Royal fans are defending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and pointing out the “hypocrisy” in the way the royal couple was treated by the public, the press, and the royal family after Prince Andrew reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
The Queen’s son, who was accused of sexually abusing Giuffre, a Jeffrey Epstein victim, when she was underage, confirmed the settlement in a statement, in which he also said he regretted his association with the late paedophile.
In light of the settlement, which is reported to be as high as £12m, many have taken the opportunity to point out the hypocrisy in the treatment of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who announced they would be stepping down from their duties as members of the royal family in January 2020 and who have since relocated to California.
“Your regular reminder that Harry and Meghan got excommunicated from the royal family for eating avocados and asking politely not to be racially abused,” one person tweeted, referring to a 2019 headline that read: “How Meghan’s favourite avocado snack - beloved of all millennials - is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder,” as well as the couple’s claims to Oprah Winfrey in March.
Another said: “I’m still waiting for the media to give Prince Andrew the same energy they give Meghan and Harry.”
“Why is the reporting around Andrew far less vicious than anything around Meghan/Harry. I mean, according to the press, naming their child Lilibet caused the Queen way more upset and distress than this horrendous debacle,” someone else tweeted.
Others suggested that critics of the couple would try to find a way to blame the duke and duchess for the Prince Andrew situation.
“Waiting for a certain section of society to blame Meghan Markle for Prince Andrew settling out of court in 5, 4, 3, 2…” one individual said, while someone else wrote: “They are going to find a way to blame Meghan Markle for Prince Andrew aren’t they?”
Harry and Meghan spoke at length about the way they were reportedly treated by members of the royal family and the media while living in the UK during a tell-all interview with Winfrey in March of last year. At the time, Meghan said that her time as a royal was “almost unsurvivable” and that she struggled with suicidal thoughts, but did not receive mental health help despite her requests.
Prince Andrew has denied the allegations against him, and claimed that he has never met Ms Giuffre, despite a photograph allegedly showing him and Ms Giuffre in Ghislaine Maxwell’s home.
