Another Royal scandal: How far is too far?

From Prince Andrew’s friendship with disgraced paedophile sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein, Prince Harry’s not-so PG photos in Vegas and Prince Philip’s famous comments and slanders over the years, the royals have never avoided the limelight without a scandal.

The pending legal case between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Daily Mail is already proving itself to be no different.

In question, a private letter from Meghan Markle to her father, pleading to find a resolution to their broken relationship, and to do so in private.

“Please stop victimizing me through the media so we can repair our relationship.”

It’s no secret Thomas Markle has done more than dip his toe in both the British and worldwide press, nor has the press shied away from keeping Meghan in the headlines.

The letter initially came to light after a group of ‘close friends’ of Meghan spoke anonymously to People magazine earlier this year. Four days after these interviews were made public to the world, the Daily Mail shared detailed photos and transcriptions of the five-page letter, sent in August 2018.

Now Prince Harry has begun legal action against the Daily Mail, branding the publication of the private letter as “relentless propaganda”.

He likened it to the “powerful forces” which his mother, Princess Diana, experienced in the time leading up to her death. I have to agree with this sentiment.

On the day of the ‘people’s princess” funeral, Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother, called her ‘the most hunted person of the modern age’. then two days later, the Daily Mail publicly pledged to ban paparazzi photographs from its future editions. 22 years later, this hasn’t been fulfilled.

I think that whilst a privacy invasion in relation to Meghan Markle was probably inevitable – from the hounding press and leaks from those closest to her, this doesn’t make it right. The tabloid press should not be in a position where they believe they can keep pushing for this sort of intimate information, and public it regardless of its consequences.

The royals have been faced with scandal for as long as they’ve existed, so can it be said they’ve taken things too far? Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Roy Greenslade said: “Is [Harry] taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut here? I think he may well find that this is counter-productive.”

But the Royal Family are becoming increasingly aware that they have to adapt to fit into modern society, as they may be beginning to lose the support of the British public. This is something both Harry and Meghan and William and Kate are actively trying to do, as they produce a new generation of Royals.

Dan Wootton has branded Harry’s statement as ‘a war on the press’, and Katie Hopkins went further to tweet ‘Prince Harry attempting to wheel out the memory of Princess Diana to galvanise support for #MeghanMarkle is disingenuous and disrespectful.’

In the digital age, especially in an era where online trolling is such a prominent issue, these types of comments and the audiences they gather are an issue for the Royals.

Is history repeating itself? Diana was made to feel all eyes were on her, all of the time, but Meghan is being watched by the world in a brand-new way. I hope Meghan and Harry win their case, proving that the publication of the letter was not in the public interest and was an invasion of their private lives. We’ve got a new age of royals to hopefully tackle a new age of social issues. How about if we stop pestering them and let them get on with it.