In Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey‘s new docu-series, The Me You Can’t See, Harry said he believes that Meghan Markle was the victim of a coordinated smear campaign by the royal family and the UK media.
In the week leading up to *that* interview with Oprah, a number of headlines emerged calling Markle a “bully”. As well as other articles accusing the duchess of wearing earrings gifted from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who according to one CIA report approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
On the final episode of the AppleTV+ series, Harry recalls waking up and finding his wife crying because of those headlines and the combined effort of the media and royal family to “smear” her.
“Because of the headlines and that combined effort of the firm and the media to smear her, I was woken in the middle of the night to [Meghan] crying in her pillow because she doesn’t want to wake me up — because I’m already carrying too much.”
“That’s heartbreaking,” Prince Harry said.
“I held her. We talked. She cried, and she cried, and she cried.”
At the time when these allegations came out, a spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle denied the headlines in a statement directed at The Times.
“Let’s just call this what it is — a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation,” the statement read.
“We are disappointed to see this defamatory portrayal of the Duchess of Sussex given credibility by a media outlet. It’s no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience of recent years.”
The statement also mentioned that a “detailed legal letter of rebuttal” has been written addressing the defamatory claims made by the Times, as well as addressing the allegations made toward the duchess about the earrings gifted to her.
“The duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma,” the statement continued.
“She is determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good.”
The Me You Can’t See is now available to stream on AppleTV+.
