Meghan Markle’s Canadian Suits co-star Patrick Adams launched a furious attack on the British royal family on Friday, accusing the palace of ‘tormenting’ the Duchess of Sussex and describing the monarchy as ‘toxic, archaic, and shameless’ while leaping to the defense of his former on-screen love interest.
Patrick, 39, who was born in Toronto and is now based in Los Angeles, fired off an extraordinarily vicious rant against the royals on Twitter, where he insisted that his ‘powerful’ and ‘kind’ friend has been the subject of a underhanded behavior on the part of the monarchy after reports were published that Meghan had ‘bullied’ several former staff members at Kensington Palace.
After using several glowing adjectives to describe ‘kind, joyful and supportive’ Meghan, 39, Patrick then detailed the struggle he says she faced when joining the ‘archaic and toxic’ royal family.
‘She fell in love, moved to a new country, became a household name across the entire globe and began the difficult work of trying to find her place in a family dynamic that can at best be described as complicated and at worst, seemingly archaic and toxic,’ he wrote in the eight-tweet rant.
Meghan and Harry are involved in a war of words with Buckingham Palace after the Duchess accused ‘The Firm’ – a mafia-like term used to describe the Royal Family – of smearing them and peddling ‘a wholly false narrative based on misleading and harmful misinformation’.
The acrimonious back and forth has become increasingly-tense ahead of the release of Meghan and Harry’s bombshell sit-down interview with Oprah, which is due to air on CBS on March 7, while the Duke’s grandfather, Prince Philip, remains in hospital where he is recovering from a heart procedure.
Meghan Markle’s Canadian Suits co-star and former on-screen love interest Patrick Adams launched an extraordinary attack on the royal family on Friday while defending the Duchess
Bold claims: The 39-year-old described the royal family as ‘archaic’ and ‘toxic’ in the furious eight-tweet rant, which was posted in the wake of reports that Meghan ‘bullied’ royal staff
Several teaser clips have made clear the kind of negative picture that Meghan will likely paint of her short-lived experience as a royal – with the latest video showing the Duchess claiming that palace aides stopped her from talking to Oprah ‘personally’ in 2018 when the TV mogul approached her for an interview.
A Hollywood insider also told DailyMail.com on Friday that Meghan has now accused the palace of using 99-year-old Prince Philip’s ill health to ‘muzzle’ her after the couple faced calls to postpone the interview out of respect to the Queen’s husband.
The source added that Meghan would never ask to delay the interview broadcast, which is still expected to go ahead in the wake of the Sussexes’ increasingly bitter rift with the royals which has been made all the more acerbic by the publication of the ‘bullying’ allegations and the Duchess’ insistence that they are part of a ‘calculated smear campaign’ against her.
Patrick’s Twitter rant comes just two days before Meghan and Harry’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey is due to air
Buckingham Palace has denied these claims in an unprecedented statement while also revealing that it has launched a probe into the allegations, saying it ‘does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace’.
Despite the palace’s vehement denial, Patrick – who likely spent time with several senior members of the royal family when attending Meghan’s wedding to Harry in 2018 – doubled down on the pregnant Duchess’ claims, accusing the monarch of ‘promoting’ and ‘amplifying’ the bullying accusations made against her, which were published in The Times earlier this week.
The actor positioned Meghan very much as the victim, accusing the palace of attacking a pregnant woman who had to ‘flee’ to the US for the sake of her ‘mental health’.
He wrote: ‘It’s OBSCENE that the Royal Family, who’s newest member is currently GROWING INSIDE OF HER, is promoting and amplifying accusations of “bullying” against a woman who herself was basically forced to flea [sic] the UK in order protect her family and her own mental health.’
Meghan is accused of ‘driving out’ two PAs and shattering the confidence of another member of staff, with one former aide branding Harry and his wife ‘outrageous bullies’ in The Times earlier this week.
She has denied the allegations and accused the newspaper of being ‘used by Buckingham Palace to peddle a wholly false narrative’ about her.
Patrick – whose latest project is Disney+ show The Right Stuff which premiered last year – has now launched himself into the fray on Meghan’s behalf, joining a growing number of her friends and colleagues who have spoken out in defense of the Duchess.
Patrick made the brazen suggestion that the monarchy has ‘outlived its relevance’ and accused the royals of being ‘bankrupt of decency’ before claiming Meghan is ‘way out of their league’
He even went as far as to brazenly suggest that the ‘shameless’ monarchy has ‘outlived its relevance’, writing: ‘[In my opinion], this newest chapter and [its] timing is just another stunning example of the shamelessness of a institution that has outlived its relevance, is way overdrawn on credibility and apparently bankrupt of decency.’
As well as attacking the palace, Patrick also slammed the British media, accusing it of publishing ‘racist, slanderous, clickbaiting vitriol’ about her, while insisting that Meghan had been woefully misunderstood and under-estimated.
‘It sickened me to read the endless racist, slanderous, clickbaiting vitriol spewed in her direction from all manner of media across the UK and the world but I also knew that Meghan was stronger than people realized or understood and they would regret underestimating her,’ he wrote.
He suggested that Meghan and Harry should have been given a break from public scrutiny after they welcomed their first child, Archie, in 2019, but said that instead ‘the hunt continued’.
