Meghan Markle thanks public for 'kindness' after royal baby birth: 'It just means so much'
The Duchess of Sussex has weathered rough storms during her first year as a royal, making her particularly grateful for the positivity surrounding her first few days as a mom.
Meghan Markle expressed that gratitude Wednesday as she and her husband spoke to press during their first appearance as a family of three. As the interview came to a close, the Duchess made an unprompted additional comment.
"Thank you, everybody, for the well-wishes and the kindness," she said. "It just means so much."
The sentiment is a meaningful one for Meghan, who's been dogged by various cycles of bad press. The most scathing recurring headlines involved her estranged family, who have leveraged cutting remarks about the newly-minted royal, and rumors of a feud with sister-in-law Kate Middleton only fanned the flames.
The Duchess' relationship with the press and the public has always been difficult, largely for reasons out of her control. In late 2016, a full year before Prince Harry would pop the question, the royal palace issued a firm statement condemning the "wave of abuse and harassment" directed toward his then-girlfriend of a few months.
"Some of this has been very public -- the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments," the statement read.
The notice went on to describe more private issues Meghan was facing, including hidden legal battles, threats to her mother's safety, police interventions, and bribes offered to ex-boyfriends and other people in her life for personal information.
More than two years later, well after the couple had tied the knot, several of Meghan's friends publicly came to her defense in People magazine. Most of their criticisms were pointed toward the Duchess' estranged half-siblings: "They have been made to appear as siblings who had this falling out, and that's not the truth at all. They were not a part of her life."
As for the supposed feud with Kate Middleton, both women have maintained that there's no bad blood between them, and Kate has repeatedly expressed her excitement about Meghan's baby.
