Prince Harry's 2016 statement on 'sexist,' 'racist' comments against Meghan Markle removed from royal family's website

Prince Harry's 2016 statement confirming his romance with Meghan Markle and defending the latter from "sexist" and "racist" remarks has been deleted from the royal family's website.

According to TIME Magazine, Newsweek first reported about the move and said it was done in December 2023, citing internet archive site Wayback Machine.

Harry and Meghan went public with their relationship in 2016 after a period of dating rumors made by the media. He confirmed the romance speculations between them in a statement issued by former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf in November that year. 

In the said statement, Harry, through Knauf, slammed the racist and sexist remarks that Markle endured since their relationship was reported on by various outlets.

“[T]he past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments," it read. 

"Some of it has been hidden from the public—the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life," it added, noting that it was starting to make Harry feel "worried" about Markle’s safety and was disappointed that he was not able to protect her from it all.

Harry recalled releasing the 2016 statement in his 2023 memoir Spare, saying it was "needed."

"Within a day, we had a draft," he wrote. "Strong, precise, angry, honest."

Harry claimed that the statement left his brother, Prince William, and his father, King Charles III, "furious" as "they'd never put out a statement for their girlfriends or wives when they were being harassed."

Harry and Meghan got married at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2018.

They stepped back as working members of the royal family two years later. They now live in California with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.