Meghan and Harry are stepping back because of the press – as a journalist, covering their story was sobering

The only way that they will ever escape being unwilling participants in the media circus is if they live in exile

As public figures, they’ll be pursued literally to the ends of the earth, and to the grave and beyond (AP)

I don’t enjoy sniping at other news organisations, but the whole Meghan and Harry thing sent me scurrying to check on a couple of “stories” that seemed incredible at the time. One was on the Express website, from last October. It carried the headline “Royal wedding: How Meghan Markle’s flowers may have put Princess Charlotte’s life at risk”. The tale was published long after the ceremony, when the fashion was to bash Meghan as much as possible. The justification being that the bridesmaids’ “flower crown” headdresses contained lily of the valley, which, an expert explained, “could result in a trip to the emergency room, or in rare cases death”, if ingested. In reality, Charlotte would have to take her flower crown off and eat it in sufficient quantities for it to be potentially fatal. Yet it was made to look like something far more dangerous and sinister. Insanely so. Last time I looked, Princess Charlotte was still in excellent health: it was a toxic story in quite another sense.

Then there was the story in The Sun about the Sussexes which claimed that they had banned staff from using a car park near their home. The Sun then apologised: “We now accept that the parking charges were not requested by the Duke and Duchess.” Fair to say, though, that the damage was done.

Some of the royal gossip you read is true, some made up, and the rest mangled and distorted with some editorial spin applied. It was always thus, though the digital age allows for an even uglier dimension of racism and snobbery. In their day, most of the royals have ignored similar treatment (excluding racism). Now we have a couple who will not, and Harry is right to fear what the press will do to his wife and his son.

As public figures, they’ll be pursued literally to the ends of the earth, and to the grave and beyond. So, the twisted logic runs, they have no rights to privacy whatsoever.

The only way that Harry and Meghan and their family will ever escape being unwilling performers in this circus is if they just become plain Mr and Mrs Mountbatten-Markle and live as quietly as they can in exile. No doubt even then celebs and commentators who never met them and never will, will say it is all some selfish beastly act of “manipulation”. There are rare times when you get to be ashamed of journalism, and this is one of them.

Yours,

Sean O’Grady

Associate editor