Prince Harry stepped out for the first ever Onside Awards on Sunday to honour young activists and the volunteers and the mentors who are helping youth who are trying to make a difference. For a change, though, he wasn’t the top royal headline this weekend. That, of course, would be his uncle, and we’ll get to that mess in a bit. This post is about Harry and House Sussex, in comparison, because before we get into Prince Andrew, it’s worth comparing what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been through with what Prince Andrew has gotten himself into. And how valid their complaints are, especially now. 

But first… here’s why Harry went out last night:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on

Harry spoke at the event and once again prioritised mental health – per PEOPLE: 

“By understanding our own mental health as much as we do our physical health, by knowing what makes us thrive rather than just survive, we’ll be unlocking such incredible potential for ourselves and more young people up and down the country. So, for everyone involved in making this happen, thank you.”

“Surviving and thriving” are familiar words in the Sussex vocabulary. Both Harry and Meghan talked about surviving and thriving during their ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey in relation to their own mental health. And they were mocked for it relentlessly by members of the British tabloid media and royal commentators, including Lady Colin Campbell who claims she was friends with Princess Diana and insists she’s an expert on the royal family.

Lady Colin Campbell has called Meghan “cheap, vulgar, and irresponsible” in the past and nearly has a hernia every time Meghan steps out in black nail polish. She was on Good Morning Britain today talking about Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview. Here’s one of the highlights: 

So this woman who pops off on Harry and Meghan for whatever it is that they do, which in no way is anywhere near the crime of PEDOPHILIA, is twisting herself in the most demented way possible to try and find some way to defend Prince Andrew’s relationship with a dead rapist pedophile. SERIOUSLY. 

This is what Harry and Meghan are up against – because you know she’s not alone. You know that she and so many other old timey assholes consider what Harry and Meghan are doing to be WORSE than the Queen’s second son internationally gallivanting with a sex trafficker who died under mysterious circumstances in federal custody. 

As for what Harry and Meghan have actually done, Byline Investigates published a list of the Sussexes’ grievances with the British tabloids on Friday from newly filed court papers. It’s basically a line by line dismantling of story after story published in the Daily Mail over the last couple of years complete with receipts detailing how much bullsh-t the Mail decided to run, and how much ink was dedicated to these reports when they had a much more factual, much more scandalous situation staring at them in the face involving another prince of England and his friendship with a man who preyed on teenage girls and served them to his wealthy friends. 

My point is that, on top of the targeted aggression, what’s perhaps even more alarming is the attitude. Lady Colin Campbell this morning bent over backwards trying to justify … I don’t f-cking know what she was trying to justify, but she decided today would be the day she tried to draw the distinction between Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and pedophilia – and, clearly, given how lax people have been over Prince Andrew’s connection to the Epstein case, you have to think that at least some members of the British media might feel the same, that they’ve been shrugging off this story because, you know, grown men exploiting teen girls is really no big deal. I’ll just leave this tweet here: