Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting used to the royal celebrity couple spotlight, but the prince and his girlfriend don’t plan on making any concessions to the paparazzi. According to USA Today , Prince Harry, 32, is ready to defend his girlfriend’s right to privacy no matter who doesn’t like it.
Prince Harry said he would hire a security guard to protect Meghan. Aww ?
— Kelle Salle ?? (@KelleSWriter) November 18, 2016
At first, it looked like his big brother, Prince William, didn’t like Harry’s attitude about Markle at all, but now it appears that Prince Harry won out, and Prince William is on his side.
Two weeks after Harry had his say, “the royal brothers are sticking together,” and Prince William, 34, has officially given public support for Prince Harry and girlfriend Meghan as they draw the line and set up boundaries to protect their privacy.
When the Prince Harry news broke that Harry had demanded that the press respect Markle’s privacy and leave him and his girlfriend alone to pursue their relationship in peace, the British press “swirled” with rumors that Prince William was “unhappy with Prince Harry’s decision to go public.”
The Telegraph writes that the heir to the British throne was wary about Harry’s statement about Meghan, but he was not angered by what some saw as Harry’s impetuous decision to release the statement.
On November 28, Prince William, who is also the Duke of Cambridge, made his support for Harry and Meghan public with a clear statement of his own concerning Harry’s girlfriend.
“The Duke of Cambridge absolutely understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him.”
Prince William Made a Rare Statement to Show Support for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle https://t.co/xPFrSswASn
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) November 28, 2016
The problem for Harry wasn’t just the insatiable curiosity of his fans that made reporters dig up everything they could find about Suits actress Meghan Markle, who plays Rachel Zane on the hit show.
The situation was way worse than that. Prince Harry is fourth in line to the British throne, after his father Prince Charles, brother Prince William, and nephew Prince George, and there was some blowback because commoner Meghan is biracial.
Prince Harry relationship with Meghan Markle has taken a very troubling turn https://t.co/kmduRTmtDZ pic.twitter.com/xSXV3kBNZ2
— Marie Claire (@marieclaireuk) November 18, 2016
The International Business Times reports that there were “online trolls” who seemed to think it was okay to shade Meghan because of her heritage; Markle’s mother is black, and her father is white. For some people, that made the relationship between Meghan and Prince Harry totally unacceptable.
At 9:42 am: British media revealed racism in its coverage of Prince Harry’s relationship with Meghan Markle, says @afuahirsch .
— CBC Radio: The Current (@TheCurrentCBC) November 10, 2016
Harry decided he’d had enough of the trolls and the “racial undertones” that were present in too much of the “coverage surrounding their budding romance,” and that’s why he spoke out with his official Kensington Palace statement. He said that “a line had been crossed” and that he wasn’t putting up with the harassment of Markle anymore.
“His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. 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.”
Prince William has had enough too. His own marriage to Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge and future Queen of England, broke British royal family tradition because Kate was a commoner with no royal or noble connections at all. Middleton’s father descended from coal miners, and her mother was a flight attendant.
https://t.co/9KqcM9qwms Kate Middleton (from commoner to duchess of cambridge)…he touched it
— vonFurstenberg, loving it! (@purse05) November 26, 2016
William completely understands why Harry had to “break with years of royal precedent” by speaking out about the racial slurs that Markle was enduring as his girlfriend. He agreed with Harry “that the situation had gone too far” and after a “heart to heart conversation” with his younger brother, he took action.
The Duke of Cambridge’s statement from Kensington Palace was made at his “specific request,” and it opens up a whole new way of being royal. If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get engaged, William and Harry will be the first British royal brothers to marry so far outside of the British aristocracy.
[Featured Image by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images]
