Kensington Palace defends Prince Harry's statement criticising media coverage of girlfriend Meghan Markle

An editorial in The Sun called the Prince's statement 'ill-judged' and told him to 'get real'

Prince Harry (Getty)

Kensington Palace has defended the statement issued by Prince Harry which warned “a line of has been crossed” in the treatment of his new girlfriend Meghan Markle by the media.

In an extraordinary statement, the Prince, 32, denounced the “wave of abuse and harassment” aimed at his girlfriend, an actress known for her role in Suits. He condemned "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”.

He also spoke of “nightly legal battles” and allegations reporters and photographers tried to gain illegal access into her home and harassed her mother, ex-boyfriend, and friends.

While Prince Harry was widely praised for protecting his girlfriend and slamming the ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ undertones of some of the press reporting, some sections of the media were unmoved by his statement, claiming it was “ill-judged” or “misguided”.

A source close to the palace told The Guardian they did not accept these arguments and maintained the statement stemmed from his want to primarily protect Markle, not himself.

“He was asking to protect someone else and their privacy, someone he has been in a relationship with for a few months,” they said. “This was a debate happening in public being encouraged by a handful of papers and he has added his voice to that and went straight to the public.”

An editorial from The Sun urged him to “get real”, something the Prince's statement anticipated when he said “he knows commentators will say this is "the price she has to pay" and that "this is all part of the game".

“The UK press isn’t to blame for his most serious allegations. The Sun aides by strict rules against intrusion and harassment – and we agree Meghan shouldn’t be hounded,” the paper said.

Similarly Sarah Vine in the Daily Mail labelled the Prince’s claims “preposterous” and said the statement was “misguided”.

“The fact is that both Harry and Meghan are public figures, one through inheritance, the other through choice – and that comes at a price,” she wrote.

Even Nigel Farage, who has resurfaced after Donald Trump’s shock election win, weighed in, telling The Mail: “Lashing out in a statement is not always a good idea. It’s probably best he doesn’t say anything at all! It’s not worth it in the end.”

Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the now-defunct News of the World called it “a terrible misjudgement by the palace” and told Radio 4 it was “an unwarranted attack on press freedom”.