Prince Harry is continuing his fight against the British tabloid media.
The Duke of Sussex spoke about the threats the tabloids still pose for both himself and his family in a new ITV documentary, called Tabloids on Trial, that aired Thursday.
The royal has participated in lawsuits concerning unlawful phone hacking and other intrusions into his private life by members of the media over the years.
“I don’t think there’s anybody else in the world that is better suited and placed to be able to see this through than myself,” Harry said in the programme. “It’s still dangerous.”
“All it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff, to act on what they have read,” the royal explained. “And whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is ― these are things that are a genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
Meghan Markle was last in the UK in September 2022, for the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Harry also said in the documentary that his fight against the tabloids caused “part of a rift” with the rest of the royal family.
“To what extent do you think your determination to fight the tabloids destroyed the relationship with your family?” ITV’s Rebecca Barry asked during the program.
“That’s certainly a central piece to it,” he said. “But … it’s a hard question to answer, because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse in the press.”
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done,” the duke said.
“It would be nice if we did it as a family ― again, from a service standpoint, when you’re in a public role, these are the things we should be doing for the greater good.”
During the documentary, the prince reiterated that his late grandmother, the queen, was firmly in his corner when it came to taking on the tabloids.
“We had many conversations before she passed,” he said. “This is very much something she supported. She knew how much this meant to me and she’s very much up there going, ‘See this through to the end,’ without question.”
