Why Meghan Markle Says the Royal Family Did Not Protect Her When She Was Pregnant
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced they were stepping down as senior royals in January. After the news broke, many fans concluded that a contributing factor to their decision had to do with what was being written about Meghan in the press.
Prior to the duke and duchess’ bombshell announcement, the former Suits actor admitted in the documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey that she was struggling with the constant media attention and tabloid rumors. Now, papers filed by her attorneys say that she was not protected from that treatment by Harry’s family.
Meghan felt ‘unprotected’ for this reason
In October 2019, Meghan filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, the owner of the Mail on Sunday.
Court documents submitted by her lawyers describe the duchess as “unprotected by the Institution and prohibited from defending herself.”
Those documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight claim that Meghan wanted to speak out after some malicious and false stories about her were published but she was prohibited from doing so.
The docs also state that “it was mandated by the [Kensington Palace Communications Team] that all friends and family should say ‘no comment’ when approached by any media outlet, despite misinformation being provided to U.K. tabloids about [her].”
The court papers go on to say that the Duchess of Sussex was also the target of a number of damaging stories while she was pregnant which caused “tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health.”
NBC News noted that in May Meghan lost the first stage of her legal battle, but Justice Mark Warby did rule that parts of the case “may be revived” at a later time. No trial date has been set.
Claim that her pregnancy announcement angered the royals
The news about how Meghan reportedly felt when she was pregnant follows a claim made in a new book that the royals were angry over the timing of her announcement that she was expecting Archie.
In the book Royals at War, journalists Andy Tillett and Dylan Howard allege that members of the family were upset with Meghan for telling everyone she was expecting the same day Princess Eugenie got married.
“Meghan put her foot in it when she decided that it would be the ideal moment to announce that she and Harry were expecting their first child,” the authors wrote. “This was a huge social gaffe, even if you were not a royal–stealing the limelight from Eugenie, who was furious, as was her mother, Sarah.”
This claim, however, was previously refuted by palace sources who told Harper’s Bazaar that most of the royals already knew Meghan was pregnant before Eugenie’s wedding but waited till seeing the Sussexes in person that day to congratulate them.
