Prince Harry has issued a rare and emotional statement confirming his relationship with actress Meghan Markle, and voicing his concerns for her safety.
The statement was released by Kensington Palace and criticised the more intrusive media coverage of the prince’s relationship with Meghan, which he feels has subjected her to “a wave of abuse and harassment”.
“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,” the statement said.
“But the past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.”
In the statement, Prince Harry went on to criticise the “racist and sexist” online trolls who had singled out the actress’s ethnicity.
Meghan who stars in the TV series Suits is of mixed race. Her father is white and her mother is African-American.
“Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
Rumours linking the pair first emerged last month, but until now Prince Harry has stayed silent about his new love.
Meghans nephew recently spoke out about his aunt’s blossoming romance with the young prince.
“You know how you can tell when someone really likes somebody by the excitement in their voice?” he said.
“All I can say is she is happy — she is very happy, and I am sure that is because of Harry. She seems very excited.”
