How Harry REALLY feels about backlash against Meghan’s latest ventures – as friend tells EDEN CONFIDENTIAL of the impact it’s had on couple’s relationship

Her admirers take every opportunity to salute her ambition, with one of them – Kim Kardashian – even observing that Meghan Markle is intent on ‘changing the world’.

Yet these cheerleaders tend to be drowned out by detractors, including Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and author of a majestic biography of Princess Diana, who observed last year that Meghan is ‘flawless about getting it all wrong’, explaining that ‘all of her ideas are total crap’.

But anyone who hopes that that will give Harry pause for thought should think again.

Indeed, as one of his closest allies tells me, the barrage of criticism serves only to intensify his loyalty to Meghan whom he met in 2016, sparking a relationship which, in Harry’s love-struck words, spurted ‘from 0 to 60’.

‘It’s horrible for him to know that people don’t like his wife,’ reflects his chum.

‘He adores her and doesn’t think she deserves any of the backlash or criticism that has been thrown at her over the past few years. He’s told us that the more people hate her, the more he’s going to stand by her. He’s vowed to always protect the mother of his kids.’

Of course, some of the most wounding barbs aimed at Meghan have also been directed at Harry, most memorably in 2023, after it was announced that Meghan’s podcast was being dropped by Spotify – prompting Spotify executive Bill Simmons to label the royal couple ‘f****** grifters’.

This year, Meghan and Harry were again jointly in the firing line after visiting a food bank close to the Los Angeles fires – only to be labelled ‘disaster tourists’ by Hollywood actress Justine Bateman.

Prince Harry and Meghan met first responders and victims of the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles earlier this year

Meghan has been under renewed scrutiny with the launch of her As Ever brand

In recent weeks, Meghan has come under renewed fire with the launch of As Ever, her ‘curated collection’ of foodstuffs, with her raspberry spread – not jam – summarised as ‘liquid red sugar water’ by an online critic.

It’s not, I’m assured, the sort of thing that Harry would say about someone else’s spread – or jam. ‘He hasn’t got a nasty bone in his body,’ says his pal.

Meanwhile, the insider reveals the prince, 40, is determined to keep a low profile during his visits to the UK.

‘He tends to come in and out of the country under guise,’ the source says.

This move for secrecy and private trips comes amid Harry’s current battle in London’s High Court to get his bid to get his taxpayer-funded security guards reinstated.

Last Thursday, the king’s son left the UK without informing Buckingham Palace and flew to Poland ahead of a surprise visit to Ukraine.

He visited a rehabilitation centre in Lviv where he met adults and children who had been injured in the war with Russia.

Harry is now the second member of the royal family to have visited a war-torn Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion, following the Duchess of Edinburgh visit to Kyiv last year.