The Sussex Squad comes for Larman

I am not, nor ever have been, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein. Yet, after I wrote a piece earlier this week commenting on Meghan Markle’s peculiar decision to change the name of her lifestyle brand America Riviera Orchard to As Ever, this was merely one of the things I was accused of being. Within hours of the story being published, I was inundated with a level of online abuse that swiftly went from the intimidating to the unintentionally hilarious, so vitriolic and overblown was its content.

I was accused of racism and misogyny — naturally — as well as being told that I would burn in hell; that I was a troglodyte spouting hatred from my mother’s basement; that I was an evil shill for the Windsors (a likely one, given I have been just as prepared to criticize the royals as I have been their Montecito-based offshoot), and sundry other comments on my personal appearance, literary ability, choice of title to write for and general outlook in life. I think someone told me that I worked for George Soros, too; another gentleman I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting.

All good fun, for the most part — and I am a firm proponent of the belief that if you dish it out, you must be prepared to take it. Yet the only element of the abuse that really disconcerted me was when someone found private pictures of my wife and daughter and started spreading them around online, as if they were somehow fair game because of what their husband and father did for a living. (And, yes, there was much emotive wailing about “how can she be proud of you when this is what you do”). There is a point at which robust debate tips over into something sinister, even disturbing, and this was very much reached.

It was not hard to discern the allegiances of these anonymous types, who call themselves things like “Snarky Guy” and “Qiyyah18.” Some are simply professional trolls, whether real-life keyboard warriors or simply part of the new range of bots that now flood Reddit or the service formerly known as Twitter. Yet a vastly greater number are proud members of what they call the “Sussex Squad.” A glance at their bios shows a pledged adherence to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but there is more interest in supporting the latter, and swooping in, like the winged monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, whenever someone dares to disrespect their idol. They are certainly kept busy. That acting as the proponent of her cause by spouting barely literate, but at times deeply threatening, rubbish may not be the best exemplar of the kindness and tolerance that Meghan appears to preach does not seem to have occurred to these people.

There is something both sinister and bewildering about deciding that a woman who you have never met — and, unless the Duchess decides to expand her publicity-hungry humanitarian appearances into wider social endeavors in the field of mental health, are unlikely to — should become the subject of your personal crusade. Firing off abusive screeds to those who do not agree with your obsession is unlikely to win the battle for hearts and minds. Like it or not, Meghan Markle is a public figure whose entire fortune and fame have been derived from a willingness to sell herself that many, including this writer, find both distasteful and mercenary. Others may find it heartening and inspirational — and they are equally entitled to their views.

Yet just as I would prefer to criticize a multi-millionairess for what she does, rather than her background, ethnicity or family, I would also hope that her acolytes could take a more balanced and rational attitude towards the subject of their apparent obsession. Debate is always welcome: death threats, less so. Somehow, alas, I think that the Sussex Squad are going to be in keyboard-punching, blood pressure-raising business for a considerable time to come.