Prince Harry Attacked by Journalist in Royal Race Storm

Prince Harry's $178,000 phone-hacking win against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) is "not going to be particularly good for the Sussexes," according to the journalist behind an infamous story about Meghan Markle.

Rachel Johnson, who is the sister of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wrote a column for The Mail on Sunday in the early days of the royal couple's relationship in which she said Meghan would help the royals "thicken their watery, thin, blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA."

Now she has weighed in on Harry's phone-hacking victory against MGN, through which he was awarded £140,600 in damages (around $178,000).

The High Court, in London, found phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering techniques were used in 15 of 33 sample news stories put before the judge. In the aftermath, Harry's lawyer called for a police investigation.

Johnson wrote: "I find it hard to see who is the winner here. I mean, Prince Harry goading the press and forcing the press into humiliating payouts is not going to be particularly good for the Sussexes and it's certainly not great for the press which is on the hook for... I think the total pay out for phone hacking and other illegal information gathering is up to a billion and there are many, many more cases to try.

"So my point about all this is, I think we only have losers here. And it's in all our interests that we have a strong vigorous and honest press and if it was strong vigorous and honest, I agree that the press would have reported more on the judgment—the Prince Harry judgment that came through on Friday—than it did."

She pointed out that Harry's court win got extensive coverage on TV networks, but was far less high-profile in British newspapers.

"I don't want the press to be in the last-chance saloon at all," she continued. "I want to see newspapers thrive. This is my industry and I think it's in all our interests that we have a thriving[...]and we've got the most wonderful newspapers in the world in this country.

"You read the newspapers in the States or in France. They're very dull. They're not entertaining at all. I think that we can have both a serious and an entertaining press. And that's what I want to see survive. I don't want to see Prince Harry destroy the industry I love."

Rachel Johnson's 'Exotic DNA' Article

Johnson's November 2016 article on Meghan included: "Genetically, she is blessed. If there is issue from her alleged union with Prince Harry, the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin, blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA.

"Miss Markle's mother is a dreadlocked African-American lady from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in L.A., and even the sourest spinster has to admit that the (at the time) 35-year-old actress is extremely easy on the eye."

Two days after the article was published Harry's press secretary released a comment denouncing "the racial undertones of comment pieces" as part of "a wave of abuse and harassment" directed at Meghan.

Johnson apologized during an interview for 2018 documentary series The Royal Wives of Windsor: "I mean, I for one celebrated the fact that she was mixed race, but I used an unfortunate word, which was 'exotic.'

"I meant that in marvelous contrast to the gingery, white blood of his own blood family on his maternal side. But it didn't go down well and I hereby apologize, Harry."

Harry revisited the saga in his book Spare, suggesting Johnson's article was "predicting that Meg would...do something...genetically...to the royal family."

He added: "Sister Johnson further opined that Meg's mother, Doria, was from 'the wrong side of the tracks,' and as stone-cold proof she cited Doria's dreadlocks.

"This filth was being blasted out to 3 million Britons, about Doria, lovely Doria,
born in Cleveland, Ohio, graduate of Fairfax High School, in a quintessentially
middle-class part of Los Angeles."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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