Prince Harry has issued a scathing statement slamming the British tabloids for its treatment and coverage of his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
CNN reported that the lengthy statement, which was written by Harry and published unedited, was posted Tuesday on the official Sussex website.
"As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting. We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world – on every level – we have never needed responsible media more," the statement said.
"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 went on to say that the digital age has made tabloid reports worse as false reports spread quickly and globally.
"Up to now, we have been unable to correct the continual misrepresentations - something that these select media outlets have been aware of and have therefore exploited on a daily and sometimes hourly basis."
The statement comes as Sussex Royal has also announced that Meghan is suing the Mail on Sunday, which published a private letter she wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle. Harry also spoke about the suit in his statement, calling it "a process that has been many months in the making."
"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," he said. "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.
"For these select media this is a game, and one that we have been unwilling to play from the start. I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in."
A legal representative from Schillings, who is representing the Duchess of Sussex, issued the following statement about the suit:
"We have initiated legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday, and its parent company Associated Newspapers, over the intrusive and unlawful publication of a private letter written by the Duchess of Sussex, which is part of a campaign by this media group to publish false and deliberately derogatory stories about her, as well as her husband. Given the refusal of Associated Newspapers to resolve this issue satisfactorily, we have issued proceedings to redress this breach of privacy, infringement of copyright and the aforementioned media agenda."
Sussex Royal said the couple is funding the case on their own. Any proceeds from damages will be donated to a charity geared toward anti-bullying.
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