because they didn’t consider the pregnant duchess worthy of kindness and consideration? And if so why? Or was it more sinister? None of the possible answers are good.
The impact of maternal health and well-being on foetal and child health is well documented. Even at the lay level of understanding, maternal stress is known to adversely affect the foetus. As stated previously, the British media are aware of this, but they did not relent in their onslaught against Duchess Meghan. It’s a malevolent thought to consider, but one that aligns with what seems to be British media’s modus operandi. After all they have driven several public figures to their deaths by design – manslaughter by media. The most recent death is Caroline Flack and their most famous victim was Princess Diana. In both instances, they have capitalised on and monetised the tragedy.
The irony is, now that Prince Harry has left Britain with his nuclear family, the British media establishment is throwing a tantrum. It’s obvious based on their reactions that, they wanted Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan and Master Archie around to use as the scapegoats and punching bags, until they succumb. They have for the past few months told The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on multiple occasions that if they want to avoid relentless bullying, harassment and intrusion into their personal lives, they should leave their senior royal roles and leave Britain. No one can forget one particular morning TV show host telling Duchess Meghan to go back to America. Now he’s leading the British media in continuing to peddle hate against The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. He’s attempted to import that hate to the US by recently appearing on morning shows, and he routinely appears on Australian TV shows to peddle hate against them. The British media’s latest narrative is that Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have been disrespectful to the Queen, when there’s evidence to the contrary.
The largely Murdoch-owned British media no longer make a pretence of publishing the truth about The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. They publish lies and propaganda even when the facts are readily available and verifiable. It hasn’t been without consequence. The couple have received death threats, with people openly wishing them harm. One would think that since the couple decided to step back from official senior royal roles, the media’s insatiable desire to villainize them will abate. Not so. Their new goal is clear; to drive the Sussexes into the most precarious position with their double-barrelled approach of further invoking an intensely hateful sentiment towards them, through their agenda-driven and propaganda rich “reporting” while also stirring up public sentiment to strip the Sussexes of their security. They seem to have a blood lust.
This week, we got two first-hand accounts of royal reporters/members of media who cover the royal beat, making very disparaging comments about Meghan, voicing what their perception of her motivations were, with most displaying a personal dislike of her. They blame her for everything under the sun and perhaps what was most shocking is the account that, the TV crew of a major British network that was covering the Commonwealth Day Service, called Meghan a witch and photoshopped a broom into her hands and a black hat onto her head! Truly astounding, not to talk about unprofessional. In spite of all this, to quote Ciara Phelan in her revealing piece about her encounter with the royal rota on William & Kate’s Ireland tour, “The paparazzi loved to photograph her, she was the ultimate money shot. But really she was nothing but a pay check to them all”.
As gag-inducing as this all sounds, it is consistent with the skewed vitriolic content they have generated, waging a targeted and coordinated smear campaign via digital, print, TV and radio broadcast, and social media( on their Twitter accounts, even interacting with hateful trolls). This is proof positive of Prince Harry’s assertion in his October 2019 statement when he and Meghan took legal action against The Sun and The Mail Group; the media have commoditized Meghan to the extent that she is no longer treated like a human being.
By taking a firm stand, and refusing to hand over unfettered access his beloved wife and son to be exploited by the media, Prince Harry has become an extended target of the media. This type of pursuit (yes, and forget the royal reporters who will feign ignorance of the figurative use of words, to excuse their bad behaviour) contributed to Princess Diana’s death in 1997 – when Harry was 12 years old. Prince Harry rightfully holds the media responsible, and is determined to make sure that his wife and son would not continue to be subjected to that same treatment. I say more power to him.
Through all of this media onslaught, the royal family have surprisingly refused to come to their defence, and through briefings by courtiers, it has been made known that the family do not support the Sussexes. Instead, the British royal family and British media have conspired to use the Sussexes as a foil to distract from the morass that is the ongoing fallout from Prince Andrew’s questionable alliance with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile and child sex trafficker, as well as Andrew’s own alleged sexual crimes. It has become so fine-tuned that whenever there is a head scratching story about the Sussexes, one can almost guarantee that the Palace is trying to drown out some unfavourable or unsavoury Andrew-Epstein related news, or the palaces’ surreptitious schemes to reinstate Andrew as a working royal, all while he’s evading questioning by the FBI.
On Tuesday, February 18, to distract from the official birthday honours for Prince Andrew in the face of public opposition, every British media outlet told the world the Queen had banned The Sussexes from using Sussex Royal. This apparently was decided at the time of the formal agreement but the timing of its release was quite strategic. The “news” was amplified by the international media without verification. On Friday, February 21, there was more bad Andrew news; he had failed to cooperate with FBI as promised. As usual the Queen’s courtiers went back to the well and before long, there was an outrageous story about Meghan challenging the Queen’s authority over the word ‘royal’. Sigh.
