Prince Harry Made 1 Drastic Move Because He Reportedly Feared Meghan Markle Would Leave Him
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became acquainted and began dating in 2016. The couple had a whirlwind courtship before getting married in 2018.
However, according to sources, while they were dating Harry made a drastic move out of fear that Meghan would leave him.
Prince Harry issued a statement defending Meghan Markle from the press
In the fall of 2016, the press exposed Harry and Meghan’s relationship to the public. This led Meghan and her family to receive a lot of attention—some of which was negative.
On Nov. 8 of that year, Harry released a statement to publicly defend Meghan from the media’s intrusion.
“His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment,” the statement read. “Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
The statement continued, “Some of it has been hidden from the public – the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; 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.”
Finally, the statement asked that members of the press could “pause and reflect before any further damage is done.”
Prince Harry reportedly did this because he feared Meghan Markle would leave him
According to a new article from news outlet The Times, Harry released the statement to defend his girlfriend—a rare move from a royal—because he reportedly feared that Meghan would leave otherwise.
“It did feel like that if the palace was not able to stand up and support his girlfriend, against some of that disgusting coverage . . . then who in their right mind would ever consider entering into a relationship [with him] in the future?” a source told the outlet. “He was very exercised about some of that coverage. He definitely felt that if nothing was done to support her, then she would be, ‘I’m not sure this is what I signed up for.’”
Another alleged insider said, “He was freaking out, saying, ‘She’s going to dump me’.”
Meanwhile, The Times wrote that Harry’s communication team also felt that “they had no choice other than to mount a full-on defence of Meghan.”
Harry’s previous girlfriends, such as Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, reportedly ended their relationships with him because they could not cope with the attention from the press.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would later sue the press
Despite the statement, the British press continued to criticize Meghan and invaded her privacy. In 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior royals to pursue a private life together, but they would still be involved in lawsuits with media outlets.
For example, their most famous lawsuit was against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which runs a few tabloid papers in the United Kingdom. The couple sued the company in 2019 after it published a letter Meghan wrote to her father in 2018, and the Sussexes claimed this invaded Meghan’s privacy.
In December 2021, a judge ruled in favor of Meghan. She also received a public apology, which was published in the Mail on Sunday.
Additionally, Meghan released a statement about her victory, saying that it symbolized a win against the “tabloid industry.”
“This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right,” Meghan said. “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.”
