The privilege and position of Harry and Meghan does not alter their right to privacy.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and her husband Prince Harry have formally leveled a lawsuit at The Daily Mail and General Trust, the foundation behind The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday. Whether you see them as asking for it, outdated or irrelevant, the British Royal Family has a great deal of media attention concentrated on them at all hours of the day; the tabloid media is continuously abusing them, milking real or fabricated stories for those juicy clicks. Of course, some would say that the intensive media attention is the price to pay for such wealth and privilege, but those that make that argument forget the common decency that should be universally given. Depriving someone of their right to privacy due to their financial and class situation is inherently incorrect in a society founded on ideals of liberty and equality.
While tabloids are always made up of lies and manipulated statements, the British tabloid atmosphere surrounding the Royal Family is far more volatile and shameless, especially when members of the extended family are involved. Following their return from an African tour, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, released a documentary that features an emotional, open and heartfelt interview with the documentary’s creator and Harry’s friend, Tom Bradby. This documentary aired shortly after it was announced that Meghan and Harry would be suing one of the British tabloids, The Mail on Sunday, which is the sister paper of the infamously inaccurate and gossipy The Daily Mail. The litigation follows the paper intentionally modifying, editing and printing a personal letter of the Duchess, which is categorically illegal under legislation passed just last year, the Data Protection Act of 2018.
While one of those ideological pillars I mentioned earlier is the freedom of speech, the British gossip mongers making a steady living off of the constant misery of another human being who has done nothing wrong is vile and disgusting. I am glad that she is taking the fight to them. She may now be a royal, but she is still a human being, and the constant criticism she has experienced for marrying a man that she loves is inexpressibly disgusting. The utter lack of moral principles, the greed, the manipulation all tell me that these writers that slowly but surely make a hangman’s noose are worth less than the paper they write for.
The duchess was openly crying in this interview, and Prince Harry has directly stated that he sees a lot of his mother in this situation. After retracing Diana’s trip through Angola, Harry has evidently had her in mind. In the official statement released by Harry and Meghan, he specifically states, “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person,” following that by writing, “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
When it comes to the personal safety of an individual, as well as their mental and physical health, money and position should not matter. Do we need another Johnny Manziel, Antonio Brown, Princess Diana — another blazing star burning out to remind us that fat stacks and a loaded bank account do not keep one’s internal demons away?
What’s even worse is how her blood family reacts to her taking a stand, with her estranged sister claiming that Meghan always wanted the attention, describing her as always lusting after the spotlight and marrying Harry not out of love, but for the fame it would bring. Her sister stated that Meghan’s words about her personal mental fatigue were invalid due to Meghan’s tense relationship with their father, the same father that sold pictures of himself preparing for the royal wedding to the media.
If anything, Meghan’s blood family’s insistence that she is lying only affirms the idea that anyone can be out to abuse her unique position in the royal family to jumpstart their own economic aspirations, which only isolates her even more; all she has is Harry and their son, Archie. She’s a commoner that fell in love with a prince, then she was gratefully accepted into the Queen’s family, with a beautiful wedding and a glorious life ahead of her, until the media began picking her life apart to the bone, sucking out the marrow and tossing her aside when they’re done.
Perhaps it’s time for the duchess to trim the fat from the media by dragging them into the courts. It is an admittedly bloodthirsty course, but, hey, do unto others what you wish to be done unto you, and there are certainly secrets the tabloids have that might make the continuation of their brutal business a tad more difficult.
