Friends told me not to marry Prince Harry - Meghan Markle

THE Duchess of Sussex has said friends advised her not to marry Prince Harry to avoid pressure from the media.

Meghan, 38, said she was told "you shouldn't do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life".

In an ITV documentary, she admitted motherhood was a "struggle" due to intense interest from newspapers.

Prince Harry also responded to reports of a rift between him and his brother William, Duke of Cambridge, by saying they were on "different paths".

The duke, 35, said he and Prince William have "good days" and "bad days".

He added: "We are brothers. We will always be brothers.

"We are certainly on different paths at the moment but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me."

'You've got to thrive'

In the ITV documentary, broadcast on Sunday evening, Meghan said adjusting to royal life had been "hard", before adding she was not prepared for the intensity of the tabloid media scrutiny.

"When I first met my now-husband my friends were really happy because I was so happy," she said.

"But my British friends said to me, 'I'm sure he's great but you shouldn't do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life'."

Meghan also told the programme that that it was a "struggle" being pregnant and a new mother amid the intense interest from newspapers.

On whether she can cope, Meghan added: "In all honesty I have said for a long time to H - that is what I call him - it's not enough to just survive something, that's not the point of life. You have got to thrive."

'I'll protect my family'

Prince Harry was asked if he worried whether his wife may face the same pressures as his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in 1997 in a car crash in Paris.

He said: "I will always protect my family, and now I have a family to protect.

"So everything that she [Diana] went through, and what happened to her, is incredibly important every single day, and that is not me being paranoid, that is just me not wanting a repeat of the past."

"Part of this job is putting on a brave face but, for me and my wife, there is a lot of stuff that hurts, especially when the majority of it is untrue."

The Africa tour was Prince Harry, Meghan and their baby son Archie's first official royal tour as a family.

The duchess, who married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in May 2018 and gave birth to their son Archie this year, spoke about her experiences as a new royal since her wedding day.

In a statement released at the beginning of this month, Prince Harry said his wife was the latest "victim" of a British tabloid press which "wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences".

He said "knowingly false and malicious" reports and "continual misrepresentations" were made by "select media outlets".

The duke and duchess are both bringing legal actions against the press, with Meghan suing the Mail on Sunday over a claim that it unlawfully published one of her private letters.

Prince Harry filed his own proceedings at the High Court against the owners of the Sun, the defunct News of the World, and the Daily Mirror, in relation to alleged phone-hacking dating back more than a decade.