With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have revealed plenty of new startling details about their experience within the royal family. Though the couple has previously publicly discussed some of their more troubling experiences, Prince Harry and Markle’s new show has given royal fans a deeper look at the couple’s struggles than ever before. For example, one bombshell dropped by Prince Harry stated that members of the royal family considered the media harassment that Markle endured as a sort of “rite of passage” that all potential royal wives had to deal with.

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The Duke of Sussex delivered the shocking statement during the second episode of the docuseries. Diving into further details, Prince Harry and Markle stated that once the pair went public with their relationship, Markle quickly lost her privacy. They said that paparazzi would camp outside of her home in Toronto and that the media would hang around the set of her television show, Suits, waiting to catch her. According to Prince Harry (via Buzzfeed News), the UK’s media coverage of his then-girlfriend showed significant discrimination against the actor.

One piece of media that the Duke of Sussex used as an example was a headline that declared, “Harry’s new girl is straight outta Compton, which according to Markle, isn’t even accurate. “I’m just not from Compton. I’ve never lived in Compton. So it’s factually incorrect,” the Duchess of Sussex said. With Markle’s obvious discomfort with the media attention, Prince Harry noted that he went to his family but found that they weren’t sympathetic nor supportive of the Suits star’s uncomfortable experiences.

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Prince Harry Said That His Family Wasn’t Sympathetic About the Media Harassment

     Netflix

“What people need to understand is as far as a lot of [my] family were concerned, everything that [Meghan] was being put through, they had been put through as well,” Prince Harry stated. “So it was almost like a rite of passage. Some of the members of the family were like, but, ‘My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?’ And I said, ‘The difference here is the race element.’”

This isn’t the first time Prince Harry and his wife have spoken out about Markle’s struggles with the press and social media attacks. In 2021, when the pair sat down with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex declared that there was a notable difference between the media harassment she’d experienced compared to other women who’d married into the royal family.

“Members of his family say, ‘Well, this is what happened to all of us,’” said Markle. “Kate was called ‘Waity Katie,’ waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was really hard — and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like — this is not the same. And if a member of his family will comfortably say, ‘We’ve all had to deal with things that are rude,’ rude and racist are not the same.”

Volume one of Harry & Meghan is now streaming on Netflix, with part two set for release on Dec. 15. The official trailer for the series can be found below.