Prince Harry has blamed the press for his wife Meghan Markle’s miscarriage.
The Duke of Sussex made the bombshell claim in volume II of their six-part Netflix series Harry & Meghan, which joined the streaming giant on Thursday, December 15.
The sixth episode of the series showed the couple reflecting on Meghan’s lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday over the publication of letters between the Duchess and her father Thomas Markle.
During the legal battle, Meghan suffered a miscarriage, which Harry has now attributed to their stress caused by the publication.
Reflecting in the episode, Meghan said: “I was pregnant. I really wasn’t sleeping, and the first morning that we woke up in our new home is when I miscarried.”
Harry claimed: “I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what The Mail did.”
“I watched the whole thing. Now, do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was caused by that? Of course we don’t.”
Harry continued: “But bearing in mind the stress that caused, the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was.”
“I can say from what I saw, that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her.”
In October 2019, Meghan sued Mail on Sunday following the publication of a letter the former actress had written to her father ahead of her wedding to the Duke of Sussex.
The Duchess claimed that Mail on Sunday’s act of publishing the letter was misuse of private information, copyright infringement and a breach of the UK’s Data Protection Act.
In January 2020, the outlet filed its defence, attempting to justify the published letter because it was of “huge and legitimate public interest” into the private lives of the Royal Family.
The Guardian reported at the time that the filed documents claimed the Royal Family “rely on publicity about themselves and their lives to maintain the privileged positions they hold” and that Meghan doesn’t “have a reasonable expectation of privacy that the contents of the letter were private and would remain so”.
Mail on Sunday’s owner Associated News Limited (ANL) claimed Thomas only shared the letter after Meghan’s friends gave an interview about it to PEOPLE magazine, which he felt portrayed him negatively.
In July 2020, the Duchess of Sussex identified the five friends in question; however, she denied she had authorised them to do the interview.
At the time, Meghan stated she “did not know about the interview having been given, and only found out about it, and any reference to the Letter, after the People magazine article was published”.
Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix docuseries have criticised the Palace’s relationship with the press.
However, in response to this criticism, royal commentators have pointed out how the British press have protected Harry in the past.
In August 2012, the Duke of Sussex holidayed in Las Vegas, but was papped naked as he enjoyed a boozy night out.
Most of the British press refused to publish the photos of Harry partying naked in a bid to protect his image and follow royal protocol.
