Harry claims royals dismissed Meghan’s ‘harassment’ despite his pleas for special treatment

Prince Harry appears to have taken a swipe at William, after claiming royals questioned ‘why should your girlfriend be treated any differently’ when he complained about Meghan’s harassment.

The Duke of Sussex, 38, made the jab, seemingly aimed at his brother, during the second episode of the couple’s multi-million-pound Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, which aired yesterday.

Harry said he raised concerns with the Royal Family after Meghan, 41, received ‘harassment’ from the paparazzi and media scrutiny when their relationship went public in 2016.

He claimed the family said, in response to his worries, that ‘harassment’ was a ‘rite of passage’ and others who married into the Royal Family had also experienced ‘everything’ Meghan was being ‘put through’.

Speaking in the second episode his multi-million pound Netflix documentary, Prince Harry accused the Royal Family of telling him harassment was a ‘rite of passage’ when his relationship with Meghan Markle went public

While he did not name which family members called into question Meghan’s need for extra protection, photos of Kate Middleton, Sarah Ferguson and his later mother Princess Diana being chased by paparazzi flashed on the screen as he spoke. 

The Duke, however, argued the situations differed because of the ‘race element’.

He said: ‘The direction of the palace was don’t say anything but what people need to understand is as far as a lot of the family was concerned everything she was being put through; they had been put through as well.

‘So it was almost like a rite of passage. Some of the members of the Royal Family were like well my wife had to go through that so why should my girlfriend be treated any differently. Why should she get special treatment? Why should she be protected?

‘And I said the difference here is the race element’.

During the discussion, clips for Kate Middleton, Sarah Ferguson and the late Princess Diana walking down the street being followed by paparazzi were shown. 

The Duke claimed that members of the Royal Family questioned why Meghan should receive ‘special treatment’ when their partners were also put under scrutiny and ‘harassed’ by paparazzi 

The documentary did not disclose which members of the Royal Family had questioned whether Meghan should be given more protection than others.

Meghan said she did not think race would be part of the narrative when news broke about their relationship.

She said: ‘At the time I wasn’t thinking about how race played a part in any of this. I genuinely didn’t think about it.’

Throughout the episode, Prince Harry compared the online harassment his wife has received to the paparazzi following Diana.

While he did not name which family members called into question Meghan’s need for extra protection, photos of Kate Middleton, Sarah Ferguson and his later mother Princess Diana being chased by paparazzi flashed on the screen as he spoke

He said his wife had continuously been targeted by online social media trolls, describing the relationship between the duchess and her online critics as ‘basically the hunter versus prey’.

He said: ‘Back in my mum’s days, it was physical harassment, cameras in your face, people chasing you. Paparazzi still harass people, but the harassment exists more online now.

‘Once the photographs are out and the story is next to it, then comes the social media harassment. To see another woman in my life who I love go through this feeding frenzy, that’s hard. It’s basically the hunter versus the prey.’

The series, which Netflix reportedly paid £88 million for, has caused a wave of anger from royal fans since its release yesterday.

Episode two opens in New York in November 2021, with Harry and Meghan getting into a car as their bodyguard discusses how to avoid photographers ‘camped out’ along the road

As the couple become stuck in a traffic jam, they realise they are being followed by a photographer on a scooter

This morning, Princess Diana’s former chef, Darren McGrady, criticised Meghan for appearing to ‘mock the Queen’ with an exaggerated curtsey. 

He also dismissed the Prince’s claim that Meghan was like his beloved late mother, declaring: ‘Your wife will never be like or similar to your mother. I knew Princess Diana for 15 years. Not even close.’

The documentary did not disclose which members of the Royal Family had questioned whether Meghan should be given more protection than others. 

It follows accusations last night that the Duke and Duchess were wanting to ‘bring down the monarchy’ with the show. 

The documentary did not disclose which members of the Royal Family had questioned whether Meghan should be given more protection than others.

Those close to the Royal Family were particularly upset by the criticism of the late Queen Elizabeth and her Commonwealth legacy which was dismissed as ‘Empire 2.0’. 

Politicians such as Employment Minister Guy Opperman have waded in on the discussion. The Tory MP for Sussex declared the couple were ‘utterly irrelevant’ to Britain and urged the country to ‘boycott Netflix’

The next three episodes of the programme – dubbed ‘Megflix’ by critics – will be released next Thursday, which one Royal source told The Times ‘next week will be poison’.