Duchess of Sussex calls 1st year of marriage difficult

FILE: Markle greeting the public in Belfast, March 2018 (Photo By Northern Ireland Office – Prince Harry and Ms. Markle visit Belfast’s Crown Liquor Saloon, CC BY 2.0)

LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex says her first year of marriage to Britain’s Prince Harry has been difficult because of the pressure from Britain’s tabloid press.

The former Meghan Markle told I—T—V in an interview broadcast Sunday that her British friends warned her not to marry the prince because of the intense media scrutiny that would follow in his country.

But the U—S television star said she “naively” dismissed the warnings, because as an American she didn’t understand how the British press worked.

She says while she never thought this would be easy she thought it would be fair and that’s the part that is hard to reconcile.

The royal couple revealed their struggles with the media during the I—T—V documentary “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” which followed them on a recent tour of Southern Africa.

Both said they had struggled with the spotlight, particularly because they say much of what is printed is untrue.

The pressure was aggravated by the fact that the duchess was a newlywed, then pregnant and then a new mother.

The duchess says any woman —— especially when they’re pregnant —— is really vulnerable and that made all the scrutiny really challenging.

The 35—year—old Harry did acknowledge there have been some differences between him and his older brother, 37—year—old Prince William, although he says most of what has been printed about a rift between the two has been “created out of nothing.”

Harry says he and William will always be brothers and while they’re on different paths at the moment, they will always be there for each other.

Harry has lashed out at the British media in the past for its treatment of Meghan, accusing the media of hounding her the way it did his mother, Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 car crash while trying to elude paparazzi.

Harry insisted he didn’t want such history repeated.

He added, “I will not be bullied into playing a game that killed my mum.”