Meghan Markle says she was silenced by Royal family minders who were “willing to lie to protect” other members.
In a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex has shed light on the machinations which left her unable to publicly defend herself against salacious media speculation about her private life.
She claimed she did not have issues about being muzzled about specific members of the Royal family, including the Queen.
But Markle suggested she was told by the family’s public relations arm not to respond to tabloid reports or gossip about her.
“Everyone from my world was given a very clear directive, from the moment the world knew Harry and I were dating, to always say ‘no comment’,” she said.
“And we did.
“I did anything they told me to do.
“Because it was also through the lens of, ‘we’ll protect you’.”
She said she complied by being “silent” despite having “advocated for so long for women to use their voice”.
Asked by Winfrey if she was silent or “silenced”, Markle replied, “the latter’.
While Markle said she did not monitor what the press said about her, friends would tell her it was “really bad” reporting.
“Because I didn’t see it, I would go, ‘don’t worry, I’m being protected’,” she said.
“I believed that.”
She said the situation began to “worsen” after she married Prince Harry.
