Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have dealt with their fair share of negative press over the years. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly believed that someone in their inner circle was leaking stories to the press and contributing to that negativity, per InTouch Weekly. In the new book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors by Tom Bower, it is alleged that Markle and Harry believed that their friends David and Victoria Beckham were behind the leaks.
According to Bower, Markle supposedly “suspected Victoria Beckham of indiscretion.” Harry then allegedly took action and called David about the matter. Once he allegedly repeated the accusation, “Beckham’s truthful denials damaged their relationship.” You may recall that David and Victoria attended Harry and Markle’s nuptials in May 2018. As of right now, it’s unclear what the status of their friendship is. InTouch Weekly noted that they reached out to representatives for both couples, but they did not immediately respond.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Bower’s book chronicles how the Duke and Duchess apparently felt about reading all of the negativity and hatred online. As he wrote, “Harry and Meghan were shackled.” The author continued to claim, “Every night they scoured the internet to read the newspaper reports and the trolls’ postings on social media. Irrationally, they grouped the two together and fed each other’s frenzy about the media. Convinced that as champions of goodness they were being persecuted by mendacity and racism, they felt victimized by the mildest criticism.”
While this book does not contain firsthand accounts from Markle or Harry, the royal couple has been vocal about this topic in the press. In March 2021, they opened up about the matter in a major way during an eye-opening interview with Oprah Winfrey. During the interview, they made several claims about their time as senior working members of the royal family. At one point, Markle even alleged that a member of the family raised concerns about the color of their child’s skin (the comment was allegedly made prior to the birth of their son, Archie).
The pair engaged in this interview about a year after they announced their decision to take a step back from their royal duties. Their choice to leave their senior duties was confirmed in February 2021 with a statement from Buckingham Palace, which read, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have confirmed to Her Majesty The Queen that they will not be returning as working members of The Royal Family.” Even though it’s unclear what their exact status is with the royal family since then, Markle and Harry did make a return trip to the United Kingdom recently to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
