When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back in 2020, their feelings about the British media were central to that decision. The couple had just launched legal action against three major newspaper groups and had described in one statement "a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences." In their announcement about leaving, they devoted a lengthy and detailed explanation to how and why they were breaking free from the press rota system that covers working royals.
In the intervening six years, their strength of feeling has prevailed. "We all know what the British press can be like and it was destroying my mental health. I was like, this is toxic," Harry told James Corden in 2021. Meghan claimed in her 2022 interview with The Cut magazine that she would never be able to do school runs without being photographed in the UK. Harry's memoir Spare cemented the media as the real villain in his life. And in his most recent court case against the Mail newspapers, which he lost, Harry took to the stand and said, "They have made my wife's life an absolute misery, my Lord."
Yet, in the years since they stepped back, some things have changed when it comes to Harry and Meghan's relationship with the press. There was a declaration in 2022 that unnamed "sources" would no longer speak for them which eventually fell, without fanfare, by the wayside. After basing their PR team largely in the U.S., they hired a UK-based PR in 2024 and went on to take on their current spokesperson who is UK-based.
Indeed, when news broke that Harry and Meghan were returning to live in Britain, it was two UK newspapers (including tabloid The Sun) along with UK-based journalists for People Magazine and one Australian outlet who had the scoop. When Harry visited the UK recently, a range of British and international outlets were given access to his events. There is now a line of communication between the Sussexes' team and many sections of the British media. It's a pragmatic approach, but not one Harry and Meghan have always taken.
What is notable, however, is that when the couple return to the UK, they will not be coming back to the life that they left. They are not working royals (something that has been made very clear from the royal end) and as such will be able to keep away from the royal rota. If they make public appearances, they will have the choice over who covers them and what they can access. There will be no expectation to release images of themselves or their children for milestone moments. The couple has worked through the UK press regulator to ask media for privacy around their home and their children's school.
#couple
In the intervening six years, their strength of feeling has prevailed. "We all know what the British press can be like and it was destroying my mental health. I was like, this is toxic," Harry told James Corden in 2021. Meghan claimed in her 2022 interview with The Cut magazine that she would never be able to do school runs without being photographed in the UK. Harry's memoir Spare cemented the media as the real villain in his life. And in his most recent court case against the Mail newspapers, which he lost, Harry took to the stand and said, "They have made my wife's life an absolute misery, my Lord."
Yet, in the years since they stepped back, some things have changed when it comes to Harry and Meghan's relationship with the press. There was a declaration in 2022 that unnamed "sources" would no longer speak for them which eventually fell, without fanfare, by the wayside. After basing their PR team largely in the U.S., they hired a UK-based PR in 2024 and went on to take on their current spokesperson who is UK-based.
Indeed, when news broke that Harry and Meghan were returning to live in Britain, it was two UK newspapers (including tabloid The Sun) along with UK-based journalists for People Magazine and one Australian outlet who had the scoop. When Harry visited the UK recently, a range of British and international outlets were given access to his events. There is now a line of communication between the Sussexes' team and many sections of the British media. It's a pragmatic approach, but not one Harry and Meghan have always taken.
What is notable, however, is that when the couple return to the UK, they will not be coming back to the life that they left. They are not working royals (something that has been made very clear from the royal end) and as such will be able to keep away from the royal rota. If they make public appearances, they will have the choice over who covers them and what they can access. There will be no expectation to release images of themselves or their children for milestone moments. The couple has worked through the UK press regulator to ask media for privacy around their home and their children's school.
#couple
3 hours ago
