Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship has been known about publicly for a decade, having triggered a frenzy of media coverage described by Harry as an "apocalypse" and by the journalist who broke the story with the words: "All hell breaks loose." The couple started dating in July 2016 but kept their romance secret for months before it was revealed for the first time on October 30 on the front page of British tabloid the Sunday Express. Harry wrote about the onslaught of reporting that followed the article, stating in his book Spare that they had been about to attend a Halloween costume party: "We’d had a heads-up that it was likely to happen that day. We’d been tipped, before heading off to the Halloween Apocalypse, that another apocalypse might be coming." Meanwhile, Camilla Tominey, who broke the story, told The Daily Heretics podcast: "We published the story, all hell breaks loose." News the couple were in a relationship triggered a wave of stories some of which were referenced for years to come as examples of alleged unfair treatment given to the couple.
Harry instructed his Kensington Palace spokesperson, at the time Jason Knauf, to issue a strongly worded public statement denouncing the media. It was the first battle between the prince and the press over Meghan but not the last as that conflict has been a major element of the Sussexes' story. The Sunday Express front page read, "Royal World Exclusive: Harry's Secret Romance With TV Star," and suggested the prince was "besotted" with Meghan, who at the time starred in legal drama Suits as the character Rachel Zane.
Tominey quoted a source saying that Harry had kept the relationship quiet because he did not want to scare Meghan off but that there was chemistry between them. "Everything was changed forever, because the next day was when news of our relationship broke wide open," Harry wrote in Spare. "Well, we said, staring anxiously at our phones, it was going to happen eventually." Harry and Meghan spent the evening at a Halloween party with Princess Eugenie and her now husband Jack Brooksbank as a Halloween party at Toronto's Soho House, a private members club.
The prince borrowed actor Tom Hardy's real costume from the movie Mad Max: Fury Road while Meghan wore "torn black shorts, a camo top, fishnet stockings," according to Spare. "If that’s the Apocalypse, I thought, bring on the end of the world," Harry wrote. The prince described sitting on Meghan's couch talking about the media storm that was coming and quoted himself saying: "Meg, you ready for what’s headed our way?" "Kinda," Meghan replied.
"Are you?" Harry said he was before asking if she was "scared," and stating: "We’re going to be hunted. No two ways about it." By the time Knauf issued his statement on November 8 there had been more than a week of frenzied coverage in the mainstream media as well as commentary on social media. Among them, a Daily Mail comment piece by Rachel Johnson, sister of future British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, suggested that if the couple had children then "the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA." She was criticized for the reference to "exotic DNA" and later apologized.
"I for one celebrated the fact that she was mixed race, but I used an unfortunate word, which was 'exotic,'" she told ITV. "I meant that in marvelous contrast to the gingery white blood of his own blood family on his maternal side. But it didn't go down well and I hereby apologize, Harry." An article in The Sun carried the headline "Harry's Girl on Pornhub," and the tabloid later apologized for not making it clear that the clips were scenes from Suits that someone had uploaded to adult website.
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