The Sun newspaper has published a front page apology to Meghan Markle, six months after columnist Jeremy Clarkson wrote about how he wished Markle was paraded naked in the street.
On Saturday morning local time, a day after media regulator The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) ruled that Clarkson's piece was sexist in tone, the newspaper said in a statement that with free expression comes responsibility," adding however that it has "proud history of campaigning for women".
More than 25,000 people complained to the IPSO about the column, which went viral and drew widespread condemnation in December 2022.
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In it, Clarkson wrote that he hated Markle on a "cellular level".
He said he dreamed about seeing her stripped and marched through the streets while crowds chanted "Shame!" and threw "lumps of excrement" at her - a reference to an infamous Game of Thrones scene.
The IPSO found the article was sexist.
"The column included a number of references which, taken together, amounted to a pejorative and prejudicial reference to the Duchess of Sussex’s sex in breach of the Editors' Code."
It did not uphold separate elements of the complaint that the article was inaccurate, harassed the Duchess of Sussex, and included discriminatory references to her on the ground of race.
Clarkson and The Sun both apologised in the days following its publication, and the newspaper removed the column, but the IPSO still instructed The Sun to publish a summary of the findings against it on the same page as the column usually appears - which was flagged on the paper's front page in print and on the sun.co.uk website.
Here is the front page:
If you can't see an apology, well, that's because it's not really there. There is, however, a tiny line at the bottom that reads: 'Jeremy Clarkson: IPSO upholds complaint - see page 17', where Clarkson's column usually sits.
On that page, the paper published the summary of findings.
In a statement on its parent company's website, The Sun said it regretted publishing the column.
"After Jeremy Clarkson's column was published in December, both The Sun and Jeremy Clarkson apologised. We said we regretted publishing the article and removed it from our website.
"The Sun accepts that with free expression comes responsibility.
"Half of The Sun's readers are women and we have a very long and proud history of campaigning for women which has changed the lives of many.
"The Sun is committed to its work campaigning to strengthen legislation on domestic abuse, helping to provide beds in refuges and empowering survivors of abuse to seek help. Our most recent campaign, Baby Bank on Us, is raising money to help women struggling with the alarming costs of living and a newborn baby."
Markle has not commented on the finding, but following initial publication in December she accused Clarkson of writing articles that "spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny".
Feature image: Getty/The Sun.
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