Much of what we hear in the media likes to paint Prince William as Prince Harry‘s arch-nemesis, but there’s a reason for that: the Duke of Sussex’s real greatest enemy, at least from his point of view, is the British press themselves.
It’s no secret that Harry has very little love for the media in his native U.K. and their rabid interest in the Royal family. However, whereas the rest of the Royals have a strict “never explain, don’t complain” policy when it comes to grinning and bearing with the unwanted intrusion into their private lives, Harry has taken a major stand against it in recent years, ever since he married Meghan Markle in 2018 and she became a new figure of attention for the tabloids.
According to fresh comments made by the prince, the press has whipped up such a frenzy of negative sentiment in the British public towards Meghan that he fears for her safety. In his latest bombshell TV interview, Harry took part in the ITV documentary Tabloids On Trial. Airing July 25, the special investigated the phone hacking scandal that shocked the U.K. some years ago, after multiple celebrities came forward with evidence that their phones had been tapped by members of the tabloid press.
The result was the dissolution of long-running newspaper News of the World and various lawsuits. A trio of famous faces who have taken parent company Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) to court appeared in the documentary to speak about their perspective on the horrific invasion of privacy — namely, actor Hugh Grant, singer Charlotte Church, and Prince Harry himself. And the duke had some bold claims to make.
Prince Harry promises Meghan Markle will never return to the U.K. — because he fears for her life
When asked on Tabloids on Trial (via Sky News) if he regretted taking MGN to court because it only brought him more attention — Harry’s lawsuit concluded earlier this year — Harry hit back with a strongly worded response. “There is more than enough attention on me and my wife [Meghan] anyway,” Harry responded. “They pushed me too far.”
He then went on to stress that he felt he had to fight this battle because, in his view, the threat of phone hacking and the tabloids’ general unhealthy interest in the Royal family’s private lives is “still dangerous.” Harry even claimed that he fears “a lone actor” using “knife or acid” to inflict harm on his wife, hence why Meghan is so rarely seen in the U.K. these days following the couple’s move to California in 2020.
“It’s still dangerous, and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
It’s a fact that Meghan has only been back to Britain a single time this decade, which was for the late Queen’s funeral in 2022 — she did not even return for King Charles’ coronation the following year. It’s worth noting, however, that despite Harry’s fears about the U.K., it was an American citizen — Donald Trump shooter Thomas Crooks — who was found to have researched a Royal family member before he targeted the former president.