Prince Harry released a strongly-worded statement about ‘racial undertones’ in reporting of his relationship with his then-girlfriend Meghan Markle in 2016, but last week the Royal Family removed it out of the blue

The Royal Family have started the process of “expunging Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from history”, according to a royal expert.

The Duke of Sussex issued a strongly-worded statement against the press in November 2016 as he slammed certain news opinion pieces for having “racial undertones”. The statement was released by Kensington Palace just days after Harry’s relationship with Meghan was made public and it was live on the royal.co.uk website for more than seven years until it was removed out of the blue last week.

And now royal author and expert Tom Quinn exclusively tells The Mirror that the Royal Family had “long wanted to remove the statement” and “gradually expunge” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from royal history.

“Removing Prince Harry‘s 2016 statement about Meghan from the royal website tells us a lot about how the senior royals are determined to forget the past – and Prince Harry’s part in it,” Quinn tells us. “The statement was an attack on the press for writing about his then girlfriend Meghan Markle in a way that Harry thought was deeply unfair, but if Harry wrote the statement, it was very much inspired by Meghan.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announcing their engagement in 2017 during an official photocall at Kensington Palace ( 
Image:
Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Before Harry’s relationship with Meghan he was one of the country’s most eligible bachelors and had two public relationships with Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas. Quinn continued: “Harry’s previous girlfriends had always been subject to huge press speculation and Harry knew this just went with being a royal or being the girlfriend of a royal. He was surprised and delighted when Meghan insisted they should fight back and they have been fighting back ever since.”

Quinn insists the royals’ decision to remove the statement hints at a bigger motive. “The senior royals’ plan is to gradually expunge Harry and Meghan from royal history,” Quinn claims. “They have long wanted to remove the statement, but needed to do it during a quiet time to reduce the chances of Harry and Meghan crying foul and claiming they were yet again being punished.” The Mirror has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.

Harry’s statement was released by former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf and came following an article in The Mail on Sunday which read: “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed—so will he be dropping by for tea?”

In response, Harry’s statement read: “The past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. 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. 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. 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.”