William and Kate’s idyllic family life seemed to contrast sharply with the bachelor status of a prince living alone in an apartment in Kensington Palace. The break-up with Cressida Bonas was blamed by Harry on the unbearable pressure, or the ‘baggage’ as he put it, that came with being a Royal girlfriend. She hated the attention of strangers as she walked down the street, and when they finally went their separate ways Harry was convinced it was the extent of the public interest in his girlfriend that caused their split. As we have seen, this was only one factor in the relationship’s failure, but it was the only one he would accept. When, on the odd occasion, he showed frustration about media intrusion into his love life, it simply fuelled the level of interest in when Harry would finally meet the right woman.
Away from the cameras, a possible answer to this enduring question rose to the surface when the prince proudly launched the second, equally successful edition of Invictus Games in the early summer of 2016. This time it was staged in the United States rather than London and as the organizers sought to entice American celebrities by the bus-load to support the event, the stunningly attractive Meghan Markle accepted her invitation.
The actress – four years Harry’s senior – was herself a free agent after her marriage to the film producer Trevor Engelson had run its course nearly two years earlier. The couple had enjoyed a magical start to married life, tying the knot as the sun set over one of the most beautiful beaches in Jamaica in 2011. For the family and friends who waved sparklers and cheered as they celebrated the glitzy union, few would have predicted it was anything other than a lifelong commitment. They had been together since 2004 and had many things in common. Engelson had a promising career in the film industry ahead of him and Meghan was still overjoyed at landing her big break with the hit prime-time legal drama Suits. They were every bit the beautiful couple as they posed for pictures in front of the Caribbean that night.
But it wasn’t to be. The strain of two mushrooming careers meant their introduction to married life would be marked by weeks apart. Suits is filmed on location in Toronto, Canada, while Engelson’s budding career meant he was anchored to LA. In interviews at the time, Meghan insisted the couple would visit each other ‘consistently’, but she was often seen embracing the post-filming parties and drinking sessions that followed a long day on set. In one of her many posts on social media, Meghan revealed how she had stayed up playing board games with her co-stars and ‘drinking Scotch into the wee hours of the night’.
The fledgling marriage was increasingly strained and even a romantic trip to the Far East failed to reignite the flame. There was clearly no argument over finances, a battleground which causes strain in so many relationships. When she filed for divorce, just eighteen months after their idyllic wedding, Meghan didn’t ask for a penny from her wealthy ex.
The Invictus Games in 2016 was where Harry and Meghan’s paths first crossed, but it was not until later that summer that they got to know each other. As with so many things, when it comes to making the acquaintance of a prince it is not what you know but who you know that will improve your chances. A well-known socialite and celebrity in her own right, Megan counted among her friends a fashion designer called Misha Nonoo.
The New York-based mover and shaker was married at the time to Old Etonian Alexander Gilkes, founder of the online auction house, Paddle8. He was no stranger to royalty and counted the Middletons as family friends, attending the wedding of William and Kate in 2011. For two years he employed Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie, and in 2012 she and Princess Beatrice had been guests at Misha and Alexander’s lavish wedding in Venice. So when Meghan visited London in June 2016 it was no surprise that she and Harry met once more.
Over the coming weeks Harry and Meghan began to get closer as the smitten prince bombarded her with text messages and did everything he could to persuade her to visit London again. In secret, their friendship blossomed into a romance and once again it seemed that the role of Cupids-in-chief were played by Eugenie and Beatrice.
The unlikely couple managed to keep their relationship under wraps for weeks, even though their inner circle of close friends was well aware of what was happening. Sources said that in September 2016, while the relationship remained secret, Harry had introduced his new squeeze to William and Kate during a visit she made to Kensington Palace. The only clues to their friendship were so cryptic that for a long time they fell under the radar of even the most beady-eyed journalist. On her thirty-fifth birthday in August 2016, Meghan posted a poignant note on her lifestyle website, The Tig. It read: ‘I have to say that when I close my eyes and think of what I wish for, I come up with a blank. A big old happy blank. I am feeling so incredibly joyful right now, so grateful and content that all I could wish for is more of the same.’ This post would later be interpreted as a thinly veiled reference to her new relationship with Prince Harry. At the top of her game, with more than one million followers on Instagram, and now dating the ‘most eligible bachelor in the world’, Meghan might be forgiven for feeling rather pleased with herself.
She was born in LA in 1981, the only daughter of African-American Doria and her white husband Thomas. Even at a young age it was clear that Meghan was preoccupied with her racial identity. In a number of interviews before news of her relationship broke, she recalled how one Christmas her lighting director father had bought her a ‘white Ken doll for the dad and a black Barbie for the mum’. Her parents divorced when she was just six but she remained close to her father, often spending time behind the scenes as he worked on the popular sitcom Married with Children.
