Whoever Prince Harry dates are bound to have to deal with intense media coverage, and both he and Meghan Markle have been in the public eye for years. The couple certainly has faced scrutiny since they stepped down from their royal duties as senior members of the family. The Duchess of Sussex herself spoke about how the pressure of this new level of attention put her in a dark place mentally. Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Florence St. George also confirmed the real media fear she had during her relationship with the Duke of Sussex.
St. George Speaks Out About Intense Pressure From Media
Prince Harry and St. George (formerly Brudenell-Bruce) dated for a few months in 2011. The former couple kept their relationship lowkey for a while, only garnering media attention for a handful of days. However, despite the short time, the paparazzi feverishness was too much to handle according to St. George. She revealed that the craze of tabloid coverage was no less daunting. “Although it was sad at the time, I feel lucky that the relationship was short-lived,” St. George explained to The Times.
“When I glimpsed for five, six, seven days — we were together a bit longer than that but that’s how long it was in the press — what it was like to be under that focus I found it really terrifying and I made a decision quite quickly that it wasn’t the right thing for me,” she explained. St. George, a former model who is now married with children of her own, made it very clear that the type of attention she received definitely affected her more than she thought it would. The media coverage of being Prince Harry’s partner is certainly more unnerving than what the public might assume.
St. George Compliments Meghan Markle’s Strength
The challenge of no longer having much privacy due to tabloid media prying on your relationship is something that anyone would struggle with. For Markle, the former actress was accustomed to public appearances and carrying herself on red carpets, causing her to have just a bit more experience than some of Harry’s former partners when presenting herself to the world. However, the life of the former Suits star was definitely no match for the British tabloid press, which continuously scrutinizes her. The stress from the media can be too much to bear, and dealing with it for years is not easy. For that, St. George complimented Meghan: “I take my hat off to people who can cope with that lifestyle, but I knew I couldn’t.”