Royal aides are apparently battling ‘sexist and racist’ comments on social media directed at both Meghan and the Duchess of Cambridge. Some users have made ‘violent threats’ (one post about the Sussexes featured a number of knife emojis). Others have ruthlessly pitted the two women against each other by creating competing Kate and Meghan camps. The overwhelming amount of abuse – reported to have peaked in October 2018, when Prince Harry and Meghan undertook their first overseas tour to Australia together– has meant that Palace staff are spending ‘hours’ reporting and moderating posts on the duchesses’ accounts, according to a source. ‘You only need a few of them to stir up quite a negative conversation. A couple of comments can turn things in a toxic direction very quickly,’ said another source.
While Kate has never had her own social media account, Meghan is said to have deleted a secret Instagram before Christmas after seeing the negativity levelled against her. (She deleted her public account before her engagement to Prince Harry.) At the same time came claims, reported by numerous outlets, that since marrying Meghan, Prince Harry has become ‘high maintenance’ with royal staff. Indeed, as former royal reporter Duncan Larcombe told us, ‘Within the inner circle, there’s been a change in Harry.’ The prince, according to Larcombe, ‘is much more demanding of the staff around him than perhaps he was when he was young, free and single’.
It was previously revealed, for example, that Harry had yelled: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets!’ at a royal aide amid the stress of the build-up to his wedding. He was also said to have fallen out with Prince William after he expressed concerns about the speed of Harry’s relationship with her. No surprise then that, according to a well-placed source, ‘Harry is under intense pressure and is completely focused on ensuring Meghan is happy and feels welcomed into the family. Previous relationships have ended because of the major scrutiny that comes with dating a member of the royal family. When Harry met Meghan, he knew something had to change and became incredibly protective.’
Indeed, last week Grazia learned of a relationship before Meghan that never hit the headlines. It ended because the woman in question was concerned about unwanted focus and potential abuse from the public. She apparently feared that being linked to Prince Harry would overshadow her own career. According to a source, Harry ‘insisted he would protecther’, and when it ended, he became ‘very frustrated. He was really tired of the fact that every one of his relationships had met the same hurdle.’ Harry’s frustration at his inability to protect Meghan was revealed in 2016, when he took the unprecedented step of releasing a now famous statement, in which his team wrote, ‘Meghan Markle has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.’
Amid negative headlines about Meghan’s family last year, another source reported that Harry was hoping to issue a second statement defending her, but was advised against it by his aides. According to Larcombe, the action on social media is a step towards taking some sort of control of the situation. ‘It will have been a direct demand from Harry,’ he said. ‘They will have sat down and had crisis talks, and he would have asked, “How can we stop this?” ‘Harry will feel responsible that this extra attention on Meghan is in some way his fault. Of course it isn’t – but that’s how he feels.’