Even when she was as young as eleven she showed her ability to make a stand after taking exception to a TV commercial for a washing-up liquid that used the slogan: ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans’. Irritated by the inherent sexism of the slogan, she wrote a letter to both the manufacturer and the then First Lady, Hillary Clinton, in protest, and within a few months the word ‘women’ had been replaced by ‘people’.
Meghan did well at school and earned a place at Northwestern University, Illinois, where she started taking theatre studies before deciding to add international relations to her workload. Her ambitious nature even saw her completing an internship at a US embassy and she ended up working in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
But it was not until a friend introduced her to an agent at a party that Meghan was persuaded to try her skills in front of the screen. In another interview, she was to reflect on the challenges she faced trying to make a break into the acting world. She said in a piece for Elle magazine: ‘I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white roles, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn’t book a job.’
Despite her difficulties, she won her first part in the daytime soap General Hospital and that was followed by roles in series such as CSI: NY, 90210 and sci-fi drama Fringe. Her presence on the small screen mixed with genuine acting ability finally led her to bag a big break when she auditioned for a part in Suits.
Being thrust into the limelight meant Meghan’s divorce and subsequent fling with Canadian celebrity chef Cory Vitiello in 2014 were reported widely, while not attracting anything like the level of interest that was to come. From what we know about her past, Meghan is clearly an ambitious, likeable and driven woman, well used to being in the public eye and not averse to promoting herself on the internet.
To a cynic, it might indeed appear as though Meghan’s drive in the days before she met Harry hinted at a desire to embrace fame with the enthusiasm of an X-Factor contestant. Certainly there is very little to suggest that she ever complained about the inconvenience of becoming more and more recognizable to the public in America and beyond. But, in fairness, is there really anyone on the planet who could prepare for the level of interest they would have to endure when the media uncovered the identity of her new love? I suppose what it comes down to is whether or not you think someone can become too famous. Ask Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie, as details of their bitter divorce battle are splashed over the papers, and they may well answer that question with a yes.
The problem for Harry was that as soon as the romance was public knowledge, it was inevitable that journalists all over the world would be able to find out all kinds of things about Meghan’s past. Unlike his previous girlfriends, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, Meghan’s past was already out there for all to see. Indeed much of it had been put there by the actress herself, with magazine columns and tweets penned by her own hand. On a trip to London in the summer her romance began, she even tracked down the former Mirror editor, presenter and columnist Piers Morgan and invited him to meet for a drink. Could that have been an example of networking by a media-savvy actress? Or was it the action of a shy, retiring thirty-something trying to lie low?
Whatever the truth, there is no denying what happened in October 2016 when the Sunday Express front page hit the streets. Speaking less than a fortnight later, one respected Royal correspondent light-heartedly told me: ‘We know more about Meghan after two weeks than we found out about Cressy in four years.’
And the reporter – whose words would no doubt have horrified Harry at the time – was right. Less than a month after that first story linking the pair was published, typing their names into Google would lead to more than six million ‘hits’. In the UK the pictures of Meghan’s on-screen antics were splashed all over the front pages and inside commentators analysed the new relationship in minute detail. Some wrote articles with headlines such as ‘You would have to be mad to marry a prince’, while others questioned the motives of someone they saw as a publicity-hungry American divorcee.
On the other side of the Atlantic the interest in delving deeper into the life of Harry’s new girlfriend reached fever pitch. Within days, Meghan’s relatives, ex-boyfriends, neighbours, family friends and former classmates had been tracked down, some reportedly being offered money for dishing the dirt. There was something undignified about the fact that someone with Meghan’s profile was seen as fair game, even though the media interest was understandable.
In my experience of covering the ups and downs of the British Royal family, I have always been fascinated by the way many of our US cousins seem captivated by our dusty and somewhat outdated institution. Many girls grow up in America reading and watching films about princesses and perhaps this contributes to the interest in real-life fairy tales.
But whatever Harry and Meghan might have expected to happen when their romance inevitably became public, neither seemed prepared for what did happen. Within just nine days of the first story, Harry had had enough.
The furious prince demanded his media advisers take action to counter some of the things people were saying about Meghan. When they suggested writing to the editors of UK papers individually to plead for calm, this was rejected by the prince. He wanted to go further, he wanted blood.
On the morning of 8 November 2016, Kensington Palace issued a statement, the likes of which no one had ever seen before. It read:
‘Since he was young, Prince Harry has been very aware of the warmth that has been extended to him by members of the public.
‘He feels lucky to have so many people supporting him and knows what a fortunate and privileged life he leads.
