Prince Harry Slaying Media Dragons... and He Has My Support

Sharion Sade

Prince Harry will get his long-awaited day in court against Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids on Monday, as his lawsuit against News Group Newspapers for unlawful gathering of private information finally goes on trial in London.

Harry is one of only two plaintiffs left from an original group of about 40; the rest, including the actor Hugh Grant, have settled with News Group. The other plaintiff, who is also scheduled to take the stand, is Tom Watson, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, who alleges that News Group hacked his phone and targeted him for political reasons.

Vanity Fair’s latest article about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle follows a familiar pattern from the British tabloid playbook. As Harry’s court case against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers over unlawful practices gains traction, articles like Vanity Fair’s conveniently surface to distract and discredit. Instead of acknowledging the Sussexes’ positive impact, like Meghan’s community work or Harry’s advocacy for veterans, Vanity Fair recycles baseless claims.

This isn’t a coincidence. The timing aligns with a strategy to undermine Harry’s fight for media accountability while overshadowing the Sussexes’ accomplishments. By dissecting the motives and tactics behind that article, we can expose how it serves as a distraction from the media’s unethical behavior and a weapon in a larger smear campaign.

Watching Meghan’s many critics rage-post about fairly standard elements — like the show reportedly being filmed in a rented property not far from the Sussexes’ actual home — it’s clear that most of them were always going to hate the show. But this rebrand as the duchess of domesticity is a very shrewd move for Meghan nonetheless. The show’s concept appears to combine the fantasy of Meghan as a princess in exile while reactivating parts of her pre-royal public persona, when she ran her own lifestyle website, The Tig. With so many eyes on Meghan, she might finally be allowed to change — and more crucially, sell a different narrative about herself.

Sources:

The New York Times | Prince Harry Takes On Rupert Murdoch's UK Tabloids in a High Stakes Trial: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/world/europe/prince-harry-murdoch-news-group-trial.html?searchResultPosition=1

Feminegra | Harry's Legal Fight Exposes Media's Efforts to Undermine Him and Meghan: https://feminegra.com/harrys-legal-fight-exposes-medias-efforts-to-undermine-him-and-meghan/#google_vignette