‘On any sort of decent planet that would be a time to stop sharpening the knives and let these two people enjoy the magical early months and years of starting a family,’ he said. ‘But we don’t live on that planet and instead the hunt continued.’
He concluded his astonishing rant with a playground-esque warning to the royals, telling the monarchy to ‘find someone else to admonish, berate and torment,’ before adding: ‘My friend Meghan is way out of your league.’
Patrick starred alongside Meghan in TV drama Suits for seven seasons, before the Duchess quit the series to join the royal family officially. Their characters, Michael Ross and Rachel Zane, were involved romantically for much of their time on the show, and married in last episode of season seven, Meghan’s final taping before she quit.
His tweets were met with a very mixed reaction – with some praising him for defending his friends, while others called out his decision to launch such a vitriolic attack on the royals.
‘Great to see you support your friend,’ one person began, before adding: ‘Meghan behaved terribly towards palace servants and ran ahead of herself. She thought as a princess she could stamp her feet and bully servants. Shame we were hoping for an independent modern woman who would fight for the down trodden.’
Another pointed to the irony in Patrick’s claims that the monarchy as ‘outlived its relevance’, despite ‘happily’ attending the royal wedding.
‘But you were very happy to go to the wedding organized by, in your words, the institution that outlived it’s relevance,’ the user wrote.
One person noted that Patrick is defending Meghan as a friend, but that he has never worked as her employee and therefore cannot know what her ‘behavior’ night be like in that sense.
‘Were you ever her servant or staffer? I loved your show but your friendship and working relationship has no bearing on the questions surrounding her behavior,’ the Twitter user suggested.
‘Not exactly an objective assessment if you are her friend and co-worker of a decade. As a member of the British public I loved Meghan at the beginning, if she really does have all these qualities then she’s really sold herself short here in the UK with her behaviour,’ another chimed in.
Others rallied behind the actor however, praising him for speaking out about his friend.
‘I am in tears just reading this,’ one such user said. ‘lt so needed to be said. Meghan a pregnant woman whose only crime is to fall in love, do an excellent job! That institution has a problem with strong women full stop!’
Another wrote: ‘Thank you for standing up for Meghan. And saying what we all feel Its been tough watching an innocent woman be bombarded with [malicious] lies on a daily basis from the British press & the royal family esp when she’s been pregnant for that bulk of time. It’s just despicably cruel.’
Patrick likely met several senior members of the royal family while attending Meghan’s wedding to Harry in 2018. He is pictured at the event with his wife, actress Troian Bellisario
Meghan and Patrick (pictured in 2012) starred alongside one another in Suits for seven years and their characters, Rachel Zane and Michael Ross, got married at the end of season seven
Patrick is the latest in a line of friends and supporters who have helped to orchestrate an all-out war against Buckingham Palace in recent days, spouting claims that the royals want to make her ‘miserable’ as the transatlantic row between the Sussexes and the Windsors boils over ahead of Sunday’s bombshell Oprah interview.
Meghan’s allies in the US media as well as colleagues from her time on Suits have queued up to back her in the bullying row with the hit show’s executive producer Jon Cowan calling her a ‘warm, kind, caring person’ who has been thrust into an ‘unimaginable world’ and deserves the ‘benefit of the doubt’.
Meghan’s fightback began last night when a source close to the former actress made the extraordinary claim that Prince William’s wife Kate, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were all leaking stories about her to the press.
Then her makeup artist friend Daniel Martin posted a defiant poem about ‘light and love’ in defense of the Duchess amid the bombshell claims she forced out members of staff at Kensington Palace and inflicted ’emotional cruelty’ on others. One worker called the couple ‘outrageous bullies’.
His Instagram post, liked by 3,500 people including Meghan’s former best friend Jessica Mulroney said: ‘Because she isn’t self centered, people can see the light in her. Because she does not boast of herself, she becomes a shining example. Because she does not glorify herself, she becomes a person of merit. Because she wants nothing from the world, the world cannot overcome her.’
And ‘Team Meghan’ cheerleader Lindsay Jill Roth, who had Meghan as the maid of honor at her wedding, said ‘goodwill runs in her bones’.
Last night on the ABC debate show ‘The View’ in America, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, broadcaster Sarah Haines declared: ‘I don’t hear anything about investigations that don’t involve Prince Andrew and his connections with Jeffrey Epstein’.
Commentator Joy Behar compared the palace’s reaction to the ‘off with your head’ policy of Henry VIII, and added: ‘They [the palace] will just make your life miserable – you’d better toe the line. Look what happened to Diana, same thing, same thing. They do not like it when you go up against them. As far as Andrew is concerned, he is their boy. This girl is not blood’.
Meanwhile Meghan McCain said: ‘It’s a very obvious oppo-dump on Meghan Markle, and one of the things she’s being accused of in her abuse is emailing staffers early in the morning. So I think that’s obviously ridiculous on a lot of different levels’.
British royal experts and fans have widely condemned Harry and Meghan’s decision to do the interview, accusing them of being disrespectful to the Queen and her unwell 99-year-old husband.
Royal experts also believe that while many in Britain are siding with Harry’s family and are upset that the couple’s Oprah interview is going ahead with Prince Philip in hospital after heart surgery, support in the US is swinging behind the Sussexes and this could damage the Queen’s popularity in the US.