Say what you will about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — and many people unfortunately do — but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have remained by each other’s side through the good and bad over the past eight years and counting of their relationship. Before tying the knot in 2018, Harry and Meghan were set up on a blind date in 2016 and immediately hit it off.

The couple never looked back and are now the proud parents to both Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, having parted ways with their Royal duties in order to live a totally normal life of immense wealth and fame in Montecito, California. But things weren’t always so smooth for the pair, and once upon a time, Harry was so “terrified” that his new girlfriend was going to leave him that he took drastic measures.

Harry took a hard line against the press to save his relationship with Meghan Markle

In recent weeks, some hubbub has erupted around the revelation that Harry’s condemnation of the British media in the wake of their “racist” attacks on Meghan has been erased from the official Royal website. Originally shared in 2016, shortly after the couple went public with their romance, the statement remained live ever since, until it vanished as of December 2023.

“It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that, Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm,” Harry’s statement partially read. “He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game.’ He strongly disagrees. This is not a game — it is her life and his.”

This statement was one of the early moments of his relationship with Meghan that caused problems with Harry’s brother, Prince William, and father, now King Charles. In his autobiography Spare, Harry admitted his statement made the duo “furious.” He recalled: “They gave me an earful. My statement made them look bad, they both said… Because they’d never put out a statement for their girlfriends, or wives when they were being harassed.”

While speaking to GB News, royal commentator Angela Levin spoke about her own visit to Kensington Palace, Harry’s residence at the time, and revealed how she was very strongly warned by his aides that Harry was deeply afraid of losing Meghan so his patience with the press was wearing extremely thin.

“It was interesting in 2016,” Levin recalled. “I went to see him and I was told by one of his aides, ‘be very, very careful because he’s just written a letter and he’s terrified that Meghan’s going to leave him.’ That’s what the issue was, he was terrified that Meghan was going to leave him. It was love at first sight from his point of view.”

Levin went to stress that Harry is “very cross” that his statement has now been removed from the official website, as he felt that it should remain as a warning to the press. However, Levin notes that the Royal family elected to delete the statement as “they’ve moved forward” and this is all part of the process of “distancing themselves from Harry and Meghan.”

As things currently stand, Harry and Meghan are in slight danger of having their Royal titles revoked as the pair seem to drift ever further from the Windsor family. Although evidence indicates Harry might be surprisingly fine with that.