The Royal Battle

Queen Elizabeth II vs Megan Marcle

The media has long written about the negative attitude of the royal family towards the wife of Prince Harry.

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain removed the photograph of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from her desk in the audience room. The media believes that this is due to a documentary in which the couple spoke about the difficulties of life as dukes of Sussex. They brought up two topics on which the royal family was silent for decades. I.e. the interference of the media in the lives of relatives of the British monarch, as well as relationships within the royal family.

Media warfare

On October 20th, the ITV, British television channel showed the documentary called “Harry and Meghan: An African Journey” describing the first overseas tour of the Dukes of Sussex in South Africa. The film is based on their detailed interview. Part of the British media found it open and sincere, and several tabloids used the word – “explosive”.

As a result, a new stage of verbal war took place between the media and the family of Prince Harry. And other members of the royal family might be supporting a young couple in this story. As for Megan and Harry, the British media clearly decided not to hold back, writes the French publication, Le Figaro. After the royal wedding in May 2018, dozens of negative first pages about Meghan Markle follow one after another.

In early October, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sued the British tabloids. They claim that newspapers illegally published a private correspondence between the wife of Prince Harry and his father, taking phrases out of context to manipulate the opinions of readers.

In September, it became known that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hired a crisis manager from Hollywood in the hope of improving their stained reputation. People from this organization previously helped to cope with damaged reputational of Michael Jackson, who was suspected of pedophilia, and producer Harvey Weinstein, implicated in harassment scandals. Prince Harry openly condemned the “ruthless campaign” against his wife.

Then the British stood as one in response to the attacks of the prince and his wife. “Harry’s criticism of the press is very unreasonable,” as stated by the Daily Mail. “Harry’s incredible statement is probably the last thing the queen needed,” added by the Telegraph.

In the African interview, Prince Harry admitted that the close attention of the press and the public strongly influenced his family life. According to the prince, the status of the family, duties, and each spouse’s appearance in the world, strongly affects Megan’s physical and mental health.

The Duke of Sussex specified he is against the attention of the media that “pressed” his mother, Princess Diana 20 years ago. As you know, it’s customary to blame reporters for the persecution, in particular, The Sun. “Now I have a family that needs to be protected, so everything that she (Diana) went through, and what happened to her, is devastating. And I’m not paranoid. I just do not want a repetition of the past,” said Harry.

For months, the media wrote about the conflict between Harry and his brother, Prince William. Often, William and his wife Kate as the image of an exponential couple were directly opposed to Harry and Meghan. Harry said that brothers will always remain brothers and will be there for each other, despite the fact that now they “obviously are taking different roads.” This diplomatic phrase was enough for the media to conclude: they were right, and there is a conflict. What it consists of is not known for certain.

The Duchess of Sussex said that during her pregnancy a lot of negative materials about her were published in the British media regularly, which also continued after the birth of her son Archie. Meghan admitted that any woman feels “really vulnerable”, especially during pregnancy. Add to this that you are just trying to be a wife and mom, which is still new to you. The duchess admitted that for a long time she could not cope with the pressure around her and did not know what she would face after the wedding. According to Meghan, long before the wedding, British friends warned her that “the media would ruin the couple’s life,” however, she did not believe them back then.

After the documentary was released in the UK, the media also discuss how likely the couple can move to Africa, as Harry mentioned. Victoria Arbiter the Royal Family Expert has already stated that this will likely cause new problems – in particular, the Dukes of Sussex will have to give up all royal privileges when moving to South Africa.

Queen is offended

How the royal family feels about this whole situation is not known: the royals do not comment on journalists, especially on family-related issues. According to the media from their sources, the royal family was very dissatisfied with the interview of Prince Harry and Megan – it is too frank.

Indeed, since the beginning of the 20th century, the royal family has lived according to the rule formulated by the Queen Mother, the Duchess of York Elizabeth: “Never complain, never explain.”

A CNN source at Buckingham Palace said the royal family was surrounded by people who were scared and did not know how to harness the potential and appreciate the efforts of Harry and Meghan, trying “single-handedly modernize the Monarchy”.

Earlier, the tabloids mentioned that Prince Charles, Markle’s father-in-law, forbade Megan to wear Princess Diana’s diamond tiara. Soon, Queen Elizabeth completely forbade the duchess to wear jewelry from her collection. On October 23rd, reporters noticed that the Queen of Great Britain again removed a photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from her desk in the audience room.

The source in Buckingham Palace links the loss of the picture with the behavior of Markle and Prince Harry. In an interview, the duchess said that not many people were interested in whether she would cope with these difficulties. Many journalists regarded these words as a claim in the direction of the royal family.

The Daily Mail sources report that the statements of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are causing a disturbance in the royal family. Journalists turned to Buckingham Palace for a comment, but have not yet received an answer.

In June 2018, Elizabeth II was already removing a joint photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Journalists considered that in this way she showed her negative attitude towards her. In September 2018, The Sun wrote that Harry and Markle offended Queen Elizabeth II by not accepting her invitation to Balmoral Castle. This year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex refused because of their son Archie was only four months old. At the same time, William and Kate were visiting the castle with their children. At the same time, the age of their son did not stop Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from taking him to Ibiza. The queen was disappointed with their decision.

So, let’s wait and see where the story will take us. But one can tell for sure – you don’t want to piss off the queen.