For good and ill, royal weddings will never be everyday events. Normal privacy rules do not easily apply to princes. Yet the public’s interest in Saturday’s Windsor wedding is not a blank cheque for abuse of privacy and judgment. It should not be used to justify each and every media intrusion, whoever the instigator, into what is properly a private as well as a public event.

For some parts of the media, it has nevertheless been open season on Meghan Markle’s family ever since the marriage was announced. In some cases, both sides have been to blame. The bride’s father, Thomas Markle, has been under special pressure in this process. Ultimately, though, the relationship between him and the media is entirely one-sided. Media are exploiting him, not the other way around. This should stop.

The disjunction between media exploitation of the Markle family and the government’s wish to close the file on the Leveson inquiry is inescapably jarring. Sensible media would have seen the problem coming and tempered their actions. That hasn’t happened. Instead, some media have given in to their own worst instincts, seemingly unconcerned that public opinion is likely to be compassionate to the families. It all sends a terrible message to the public about media ethics. It is not too late to give the Markle family, and Mr Markle in particular, a break they all deserve.