Prince Harry's children targeted by 'European paparazzi' while at school in England

LONDON: Prince Harry’s children have been stalked by “certain European paparazzi” while at school in the English countryside, his spokesperson said on Wednesday, describing their conduct as an “extraordinarily reckless” intrusion into the family’s privacy.

The incident was the latest security issue for Harry, the younger son of King Charles, following his relocation to Britain from California with his American wife Meghan Markle and two children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, last month.

The family have sought to keep the location of their new home and the children’s school private. The children have already changed schools after heavy traffic on the route to the original location caused concerns for their security team.

A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan said photographers had walked the perimeter of the new school before stopping to look in the grounds and monitor the children there.

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“The decision by photographers to conduct themselves in this way around a school is extraordinarily reckless,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

While the British press have been broadly respectful of the family’s privacy since they moved back, the couple’s spokesperson said “certain European paparazzi appear unwilling to respect the privacy of children at school”.

Harry, 42, has long blamed the press for the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed when the car she was in crashed as the driver sped away from chasing paparazzi. He is fiercely protective of his family’s privacy, comparing press treatment of Meghan to that suffered by his mother.

The couple, who stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and became private citizens, have their own security team but want the British government to provide their family with automatic police protection, as is the case for other senior members of the royal family.

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Harry’s brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne, has had similar experiences with European paparazzi and has in the past won privacy cases against French magazines for publishing photographs of his family while not on official duties.

The brothers, who were once close, have been estranged since Harry stepped down and published a book detailing the breakdown of the relationship and gave several interviews which criticised the royal family.