Andrea Peyser: Harry a true prince for standing up to girlfriend's sick trolls

Harry a true prince for standing up to girlfriend's sick trolls

Chivalry is not dead.

Bravo!

“[T]he past week has seen a line crossed,’’ reads a statement issued Tuesday from the prince’s spokesman, Jason Knauf. “His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.’’ I can almost hear an enraged Harry dictating the words, at once confirming that he’s romantically involved with the American TV actress (congratulations, guy!) and blasting reporters and geeks on social media who’ve wielded outrageous slurs about Markle’s heritage and turned her life into a bloody hell.

“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,’’ the statement went on, urging the media, ever so gently, to “pause and reflect before any further damage is done.’’

Who can blame him? His beloved mother, Princess Diana, died in a 1997 Paris car crash as her drunken and drugged driver sped away from a media mob. Her boyfriend and the driver also were killed.

The never-married prince, 32, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and fifth in line to the throne, since summer has been dating Markle, 35 divorced actress who appears in the USA Network legal drama “Suits.’’

Here’s what is giving some British journos the vapors: Markle’s mother is black and her father is white. She even discussed her biracial background proudly in an interview with Elle UK magazine last year, also saying that she’s been the victim of racism. Big whoop?

She had no idea what was coming, “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed — so will he be dropping by for tea?” This was the gasp-inducing headline atop an article published this month in Britain’s Daily Mail. The atrocious piece cobbled together race-based stereotypes about the LA neighborhood in which she grew up, Crenshaw, near the city of Compton, rattling off crime stats and ridiculing its “tatty’’ single-story houses, using a snarky Britishism that turns my stomach.

And here’s what passes as commentary by Rachel Johnson in The Mail on Sunday: “Genetically, she is blessed. If there is issue from her alleged union with Prince Harry, the Windsors will thicken their watery, thin blue blood and Spencer pale skin and ginger hair with some rich and exotic DNA. Miss Markle’s mother is a dreadlocked African-American from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in LA.’’

Never mind that Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, 60, is a social worker and yoga teacher. In the 19th-century mind-set of this writer, “exotic DNA’’ seems to be code for a word that will not be printed in this newspaper.

It can get scary. Royal sources told The Guardian of an incident in which a photographer chased an assistant through her garage door, causing him to be physically removed and police called.

Markle has asked her TV bosses for time off from taping “Suits.’’ Sources speculated that she’s meeting with lawyers to help manage her sudden rise to international fame, The Post’s Page Six reported.

By all accounts, Prince Henry of Wales is a standup guy. Yes, he stupidly donned a Nazi uniform at a 2005 costume party and was photographed playing strip billiards in Las Vegas in 2012 — I don’t have a problem with that one. He also served for a decade in the British army, doing two tours in Afghanistan and rising to the rank of captain. He works with servicemen and with charities.

His lady love is a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, she traveled to Rwanda in Africa for its clean-water campaign and works for other charities.

Some stars and royals crave publicity like oxygen. This pair has done nothing more than fall head-over-heels for each other. They deserve respect and privacy. Listen to Harry: Leave his girlfriend alone!