Harry, 37, spoke at Wired magazine’s RE: WIRED virtual summit, while Markle, 40, attended The New York Times DealBook Online Summit in New York City. The Sussexes spoke out at length about everything from the Capitol riots and coup attempt to their exit from royal life, misinformation in the media, economic inequality, Markle’s ongoing court battle against a newspaper publisher, and what they feel is the true meaning of “Megxit.” Read on to see what they each had to say.
1. Prince Harry said he warned Twitter’s Jack Dorsey about the Jan. 6 coup attempt and riot at the Capitol.
Prince Harry alleged that he warned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that insurrectionists were using the microblogging platform to plan the coup attempt on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” Harry revealed. “That email was sent the day before and then that happened and I haven’t heard from him since.”
2. Prince Harry says that “Megxit” is rooted in misogyny.
When Prince Harry and Markle stepped away from their roles as senior working royals in January 2020, the press ran with the “Megxit” moniker. Was it catchy? Sure. But what many in the media didn’t disclose—or perhaps didn’t realize—is that the word was originally proliferated by a troll, Harry alleged. “The term ‘Megxit’ was or is a misogynistic term that was created by a troll, amplified by world correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew onto mainstream media. But it began with a troll,” he said (via PEOPLE). Harry added that he didn’t want Markle to undergo the same brutal treatment from the press that his late mother, Princess Diana, faced before her untimely and tragic death. “I felt it personally over the years, and I’m now watching it happen globally affecting everyone, not just America, literally everyone around the world. I learned from a very early age that the incentives of publishing are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of the truth,” Harry said. “I know the story all too well. I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness, and obviously, I’m determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing.” Harry also pointed out the independent study of Twitter accounts created solely for the purpose of spreading hateful misinformation about Markle, as well as much of the media running with the accounts’ claims as fact. “Clickbait is the descendant of targeted advertising,” he said. “Real journalists have the power and the will to tackle racism, misogyny, lies, all of it from within their own systems.”
3. Meghan Markle thinks tabloids should come with warning labels.
Markle slammed tabloid media in her DealBook sitdown. When host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Markle about being a boss, he alluded to the bullying claims tabloids published against her just before she and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in March 2021. (At the time, Markle slammed the allegations as a “calculated smear campaign” against her.) “Being a boss—I’ve read great things about you as a boss, and if you read the tabloids, you can read all sorts of crazy things about being a boss,” he said (via PEOPLE). Markle replied, “Well, firstly I would urge you not to read tabloids, because I don’t think that’s healthy for anyone. Hopefully, one day they come with a warning label, like cigarettes do. Like, ‘This is toxic for your mental health.’”
4. Meghan Markle says pay parity and paid leave aren’t political, but rather humanitarian issues.
Markle, who’s cold-called senators regarding paid leave, said that it’s baffling that the United States doesn’t guarantee it for new parents, especially after living in the U.K. and Canada. “To come back and now be a mother of two and to see that the U.S. is one of only six countries in the entire world that doesn’t offer any form of national paid leave just didn’t make sense,” she said. “I think this is one of those issues that is not red or blue. We can all agree that people need support certainly when they’ve just had a child.” She added, “Paid leave, from my standpoint, is just a humanitarian issue.”
5. Meghan Markle said her lawsuit against a newspaper publisher has been “arduous,” but she’ll continue to fight their appeal.
Meghan touched on her privacy and copyright lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over The Mail On Sunday publishing what she claimed was a private letter to her estranged father, Thomas Markle. Meghan won the case in a summary judgment in February. ANL recently filed an appeal, citing a statement allegedly from former Sussexes’ communications secretary Jason Knauf, in which he allegedly claims that Meghan indirectly cooperated with the authors of Finding Freedom, thereby negating any expectation of privacy for the said letter. ANL alleged in a hearing on Tuesday that Meghan “considered it at least a serious possibility that the letter would be made public by her father and crafted the letter with that possibility specifically in mind. The Claimant’s pleaded case is very different, namely that she did not even suspect that he would disclose the letter.” Meghan stood firm, telling Sorkin (via PEOPLE), “In terms of this appeal, I won the case and this issue, frankly, has been going on when I had no children at all, I now have two children as you know. It’s an arduous process. But again, it’s just me standing up for what’s right, be it in this case or in the [case for economic and professional parity] we’re talking about today,” she said. “At a certain point, no matter how difficult it is, you know the difference between right and wrong. You must stand up for what’s right, and that’s what I’m doing.”
6. Meghan Markle still knows the value of a dollar.
Though she’s wealthy beyond belief now (thanks in part to massive deals with Netflix and Spotify), Meghan still watches her wallet. She revealed that her first business venture was making and selling scrunchies for about $5 apiece and noted that she hates paying full price for items she buys online. “Do they have coupons anymore? I don’t know,” she said with a chuckle. “But I will never buy anything online without finding a promo code first!” Next, read Meghan Markle’s letter to Congress urging for paid parental leave.
