A statement made by Prince Harry against the British media about his wife, Meghan Markle, appeared to have been taken down from the Royal Family’s official website towards the end of May, which left Harry with a “very upsetting shock”, a royal author has claimed.

The statement, released by Kensington Palace in 2016 when the couple announced their relationship to the public, was the one which left King Charles and Prince William “furious” as it made them “look bad” for not defending their wives the same way, according to Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.

The Duke of Sussex condemned the press for subjecting his then-girlfriend, Meghan Markle, to a “wave of abuse and harrassment”.

Royal author Tom Quinn told the Mirror: “The statement was a scathing attack on the press and King Charles knows that he needs to keep the press on the side and work with rather than against the media.”

He added: “For Harry removing the statement will be a real and very upsetting shock – he will see this as the Royal Family shutting him down, erasing an important part of the anti-media crusade Harry has waged for so long.”

Tom claims that Harry’s letter to the press about Meghan’s “mistreatment” should have stayed on the website as a permanent reminder that Harry and Meghan were “victims”.

Harry’s statement was released by former Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf just days after Harry’s relationship with Meghan was made public.

According to the statement, the couple were “a few months into a relationship” and it was “not right” that the duchess should be subjected to such treatment.

At the time, a number of newspapers ran stories on their front pages about the former Suits actress.

Prince Harry’s 2016 statement read: “The past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.

“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….”

It goes on to say: “Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.

“He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game.’ He strongly disagrees. This is not a game—it is her life and his.”

It comes as earlier this year Harry and Meghan had their individual sections removed from the “Members of the Royal Family” tab of the official royal website and replaced by a combined section that’s been moved all the way down to the bottom, next to Prince Andrew.

They were previously listed between Prince Andrew and Princess Alexandra on the website.