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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have officially announced that they will no longer provide statements or cooperate with a handful of British tabloid newspapers due to their “distorted, false or invasive” stories.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent written letters to the editors of The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror saying they won’t “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of click bait and distortion.” They say stories based on “salacious gossip” have upended the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike.
The letter, released Monday by the couple’s representative, said Harry and Meghan will have “zero engagement” with the newspapers, but says the couple “believe that a free press is a cornerstone to any democracy.”
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This is the latest in a long line of moves made by the couple to try to remove the media from their high-profile lives so that they can focus on their work and raising a family.
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced that they will no longer cooperate with certain British tabloids.
(Andrew Milligan/Pool Photo via AP)
In January, they announced they planned to quit as senior royals, seek financial independence from the crown and move to North America. The split became official at the end of March, and the couple are currently in California, where Meghan was raised, after spending some time in Canada, where she previously filmed her TV show “Suits.”
Harry, who is a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and sixth in line to the British throne, married the American actress at Windsor Castle in May 2018, in a ceremony watched around the world.
The couple later said they found scrutiny by the British media, which they said tipped into harassment, intolerable.
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Harry has long had an uncomfortable relationship with the media, which he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana. She died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
Harry’s unhappiness with the media increased after he began dating Markle, then the star of the TV legal drama. In 2016, he accused the media of harassing his then-girlfriend and criticized “racial undertones” in some coverage of the biracial Markle.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex have changed their policy on responding to certain British tabloids.
(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Even after their marriage, the couple was plagued by constant media attention regarding everything from the birth of their first son, Archie, to Markle’s relationship with her estranged family and Harry’s relationship with fellow royals.
The decision in January to step back from their senior royal duties marked a clear move to avoid media attention. They’ve even taken legal action to ensure things change in the future.
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The duchess is suing the Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, for invasion of privacy over a 2018 article that included portions of a letter she had written to her father. A hearing in the case is due to be held Friday in a London court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
