The royal family continues to quietly write Harry and Meghan out of their history.

While Princess Catherine has reportedly been spending time "out and about" amid her hiatus from public duties, the royal family continues to remove Harry and Meghan from royal records.

According to new reports, Prince Harry's 2016 statement that confirmed he was dating Meghan Markle is no longer available on the British royal family's website.

In November 2016, Harry's communications secretary released a statement condemning the "wave of abuse and harassment" experienced by his then-girlfriend after news of their romance became public. 

The link to the statement is no longer active.

The Duke of Sussex recalled in his memoir, Spare, that he was advised "silence is the best option" regarding the media attention surrounding his new relationship with the Suits actress, but he "needed a statement out there".

"Within a day we had a draft. Strong, precise, angry, honest," he wrote in his book.

Prince Harry said the statement made his father, now-King Charles, and brother, Prince William, "furious".

That's not the only change the royal family have made to their website regarding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

In March, the royal family's website was revamped and there were some noticeable changes. Firstly, Harry and Meghan's bios disappeared from the website completely. Within half an hour, they'd returned — but instead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle having their own profiles each, as they had previously, they now had a shared and very downsized profile.

Harry and Meghan's joint page can now be found at the bottom of 'The Royal Family' section of the website, right next to... Prince Andrew. Meanwhile, King Charles and Queen Camilla sit pretty at the top of the page, with The Prince and Princess of Wales placed neatly underneath.

The royal site. Image: Royal.UK. 

Prince Andrew — arguably the most controversial royal in modern times — has been accused of sexual assault and battery, and has storied ties to disgraced American billionaire and accused sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. The updates on his portion of the royal website state that the Prince is no longer attending royal appointments.

"On 13 January 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that, with Queen Elizabeth II's approval and agreement, The Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages would be returned to Her late Majesty, and The Duke would not return to public duties," the page discloses. 

The snap of the smiling Sussexes sits to Andrew's left — and as well as being placed at the bottom of the family page, there were also changes to their original profiles.

The Sussexes' entry notes that four years ago, the couple stepped back from their official duties. "As announced in January 2020, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stepped back as working members of The Royal Family," the top of their profile states.

Listen to The Spill hosts explain the Royal Family's brutal response to Meghan Markle's new business. 

Both Harry and Meghan's personal bios were heavily cut down, too. The Daily Mail reported that Harry's originally ran for 2,700 words, but it's since been reduced to just five paragraphs. Meghan's original profile was around 1,300 words long, yet the summary of Meghan's life's work now runs at a brief 103 words.

"The Duchess worked as an actress, appearing in film and television," her profile reads. "She most notably played the role of Rachel Zane on the series Suits for seven seasons, completing over 100 episodes. Alongside her successful career as an actress, The Duchess also wrote and edited a lifestyle website called The Tig."

Considering The Tig shut down in 2017 and the Duchess launched a new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, only in March, this feels like an odd fact to include.

The pair's entire profile has a combined word count of just 577 words and they're the only married couple in the royal family who have not been allocated separate profiles.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in 2023. Image: Getty. 

Buckingham Palace did include a link to Harry and Meghan's new website so that's... something?

The website rebrand perhaps doesn't come as a huge surprise, given a palace press office source had insisted that following the death of Queen Elizabeth, they were "slowly" updating the website and would "get round to it in time".

This article was originally published on March 19, 2024, and has been updated since with new information.

Feature image: Getty.

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