‘He is also aware that there is significant curiosity about his private life. He has never been comfortable with this, but he has tried to develop a thick skin about the level of media interest that comes with it.
‘He has rarely taken formal action on the very regular publication of fictional stories that are written about him and he has worked hard to develop a professional relationship with the media, focused on his work and the issues he cares about.
‘But the past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. 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.
‘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.
‘Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.
‘He knows commentators will say this is “the price she has to pay” and that “this is all part of the game”. He strongly disagrees. This is not a game – it is her life and his.
‘He has asked for this statement to be issued in the hopes that those in the press who have been driving this story can pause and reflect before any further damage is done.
‘He knows that it is unusual to issue a statement like this, but hopes that fair-minded people will understand why he has felt it necessary to speak publicly.’
The 279-word statement was as astonishing as it was unprecedented. It bears Harry’s stamp, and the content was almost certainly put together on his direct say-so. Possibly against their better judgement, his media team agreed to send it out, hoping that it would have the desired effect. Their aim was to appeal to members of the public directly, to force the media to ‘back off’ by popular demand. This tactic has been used to good effect in the past, but never in such an outwardly aggressive manner.
One newspaper editor described this as a declaration of war by Harry, and one which he may come to regret for years to come. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but there is little doubt that in the short term the statement’s outcome fell well short of having the desired effect.
In the UK, most of the papers led with the line that Harry had confirmed he was in a relationship. They carried stories explaining why this was a significant development for a prince who felt so strongly about his right to a private life.
The Daily Telegraph’s respected chief reporter Gordon Rayner, himself a veteran of many Royal tours, wrote: ‘Never before has he [Harry] been so angry that he felt the need to go public with a statement confronting what has been written about a girlfriend by both the mainstream media and by the public through the skewed prism of social media.
‘The Prince is fully aware that in issuing such a public defence of his new girlfriend – and a plea to give her some space “before any further damage is done” – he is confirming just how serious their relationship is.’
This was a common line, with other papers claiming it proved that Harry and Miss Markle may soon announce an engagement. In the US, the statement merely added fuel to the fire that was engulfing the popular actress. It was a mistaken assumption that, by appealing directly to the public, Prince Harry would defuse the interest in his relationship in a foreign country, especially when it involved one of their own celebrities. Sure, people were sympathetic towards Harry’s plight; most people always are. But was that going to be enough to stop them reading the papers, watching the television or looking up the story on the internet?
In some quarters, the statement showing Harry’s determination to try and protect his new love was likened to an act of medieval chivalry. But that hardly seemed appropriate in the context of Meghan’s one million Instagram followers. Could someone who has courted publicity with such success in the past really expect to stuff the genie back in the bottle?
Lying behind the statement was a deeper frustration for Harry, and in many ways it had been brewing for months, if not years. The break-up from Cressy had upset the prince and he was convinced the major reason was the level of attention she was forced to endure. For years he had pondered ways of taming the new beast of social media, the unregulated bloggers,
commentators, and gossips that he regarded as a blight. Even Twitter had inadvertently impacted his life and made it even harder for him to approach some kind of relative normality.
The rise of Twitter meant that as soon as he stepped out in public, at a pub or a restaurant, those who spotted him would take to the website to boast, ‘Guess who just walked in.’ That gave the signal for a swarm of freelance photographers to rush to his location and prepare to pounce.
One of his protection officers – reflecting Harry’s frustration – once told me: ‘These days he feels trapped. He can’t go anywhere in public without strangers who spot him letting the cat out of the bag.’ This new drawback was compounded by the additional frustration that today almost everyone carries a camera. The advent of high-resolution lenses inside mobile phones has had the effect of turning just about anyone into a paparazzo. The paranoia this must cause to someone in Harry’s position is unimaginable.
Being born into fame is hard enough to deal with, but growing up into a world where technology tracks your every move compounds the difficulty. Some will, and have, inevitably said this comes with the territory of being a Royal. There is no doubt that being born into such a family carries with it the perks of wealth, privilege and position. But is it really fair to simply dismiss Harry’s anger as the ‘rant of a spoilt Royal’?
By making his statement, Harry is at least trying to draw a line in the sand, to give himself some chance of letting a relationship blossom without the added pressure of the media microscope. But this does beg the question of whether his relationship with a famous actress is the right context in which to take this battle on.
In 2006, Prince William leapt to his girlfriend Kate Middleton’s defence when she was subjected to a huge scrum of TV and press cameras outside her London flat on what was her twenty-fifth birthday. And while his statement that day was more subdued than his brother’s, it did have an impact. After that day many newspapers in the UK refused to publish pictures of Kate unless she was by William’s side and therefore surrounded by his protection team.
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