Women In British Parliament Took A Major Stand To Support Meghan Markle

Megan Markle may currently be on a six-week break from royal duties, but that hasn't stopped 72 female Members of Parliament from standing behind her in a show of solidarity. On Oct. 29, six dozen British lawmakers expressed their support of the Duchess of Sussex, who's been getting dragged in the press and experienced major privacy violations against her and her family since joining the royal family. British Parliament's open letter supporting Meghan Markle is both powerful and unprecedented. It's also a major display of women supporting women, and y'all need to read it.

"Women MPs from all political parties have put aside our differences to stand in solidarity with the Duchess of Sussex today and are sending her this open letter,” wrote Holly Lynch of the Labour Party on Twitter. She also tweeted out a copy of the letter, as well as a list of the 72 women who signed it.

Here's what it said, in part:

On occasions, stories and headlines have represented an invasion of your privacy and have sought to cast aspersions about your character, without any good reason. Even more concerning still, we are calling out what can only be described as outdated, colonial undertones to some of these stories. As women Members of Parliament from all backgrounds, we stand with you in saying it cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.

The MPs — which included Labour MPs Jess Phillips, Stella Creasy, and Lynch; Conservative MPs Tracey Crouch and Antoinette Sandbach; and Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, and Joan Ryan of Change UK — added that although they are living a different sort of public life than Markle, "we share an understanding of the abuse and intimidation which is now so often used as a means of disparaging women in public office from getting on with our very important work."

The women then ended their letter by calling on the press to respect an individual's right to privacy and to stop "seeking to tear a woman down for no apparent reason."

It's truly moving to see such a history-making and powerful show of support — especially as it comes on the heels of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's documentary aired on British TV channel ITV on Sunday, Oct. 18. The heartbreaking interview followed the royal couple's recent trip to Africa, as featured them sharing their thoughts on the impact of all the negative press.

"I never thought that this would be easy, but I thought it would be fair," Meghan admitted. "And that’s the part that’s really hard to reconcile."

"Any woman, especially when they're pregnant, you're really vulnerable and so, that was made really challenging," she added, close to tears. "And then when you have a newborn, you know? It's a lot. So you add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed. It's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."

Let's hope the example set by these courageous MPs will, at long last, begin to spark some change.