Prince Harry recently opened up to address rumors spreading online that he and Meghan Markle are getting divorced.
People who pay attention to these things apparently noticed that Harry and Markle weren't showing up to professional engagements together, and suggested they were undergoing a "professional separation" in hopes of overhauling their images.
Markle was on the other side of the country on the day of the summit, acccording to the New York Post.
Harry, 40, discussed the rumors during the New York Times' 2024 DealBook Summit in New York City on Wednesday.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder of the DealBook Summit and a New York Times columnist, asked Harry to elaborate about what was actually happening in his life.
“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. “And there’s articles left and right about, you know, ‘Why are you making, doing independent events? Why aren’t you doing them together?’”
He joked that he was in New York because Sorkin invited him and not Markle, but then explained that the divorce rumblings were the latest in a long line of rumors about him and his wife.
“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?'” Harry said, laughing.
He said it didn't bother him too much, but it did make him feel bad for the "trolls" who create and spread the rumors.
“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 said. “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.”
The prince predicted that even chatting with Sorkin would be twisted and used against him by his critics in the press and the public, and issued the columnist a preemptive apology.
"For that, I can only apologize, but you did invite me, so it's not my fault," Harry said.
Harry said later that he and Markle have been focusing on their Archewell Foundation work and other charitable endeavors, and that he personally is determined to be the "best husband and dad that I can be."
