Piers Morgan tells Prince Harry to ‘clamber down off his hysterical hothead high horse’ and to stop ‘playing the victim’ over Meghan Markle
PIERS Morgan has warned Prince Harry to "clamber down off his high horse" after releasing a statement complaining of "relentless propaganda" against his wife, Meghan Markle.
The Duke of Sussex released the unprecedented statement as he announced on the couple's personal website that they are launching legal action against the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
The legal action follows an article in which the paper published extracts of a letter written by Meghan to her father Thomas Markle.
Harry raised the death of his mother Princess Diana in 1997 in the statement and said: "I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."
But writing for the , Morgan said Harry should 'stop playing the victim' and accept criticism from the media as a public figure.
He wrote: "It is honestly one of the most extraordinary rants I've ever read from anyone in the Royal Family, and one of the most inexplicable."
The Good Morning Britain host, who also writes a column for the Mail on Sunday, wrote that the couple had recently received a wave of positive coverage around their current tour of South Africa but now risked alienating the public and the media.
He added that criticism over the couple's £2.5m refurbishment of their Frogmore Cottage home with public money and using private jets while urging the public to reduce their carbon footprints had been justified.
Harry should clamber down off his hysterical hothead high horse and repair the real running sore causing Meghan's distress – by making peace with her father.
Piers Morgan
Morgan said: "This seems like another catastrophic PR failure to me, one that has ruined all the good work they've done to rebuild their battered image after a long period of sustained criticism.
"And let's be brutally frank: they've brought most of that criticism on themselves."
Morgan has previously interviewed Thomas Markle and said the 75-year-old had released the letter to the Mail on Sunday to redress the balance after Meghan's friends had publicly criticised him in US outlet People Magazine.
He said it was "bemusing" that Harry has not met his father-in-law and that Mr Markle no longer has any contact with his daughter.
He wrote: "Rather than going to war with the press in this absurd manner, Harry should clamber down off his hysterical hothead high horse and repair the real running sore causing Meghan's distress – by making peace with her father."
STATEMENT CLAIMS 'UNLAWFUL' PUBLICATION
In a lengthy statement published on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's website, Harry alleged the paper had "unlawfully" published a letter from her to her father Thomas Markle.
Meghan Markle insists the letter - which detailed her pain at their estrangement since the Royal Wedding - was private.
In a statement revealing the legal action, Prince Harry claimed the couple were suffering from the "painful" impact of "relentless propaganda" against Meghan.
But royal commentators questioned his comments.
Prince Charles’ biographer Penny Junor said: “This is the most extraordinary statement and goes way beyond anything I have ever seen issued by a member of the royal family.
“I completely understand that Harry should feel protective about his wife and there have undoubtedly been some negative stories in the last nine months that must have hurt - but not exclusively in the Mail on Sunday - and they have not all been lies, nor I would suggest, part of a ruthless campaign."
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Speaking on Good Morning Britain this morning, Morgan criticised Harry for comparing Meghan to Diana, saying: "I think comparing Meghan to Diana is a mistake.
"Harry talks about Diana and, of course everyone knows the history there and of course everybody felt for him, but he's not the only person who's lost a parent.
"If he's going to be this viscous about the press collectively he's got to be entitled to be scrutinised for what he's actually saying."
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