The rain tapped against the windows of my study as I stared out at the gray London skyline. The city, for all its charm and grandeur, held a darkness beneath its polished veneerโa darkness Iโd come to know all too well. I call it the London Tabloid Dungeon.
The dungeon isnโt a place of stone walls and iron chains; itโs a labyrinth of ink and lies, a machine that grinds private lives into public spectacle. Itโs where truth is twisted, and humanity is stripped away in the name of profit.
Iโve lived in its shadow my entire life. From the moment I was born, the tabloids had their claws in me. They werenโt content to capture momentsโthey had to invent them, distort them, blow them out of proportion. My mother, Diana, was their favorite target. They followed her everywhere, turning her kindness and vulnerability into a commodity.
I still remember the way sheโd shield me and William from the cameras, her voice calm but her eyes pleading with the photographers to leave us alone. โTheyโll never stop,โ she once told me. โNot until they get what they wantโor until we give them nothing to take.โ
But how do you give them nothing when your very existence is what they crave?
As I grew older, I tried to play their game. I smiled for the cameras, gave them what they wanted, hoping theyโd leave me alone. They didnโt. Instead, they dug deeper. Every mistake, every misstep, every moment of vulnerabilityโthey turned it into a headline. They painted me as a reckless prince, a wild child, a broken man.
And then there was Meghan. The woman I love. I thought Iโd seen the worst of the dungeonโs cruelty, but I was wrong. They came after her with a vengeance, weaponizing race, gender, and class to tear her down. They invaded our lives, twisted her words, and turned our love into a battlefield.
I remember the night we decided to leave. We sat together in the quiet of our home, the weight of the world pressing down on us. โWe canโt stay,โ Meghan said, her voice steady but her eyes filled with pain. โNot if it means losing ourselves.โ
She was right. We left, but the dungeon followed. Even across the ocean, its reach was long. The headlines still came, the lies still spread, the judgment still poured in.
But something changed in me. I realized I couldnโt destroy the dungeonโit was too vast, too entrenched. But I could expose it. I could shine a light on its workings, show the world the damage it does.
So, I started speaking out. I told my story, our story, unfiltered and unbroken. I fought back in court, holding them accountable for their lies. I worked to protect others from their reach, from the dungeonโs relentless grip.
I donโt know if itโll ever stop. The dungeon thrives on secrecy, on the publicโs hunger for scandal. But I know this: I wonโt be silent. I wonโt let them define me, or my family, or the people I love.
As the rain subsided, I turned back to my desk. There was work to be doneโletters to write, interviews to prepare for, battles to fight. The dungeon might never crumble, but Iโd keep chipping away at its walls. For my mother. For Meghan. For Archie and Lilibet. For everyone whoโs ever been trapped in its shadows.
Because no one deserves to live in the dungeon.