Prince Harry Addresses Meghan Markle Divorce Rumors

Prince Harry isn’t shying away from the rumors about his relationship with wife Meghan Markle.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, opened up about the speculation surrounding his marriage of six years while speaking with New York Times columnist and Dealbook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times‘ 2024 DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

“I Google News-ed you, and there were people fascinated by everything you’re doing, all the time. They’re fascinated by Meghan is in California right now, and you’re here,” Sorkin said of Markle’s attendance at the Paley Honors Gala in Beverly Hills on the same day. “And there’s articles left and right about, you know, ‘Why are you making, doing independent events? Why aren’t you doing them together?’”

Harry joked, “Because you invited me, you should have known!” Sorkin then asked if that kind of scrutiny is “normal” for the royal and his wife, 43. “The second there’s an article — she’s in California, you’re in New York — they say, ‘Well, what is happening with these two, right?’” he explained. “Is that a good thing for you, in a way, that there’s so much interest in you?”

Having grown up as the son of now-King Charles and the late Princess Diana, Harry said being in such a spotlight is “definitely not a good thing” for a marriage before laughing, “Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times. We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what?’”

“It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it. The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls,” he continued. “Their hopes are just built and built, and it’s like, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,’ and then it doesn’t happen. So I feel sorry for them. Genuinely, I do.”

In the same line, Harry said he had “no doubt” the conversation he was having with Sorkin would be “spun or twisted somehow against” him. It’s because of this kind of attention that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose to raise their children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3, in Montecito, Calif., where they can do things as a family that they “undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the U.K.”

Harry also revealed that as a child he watched stories be written in the press that “aren’t exactly based on reality” surrounding his family and friends. “And I think when you grow up within that environment, you do find yourself questioning the validity of the information but also what other people are thinking of that as well, and how dangerous it can be over the course of time,” he admitted.