In an open letter addressed to Meghan Markle, 72 female members of British parliament have addressed the country's tabloid media's brutal treatment of the 38-year-old since she joined the royal family, writing that they stand in solidarity with her in taking a stand against the "often distasteful and misleading" stories published.
Shared to Twitter by Holly Lynch, a Labour MP, the letter reads: "As women MPs of all political persuasions, we wanted to express our solidarity with you in taking a stand against the often distasteful and misleading nature of the stories printed in a number of our national newspapers concerning you, your character and your family."
"On occasions, stories and headlines have represented an invasion of your privacy and have sought to cast aspersions about your character, without any good reason as far as we can see,” it continues. “Even more concerning still, we are calling out what can only be described as outdated, colonial undertones to some of these stories.”
The MPs went on to acknowledge their own experiences of being women in the public eye, writing that they “share an understanding of the abuse and intimidation which is now so often used as a means of disparaging women in public office from getting on with our very important work”.
During their recent documentary of Africa, Meghan and Harry addressed the backlash they have faced and the impact its had on their lives, with Meghan noting, “I never thought that this would be easy. But I thought it would be fair and that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile.” She also said they are currently "existing, not living."
Meghan is currently sueing British newspaper The Mail on Sunday after it published a private handwritten letter she had sent her father.
“For these select media this is a game, and one that we have been unwilling to play from the start,” Harry wrote announcing the couple would be taking legal action. “I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in.”
