Prince Harry launches media fightback in defence of wife Meghan

Britain's Prince Harry on Wednesday issued an impassioned statement in defence of his wife, Meghan Markle, as he accused sections of the media of waging a ruthless campaign against her.

Harry, the Duke of Sussex, accuses the so-called "press pack" of vilifying his former actress wife daily for the past nine months and compared it with the treatment of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

Princess Diana had died aged 36 in 1997 after her car crashed in Paris while being pursued by paparazzi.

"Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son (Archie)," he said in a statement.

"I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces...I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in," he added.

The statement came as the royal household launched a legal action against the publication of a handwritten letter by Markle to her estranged father in one of the British tabloids.

In reference to the action, he said: "This particular legal action hinges on one incident in a long and disturbing pattern of behaviour by British tabloid media. The contents of a private letter were published unlawfully in an intentionally destructive manner to manipulate you, the reader, and further the divisive agenda of the media group in question.

"In addition to their unlawful publication of this private document, they purposely misled you by strategically omitting select paragraphs, specific sentences, and even singular words to mask the lies they had perpetuated for over a year."