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Prince Harry blasts media in rare statement about Meghan Markle, reveals lawsuit

His statement came as it was revealed the duchess is filing a claim against Associated Newspapers.
/ Source: TODAY

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have had enough.

In a rare statement released Tuesday afternoon, Prince Harry spoke out against the treatment his wife — the former Meghan Markle — has received in the media, and revealed they are officially taking legal action. Additional information provided with the prince's statement detailed that the duchess is suing Associated Newspapers, which owns the Mail on Sunday, for publishing what was a private letter to her estranged father earlier this year.

"Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences — a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son," Harry wrote.

Image: Prince Harry and Meghan begin their Africa tour in Cape Town
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the first day of their African tour in Cape Town, South Africa.Toby Melville / Reuters

"There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face — as so many of you can relate to — I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been."

The statement comes as the family of three wraps up their royal tour in Africa, the first they have embarked on since welcoming their son, Archie, in the spring.

"The positive coverage of the past week from these same publications exposes the double standards of this specific press pack that has vilified her almost daily for the past nine months; they have been able to create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible while on maternity leave," Harry wrote. "She is the same woman she was a year ago on our wedding day, just as she is the same woman you’ve seen on this Africa tour.

"I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long."

Image: Armistice Service at Westminster Abbey in Westminster
The Duke of Sussex and Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 11, 2018. Peter Nicholls / Reuters

This isn't the first time Prince Harry has spoken out against the media's treatment of the duchess. When they were dating, he condemned her treatment by the press and social media trolls in another rare statement.

In Tuesday's post, the duke said his "deepest fear is history repeating itself," invoking the memory of his mother Princess Diana, who died tragically during a paparazzi chase when he was 12.

"I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

In response, a spokesman for the Mail on Sunday said the paper "stands by the story it published and will be defending this case vigorously. Specifically, we categorically deny that the Duchess’s letter was edited in any way that changed its meaning."