The Duke of Sussex instructed the then-Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf to issue a statement in November 2016, just days after Harry’s relationship with Meghan made headlines.

However, the link to access the statement has stopped working, and the internet archive site Wayback Machine last successfully recorded a functioning version of it on December 3, 2023. A further attempt to archive the page on December 10 was unsuccessful, suggesting it was deleted sometime between, according to a new report.

The statement remained on the royal family’s official website in the years since it was released, but the link is no longer active.

Full text of the statement

“The past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

“Some of it has been hidden from the public—the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life.

“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm. 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.”