I RANG GRANNY TO TELL her beforehand. Pa too. And I sent Willy a text.
I also told the Bee, giving him advance notice of the lawsuit, letting him know we had a statement ready to go, asking him to please redirect to our office all the press inquiries it would inevitably trigger. He wished us luck! It was amusing, therefore, when I heard that he and the Wasp were claiming to have had no advance warning.
In announcing the lawsuit I laid out my case to the world:
My wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences—a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son…I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been…Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself…I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.
The lawsuit wasn’t covered as widely as, say, Meg’s daring to shut her own car door. In fact, it was barely covered at all. Nonetheless, friends took note. Many texted: Why now?
Simple. In a few days the privacy laws in Britain were going to change in the tabloids’ favor. We wanted our case to be heard before a crooked bat was introduced into the game.
Friends also asked: Why sue at all when you’re riding so high in the press?
The South Africa tour was a triumph, coverage was wildly positive.
That’s the whole point, I explained. This isn’t about wanting or needing good press. It’s about not letting people get away with abuse. And lies. Especially the kind of lies that can destroy innocents.
Maybe I sounded a bit self-righteous. Maybe I sounded as if I was on my high horse. But shortly after announcing our lawsuit I felt energized by a ghastly story in the Express.
How Meghan Markle’s flowers may have put Princess Charlotte’s life at risk. This latest “scandal” concerned the flower crowns worn by our bridesmaids, more than a year earlier. Included in the crowns were a few lilies of the valley,
which can be poisonous to children. Provided the children eat the lilies.
Even then, the reaction would be discomfort, concerning to parents, but only in the rarest cases would such a thing be fatal.
Never mind that an official florist put together these crowns. Never mind that it wasn’t Meg who made this “dangerous decision.” Never mind that previous royal brides, including Kate and my mother, had also used lilies of the valley.
Never mind all that. The story of Meghan the Murderess was just too good. An accompanying photo showed my poor little niece wearing her crown,
face contorted in a paroxysm of agony, or a sneeze. Alongside this photo was a shot of Meg looking sublimely unconcerned about the imminent death of this angelic child.