The lie, which I won’t repeat, was so egregious and damaging that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex within 3 hours issued a press release and posted their full transition plan for becoming non-working royals on their website to correct the lie. Even that, was somehow used to transition the media narrative into the next phase of faux outrage, by harping on a factual statement of the Queen/ UK Government’s lack of jurisdiction over the word ‘royal’ outside the UK, to accuse Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan of disrespecting the Queen. That qualification by my read, was meant to demonstrate the Sussexes’ commitment to honour the Queen’s wishes, even though in north America, she had no standing to enforce it. While it may not sound palatable, those are the bare facts of the matter and show just what a ridiculous and mean-spirited decision it is. However, to the usual cabal of royal reporters, dispassionately reporting the facts is never an option, and are gleeful as usual to feed their readers a steady diet of hate where The Sussexes, and particularly Meghan are concerned. Below are excerpts of pertinent parts of the plan, which can be viewed in full here.
In a “365-day period observed, Duchess Meghan appeared in negative news stories 21.1k times, across 29k tabloid and broadsheet publications. Meanwhile, Kate Middleton appeared in 4.3k negative news articles from 14k publications” as found in this research. In other words, 71% of stories written about Meghan are negative. Without equivocation, that is meant to damage her reputationally, not to talk of mentally. No one can credibly and clearly articulate what she has done to deserve this treatment by the media. One is left with the obvious reasons of xenophobia, misogyny and racism.
Archie’s safety and well-being are paramount. He too has been subject to racist and coded commentary by the British media. Two days after his birth he was likened to a chimpanzee by a BBC radio journalist. He’s back on BBC radio after what initially looked like a dismissal but turned out to be a two month hiatus. Of course Hello Magazine, promoters of the farcical eponymous campaign for online decency, ‘Hello to Kindness’, were not going to be outdone by Danny Baker. In a not so covert manner, they also likened Archie to a chimpanzee, by a very questionable word choice in a headline about how prince Harry wanted to give Archie as normal a life as possible. Dr. Jane Goodall, who was being quoted, is an anthropologist, a primatologist and a serious environmental advocate with name recognition. Hello Magazine decided that, to quote a person who was relaying a conversation about a mixed-race prince, the best descriptor of said person was “chimpanzee expert”. Unbelieveable!
At seven months old, Archie was labelled a spoilt brat as supposedly, not spending time with his cousins the Cambridge kids will render him so. Forget the upbringing his very capable parents will give him. At only 8 months old, before he could even utter a syllable, the media already wanted to negatively define him. Then there are the faction of the media who want to see Archie because they are “concerned” about his well-being and want to make sure he is okay. We all know they’re just keeping tabs on his appearance so they can churn out sensational articles. It’s sickening frankly. In today’s digital age, can you imagine how damaging it will be for him to grow up and see what has been said about him? Prince Harry has been there. With the added layer of racism, there is no way he will subject his child and any future children to that toxic environment.
To many, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have claimed their self-respect and they are the definition of courage. Now, they are on their own path, away from the British media and the British royal family. The British royal family contributed, sanctioned or at least by remaining on the side-lines, are complicit in the media’s abuse and bullying of The Sussex family. For three plus years Duchess Meghan has endured the nightmare of character assassination at the hands of the British media cartel. Prince Harry has every right to protect his wife and son from the vitriol and bullying.
Both Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have brought energy, talent, and dedication to their senior royal roles. They have answered every unkindness by being doubly kind. Their final week of engagements was a reminder of the breadth and depth of substance they brought to their work. If this distinguishing quality which endears them to many, is indeed at the core of the friction between them and the rest of the royal family, then fair minded members of the public understand and applaud their decision to prioritise the well-being of their nuclear family and support them fully.
Though the Queen tried to cast a conciliatory note in her statement about the Sussexes departure from senior royal duties, all doubt that the situation as they found themselves in was untenable, was removed by the classless and puerile display of froideur by the Cambridges assisted by Sophie Wessex. If that was the public show, I shudder to think of how frigid it is in private. Perhaps the most shocking was Sophie, who herself had a rocky start to royal life following her misadventures, and was not cast out but extended grace. With that history and her foray into female empowerment, it was particularly stunning and odd to see her fight even a fleeting cordial moment with Meghan, while her husband cheerfully chatted to the Sussexes.
Nevertheless, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are both greatly admired and respected role models who are poised to do a lot of good, as they chart their new path. Harry is a strong, brave, intelligent and principled man. A battle-tested soldier. I admire his decisive courage and grit in standing up to powerful forces around him, without compromising his integrity. His family comes first, and no one can begrudge him that.
May God continue to bless The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Master Archie and any future siblings. I’m looking forward to what’s next for Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan.
