LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry on Tuesday complained of a “wave of abuse and harassment” against his U.S. girlfriend, 35-year-old actress Meghan Markle, giving his first official confirmation of their relationship.
Prince Harry’s office said he was concerned about coverage including “the smear on the front page of a (British) national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
The 32-year-old prince is “worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” an official statement said.
Markle describes herself as mixed race, and has written online about racism experienced by her African-American mother. She said she often reluctantly tells people: “My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African-American. I’m half black and half white.”
British media have published dozens of stories about Markle since rumors began circulating around early November that she was Prince Harry’s girlfriend.
The Sun, one of Britain’s most popular tabloids, ran a story last week under the headline “pushy princess,” publishing many family photographs and quoting Markle’s half-sister as saying the actress was a “shallow” person driven by “social climbing.”
The Daily Mail said it had commissioned a U.S. genealogist to investigate the ancestry of Markle’s family, which is mainly white.
It said she came from “a family whose roots in the American South tell much of the struggle of the United States to come to terms with the legacy of slavery, and the divided society which grew up in its aftermath.”
A third tabloid, The Daily Mirror, ran a front-page story reporting that Markle “features on X-rated Pornhub website in steamy TV scenes.”
The royal statement said Harry was “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,” it said. “But the past week has seen a line crossed.”
Prince Harry has previously complained of “incessant” intrusions into his private life and appealed for more privacy.
“Everyone has a right to privacy,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr program in May. “Sadly that line between public and private life is almost nonexistent any more.”