Prince Harry has drawn a direct link between the Daily Mail’s reporting of his wife, Meghan Markle, and her 2020 miscarriage during the second half of their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan.
At the top of episode 6, the last episode in the docuseries, the royal pair dedicate a significant portion to the Daily Mail’s reporting of a private letter Meghan had written to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, and the subsequent legal battle over the tabloid’s decision to publish the correspondence.
During the episode, the royal pair reveal that Meghan was pregnant at the time and claim that the stress from the media frenzy led by The Mail had had a clear effect on her physical health.
“I believe my wife suffered a miscarriage because of what The Mail did. I watched the whole thing,” Prince Harry said.
He added: “Now, do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was caused by that? Of course, we don’t. But bearing in mind the stress that caused, the lack of sleep, and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was. I can say from what I saw that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her.”
Meghan continued to discuss why she believed it was important to share her experience of miscarrying in a 2020 op-ed in the New York Times. The article was titled ‘The Losses We Share.’
“When I reveal things that are moments of vulnerability when it comes to having a miscarriage and maybe having felt ashamed about that, like, it’s okay, you’re human,” Meghan said. “It’s okay to talk about that. And I could make the choice to never talk about those things, or I could make the choice to say, ‘With all the bad that comes with this, the good is being able to help other people.’”
She added: “That’s the point of life, right? Connection and community like that.”
Meghan wrote the five-page handwritten letter to Thomas Markle after their relationship collapsed in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018, which her father missed due to ill health and after he admitted posing for paparazzi pictures.
The Mail on Sunday published extracts of the letter in February 2019. Meghan later sued Associated Newspapers, the publisher of The Mail and Mail On Sunday, and won.
The newspaper had been handed the letter by Thomas Markle, who said he wanted to address what he thought were unfair media accounts. Earlier in the Netflix docuseries, Meghan said she had been encouraged to send the letter to her father by members of the Royal Family.
Prince Harry later added that the tabloid’s decision to publish the private letter was informed by their knowledge that the Royal Family would tell the couple not to take legal action.
“How would the Mail have the stupidity to print a letter between a father and a daughter?’ Well, the answer’s simple: they knew the family would encourage us not to sue,” he said.
The pair said royal lawyers initially agreed to start legal proceedings against the newspaper but later decided not to act. Eventually, the couple took other legal advice and started their own suit.
“Everything changed after that. That litigation was the catalyst, probably, for all of the unraveling,” Meghan said.