Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have received a harsh warning that they are risking losing “public sympathy.”
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The news follows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to take legal action against the Mail On Sunday.
According to Patrick Jephson, the late Princess Diana‘s former private secretary, the royal couple’s “war” on the British press may either be “a stroke of genius” or “a risky overstretch of finite resources.”
“Not financial resources, obviously (although potentially years of top-notch legal work will rack up bills to make even a prince’s accountant swallow hard), but the intangible and ultimately more decisive resources of public sympathy and personal resolve,” he said, according to Express.
“Public sympathy will reliably start in the duke’s corner but is notoriously volatile – hence probably a gamble on one or more swift settlements to steady the troops.
“As for the rest… all will depend on the scales of justice.
“Personal resolve is another matter.
“To stay the course, up to and possibly including personal court appearances, is a punishing trek on which to set out.”
Jephson speaks as someone who was at Princess Diana’s side for eight years (including when she sued a British tabloid for taking photos of her working out in a gym).
The private secretary noted that the slowness of the trial eventually “deflated” the emotions surrounding the case and effectively cost the Princess of Wales the public’s sympathy.
“In the heat of battle and gripped by self-righteous indignation, the royal hand reaches resolutely for the mighty sword of truth and…waits. And waits,” Jephson said.
“Unless the head of the offending editor(s) can be served up on a plate with the speed to which royal customers are accustomed, the whole business can start to feel like a bad idea. Somebody else’s bad idea, naturally.
“Eventually, with the Princess of Wales, our legal champions reached a settlement, but by then it was all rather deflating.”
What’s more, Jephson said that the settlement “didn’t feel like a victory parade and, funnily enough, next day the familiar faces of the press pack wore expressions that were everything except contrite.”
Mr Jephson also disagreed with those who drew comparisons between Princess Diana and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
“Diana may have been something in the mould-breaker stakes herself, but she never ducked Balmoral, lectured voters on democracy or borrowed invective more normally found in the White House to communicate with a free and fundamentally friendly press,” he said.
Last week, Meghan Markle filed a High Court claim against the Daily Mail after it allegedly published one of her private letters to her father, Thomas Markle.
While on their royal tour of South Africa, Prince Harry released a statement on Tuesday evening to the Sussex Official website, explaining that the alleged incident had been an incredibly painful one for them to cope with.
The statement reads: “As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting. We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world – on every level – we have never needed responsible media more.
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son.”
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Prince Harry then wrote about his fears for the Duchess of Sussex, and that the “bullying” mirrors that which happened to his mother, Princess Diana.
He wrote: “Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself. 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. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
The claim is being filed against the Mail on Sunday over the alleged misuse of private information, infringement of copyright and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
Meghan Markle will be represented by law firm Schillings.
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