LONDON — Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have told the British tabloids that they are cutting all ties with them because of their “distorted, false or invasive” stories.
In a letter sent Sunday evening to the editors of four British tabloids, the couple’s representatives wrote that they will have “zero engagement” with the media outlets. They will not “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of click bait and distortion,” the statement said.
The decision means that the couple will no longer engage with journalists from the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror. The BBC said the couple’s spokesmen will no longer take calls from those outlets, even to confirm whether reports are accurate.
Some of those tabloids — and others, too — have pushed back over the timing of the statement.
The Daily Mail, one of Britain’s most widely read newspapers, ran an article Monday with the headline: “'We're not talking to you anymore': As thousands die and Britain fights for its economic life, LA-based Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce they won't deal with the country's most popular newspapers.”
Andrew Neil, a BBC presenter who does not hold back his opinions on social media, wrote: “As the world grapples with Covid-19, do they really think people care what media they deal with? Their solipsism is amazing. Can’t they just consign themselves to oblivion for a while? Or at least hire someone who can write a press release in clear, decent English.”
“The world is in the middle of an immense crisis . . . and yet, this all-about-me stuff from them,” David Yelland, a former editor of the Sun tabloid, told the BBC on Monday.
The tabloids have covered British royals like a soap opera for years. Even though they have stepped back from being senior royals and now live in Los Angeles, Harry and Meghan are still regular fixtures in the tabloids. Some have questioned whether their statement will change anything much.
“The reality is it will have no positive effect whatsoever,” Yelland said.
He added that Harry and Meghan have a case to make that they have endured stronger criticism in the press than most royals, but he questioned whether ending cooperation with the tabloids would change things for the better.
“I would say that Meghan has a case — I think there has been an element of racism,” Yelland said. “I think William and Harry have suffered a great deal over the years . . . but, as I say, the issue is, is it a wise thing to do?”
Jean-Baptiste Lacroix
AFP/Getty Images
The entrance to the gated neighborhood where Prince Harry and Meghan are looking to establish residence, Serra Retreat in Malibu, Calif., on April 1, 2020.
The couple have long had a fraught relationship with the British tabloids.
Harry, whose mother Diana died in a car crash in Paris as paparazzi gave chase, lashed out at the media early on in his relationship with Meghan. A few months after they began dating, Harry condemned the “racial undertones” in the coverage of this then-girlfriend. “This is not a game — it is her life and his,” his spokesman wrote in a highly unusual statement.
But the war with Britain’s tabloids was far from over.
On Friday, Meghan’s legal case against the Mail on Sunday and its parent company, Associated Newspapers, will be heard at London’s High Court. Meghan is suing the publishers of the Mail on Sunday for “unlawfully” printing a private letter that she wrote to Thomas Markle, her father, after her wedding. The hearing will be conducted remotely, in accordance Britain’s guidelines on social distancing.
In a speech in January, Prince Harry referenced the “powerful force” of the media in his family’s decision to step down as senior royals.
In the letter sent to tabloid editors on Sunday, the couple’s representatives said the “media have every right to report on The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, good or bad. But it can't be based on a lie. They also want to be very clear: this is not in any way a blanket policy for all media.”
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