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17th Jan 2023

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry respond to Jeremy Clarkson’s apology

Sarah McKenna Barry

They claimed there is a “pattern” in Clarkson’s writing which features “hate rhetoric”.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have issued a statement responding to an apology by Jeremy Clarkson regarding an article he wrote in The Sun.

The article, which was removed from The Sun online, stated that he “hates” Markle on a cellular level.

On Monday, Clarkson released a statement apologising for the column and claimed that he had written it hastily.

He also said that he had apologised privately to the couple in a letter sent on Christmas Day.

Now, however, Meghan and Harry have responded with a statement of their own.

In it, they claim that the apology letter was only sent to Harry. Moreover, they said there is a “pattern” in Clarkson’s writing, which features “hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny”.

Their statement reads: “On December 25, 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential.

“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny.

“Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry’, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”

In Clarkson’s public apology, he said that he was “profoundly sorry”.

He wrote: “One of the strange things I’ve noticed in recent times is that whenever an MP or a well-known person is asked to apologise for something, no matter how heartfelt or profound that apology may be, it’s never enough for the people who called for it in the first place.

“So I’m going to try and buck the trend this morning with an apology for the things I said in a Sun column recently about Meghan Markle.

“I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on.”

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