Prince Harry was not pleased with a reporter’s unscheduled question earlier this week.
On Tuesday, the Duke of Sussex visited the Mauwa Health Centre in Malawi when Sky News journalist Rhiannon Mills caught the royal off guard. After speaking with health officials about the care the center provides, Harry was on his way to his car when the royal correspondent asked, “That short conversation, what do you hope to achieve through it?”
Prince Harry, clearly taken aback by the question, replied, “What? Ask them.”
The reporter then proceeded to ask the 35-year-old royal, “Is that why it’s important for you to come and talk to them?”
After hearing the question, a visibly upset Harry responded, “Rhiannon, don’t behave like this.”
It was just hours later that Harry issued a powerful statement, slamming the British press for bullying his wife, Meghan Markle. It was also confirmed that the royals are taking legal action over the publishing of a private letter written by the Duchess of Sussex.
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son,” Harry’s statement read in part. “There is a human cost to this relentless propaganda, specifically when it is knowingly false and malicious, and though we have continued to put on a brave face – as so many of you can relate to – I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been. Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe. One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chip-paper.”
“Up to now, we have been unable to correct the continual misrepresentations – something that these select media outlets have been aware of and have therefore exploited on a daily and sometimes hourly basis,” Harry’s statement continued. “It is for this reason we are taking legal action, a process that has been many months in the making. The positive coverage of the past week from these same publications exposes the double standards of this specific press pack that has vilified her almost daily for the past nine months; they have been able to create lie after lie at her expense simply because she has not been visible while on maternity leave. She is the same woman she was a year ago on our wedding day, just as she is the same woman you’ve seen on this Africa tour.”
Harry went on to reference the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, stating, “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
A legal spokesperson from Schillings who are representing the Duchess of Sussex also said Tuesday, “We have initiated legal proceedings against the Mail on Sunday, and its parent company Associated Newspapers, over the intrusive and unlawful publication of a private letter written by the Duchess of Sussex, which is part of a campaign by this media group to publish false and deliberately derogatory stories about her, as well as her husband. Given the refusal of Associated Newspapers to resolve this issue satisfactorily, we have issued proceedings to redress this breach of privacy, infringement of copyright and the aforementioned media agenda.”
Take a look at the video above to see Harry’s exchange with the reporter.
