Since Prince Harry exited his royal role, he’s been at war with the British tabloids that made his life miserable long before he ever met Meghan Markle. The Duke of Sussex made it his post-royal mission to hold them accountable for the stories they were publishing after their alleged phone hacking, but it came a great personal cost.
Harry is sharing one of the reasons why the royal family feud has continued with no end in sight in a new interview for ITV’s documentary, Tabloids on Trial. It will air Thursday, July 25, but a preview clip highlighted why his relationship with Prince William went south so quickly. ITV reporter Rebecca Barry asked the Duke of Sussex, “To what extent do you think your determination to fight the tabloids destroyed the relationship with your family?”
You can hear the pain in his voice because it’s a loaded question to ask. “I think that’s certainly a central piece to it,” the Duke of Sussex replied. “That’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.” He wished that they had acted against the media groups “as a family” instead of him doing it alone. “I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you’re in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But I’m doing this for my reasons,” he added.
He and William took vastly different paths in seeking justice. The Prince of Wales took part in a reported “secret agreement” with News Group Newspapers and received a “very large sum of money” in the settlement, per the court filings obtained by The Guardian. The Duke of Sussex chose to pursue the legal route and received a “monumental victory” when the judge ruled in his favor. Harry’s case won’t likely stop the royal family from continuing their questionable relationship with the Royal Rota.
After the Sussexes revealed the palace’s shady media practices in their 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, Queen Camilla was spotted mingling with some of their media enemies, including Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson was The Sun journalist, who wrote a vile column about Meghan, claiming that he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.” Yep, Camilla was rubbing elbows with him at her Christmas luncheon just days later.
It shows how vast the differences are between the Sussexes and the palace, but Harry is going to keep on fighting. “I think everything’s that played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is,” he summed up in the ITV clip. “For me, the mission continues. But it has caused part of a rift.”
Before you go, click here to see more of Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s milestones since leaving the royal family.
