Harry and Meghan have been involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase after being followed by paparazzi – the latest in a long string of run-ins between the press and the prince.
Sky News looks at the strained relationship between the prince and the press and what he’s previously said about the paparazzi.
Harry blames paparazzi for Princess Diana’s death
Harry has made no secret of how where he lays the blame for the Paris car crash that killed his mother.
Speaking in an interview to mark the 20th anniversary of her death, he criticised the paparazzi for taking pictures of his mother dying in a car instead of trying to help her.
He said: “I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with is the fact that the people that chased her through into the tunnel were the same people that were taking photographs of her, while she was still dying on the back seat of the car.”
In his book Spare he went further, saying he and his brother Prince William had pushed for further investigation into her death after a report concluded drunk driving was the cause.
“Even if the man had been drinking, even if he had been drunk, he wouldn’t have had any problem driving through such a short tunnel. Unless paparazzi were following him and dazzled him,” he wrote.
“Why had those paparazzi got off lightly? Why weren’t they in prison? Who had sent them? And why weren’t those people in jail either? What other reason could there be apart from corruption and cover-ups being the order of the day?”
‘Every time I hear a click it takes me straight back’
In an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby in 2019, when the prince was on a trip to Africa for the Harry & Meghan: An African Journey documentary, Harry was asked if he is at peace “in a way yet” with his mother’s death or if there is still “a wound that festers”.
He says it’s a wound that festers, and that being followed by paparazzi is the “worst” reminder of her life as opposed to the best.
“Every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back.”
A “feeding frenzy” surrounding his relationship with Meghan
Prince Harry described the media interest in his relationship with Meghan in the context of his mother.
“To see another woman in my life, that I love, go through this feeding frenzy, that’s hard,” he said.
“It is basically the hunter versus the prey,” he added.
“No matter what I did, they were still going to find a way to destroy me,” Meghan said.
Car chases and disguises
Harry said the early days of dating “became a combination of car chases, anti-surveillance driving and disguises, which isn’t a particularly healthy way to start a relationship but we always came at it with as much humour as possible”.
Meghan also described paparazzi following her and how she received a death threat while she was in Toronto.
“I would say to the police, if any other woman in Toronto said to you I have six grown men who are sleeping in their cars around my house who follow me everywhere that I go and I feel scared, wouldn’t you say that it was stalking?
“And they said yes, but there’s really nothing we can do because of who you’re dating. I was like, so I’m just supposed to live like this? And then I got a death threat and things changed because I needed to have security.”
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Duke blames media for Meghan’s miscarriage
The Duchess of Sussex had a miscarriage in 2020 “because of what the Mail did”, according to Harry.
He said: “I watched the whole thing. Now, do we absolutely know that the miscarriage was created, caused by that? Course we don’t.
“But bearing in mind the stress that it caused, the lack of sleep and the timing of the pregnancy, how many weeks in she was, I can say from what I saw, that miscarriage was created by what they were trying to do to her.”
Paparazzi feature in early memories of Diana
In Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, he described his early memories of his mother – and how photographers were in the background.
“Strapped in the car, seatbelt across, with my brother in the car as well, and my mother driving, being chased by three, four, five mopeds with paparazzi on, and she was always unable to drive because of tears. There was no protection,” he said.
“Invasive” paparazzi photos of Archie
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex settled a claim against a celebrity picture agency that took “unlawful, invasive and intrusive” photos of Meghan and their son Archie in January 2020.
A scuffle with a cameraman
As a 20-year-old, Prince Harry was involved in a scuffle with a photographer outside a London nightclub.
A royal spokesperson said he was hit in the face by a camera, while the photographer said the prince lashed out at him.
‘Getting in bed with the devil’
Prince Harry accused members of the Royal Family of getting in “bed with the devil” over their links with the tabloid press in an interview when Spare was published.
He has previously described the British tabloid press as “the mothership of online trolling”, and says he is exposing alleged media wrongdoing “to save journalism as a profession”.
The prince says it’s his “life’s work” to change the British “media landscape”, making it more accountable for its actions.
Fighting tabloids in court
The prince is currently pursuing four cases against UK tabloids.
The lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers alleges the prince was the victim of “unlawful information gathering”.
Harry’s case is said to cover the period between 1995 and 2011, including 148 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by MGN titles that were allegedly obtained through unlawful means.
The subjects of the articles in the case include Harry’s relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.
