Palace’s stealthy Sussex take down

Could things get any worse between the palace and Harry and Meghan? The palace’s latest move shows relations at an all-time low.

The royal family has removed a landmark document concerning the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and it’s part of a much bigger puzzle.

There is something strange going on inside Buckingham Palace; and it seems someone has been leaning on the official royal website’s delete key.

In the immortally ignorant words of Australia’s most famous fish and chip slinger: Please explain?

Why has a landmark part of the long and often torturous tale of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex been mysteriously removed from royal.uk?

The item in question is a nearly eight-year-old statement, the most important bit of paper that Harry probably had held in his hands since he filled in his Boujis membership application.

The year: 2016.

The pants: Low.

Prince Harry: Had a new girlfriend.

Specifically on October 31, Britain’s Daily Express broke the exclusive story that the former army captain was dating Suits star Meghan Markle.

At which point the entire UK went ‘huh!’, very pleasantly surprised to discover that Harry had the nous and taste to look beyond the predictable roster of upper crust blondes to find his new paramour.

Here was a woman with a good degree, a successful career and a world view that extended further than Battersea Bridge. Huzzah!

Then barely a week later, the fizz and excitement that the prince had found himself a girlfriend curdled, with Harry putting out an extraordinary and unprecedented statement, calling out the “wave of abuse and harassment” Meghan had faced along with the “sexism and racism” of the reaction to news of their relationship.

On the day it came out – November 8 – it was posted online in the ‘Press release’ section of the official royal website, royal.uk.

Now, it’s gone.