Prince Harry’s statement from 2016 that confirmed his relationship with Meghan Markle for the first time has been deleted by the royal family.
Newsweek reported May 24 that the statement — which was issued against the British press for the “abuse and harassment” that Markle started receiving at the time — stopped being accessible sometime between Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, 2023.
For seven years, the message lived on the royal family’s official website, but the link has not been active since the end of last year.
The Post has reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
In November 2016, Harry, now 39, confirmed he was dating the then-actress, now 42, in a statement that was released by former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf after the romance was made public by the press.
“His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment,” the statement read. “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.”
The statement continued: “Some of it has been hidden from the public — the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life.”
“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” the Duke of Sussex’s spokesperson also said.
“It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm. He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game.’ He strongly disagrees. This is not a game — it is her life and his.”
Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir “Spare” that he was advised against speaking out about his relationship, but he did so anyway to protect her. He claimed the “onslaught continued” against Markle even after the statement was released.
Harry also said that his father, King Charles III, and his brother, Prince William, were “furious” over his decision.
“Because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed,” Harry wrote in the book.
After dating for two years, the couple were married on May 19, 2018 at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The pair stepped down as senior working members of the Firm in 2020, and they now live in California with their two children.
Earlier this year, the Sussexes were demoted on Buckingham Palace’s official website. Their profiles were moved to the bottom of the royal webpage that lists all of the members of the royal family.
The pair’s short bio explained their decision to quit royal duties.
“As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family.”
“The couple married in St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 19 May 2018 and have two children: Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.”
Harry and Meghan remain estranged from Harry’s family since moving to the US.
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