World - Lawyers for Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the
Duchess of Sussex warned British media against harassment
of the couple following their move to Canada under their plan to
"step back" from royal duties.
Harry was pictured leaving a plane as he arrived at Vancouver airport
early Tuesday to join Meghan, who had returned to Canada with the
couple's 8-month-old son Archie earlier this month.
The couple's lawyers complained that pictures of Meghan carrying
Archie and walking her dogs in Canada on Monday were taken without
her consent by photographers "hiding in bushes and spying on her,"
the BBC and other media reported.
The lawyers accused the photographers of harassment and threatened
legal action. They said the paparazzi were staking out the couple's
Vancouver Island home and attempting to use telephoto lenses to take
pictures inside the building, the broadcaster reported.
Harry and Meghan had previously denounced intrusive, inaccurate and
hostile reporting in news and social media, including racism against
Meghan, whose mother is black.
They have started legal action against the publishers of three
British newspapers.
Buckingham Palace announced on Saturday that Harry, 35, and Meghan,
38, will be "no longer working members of the royal family."
They will cease using the titles "royal highness" and "step back from
royal duties, including official military appointments [and] no
longer receive public funds for royal duties," the palace said.
The couple's decision to live mostly in Canada, where US former
actress Meghan had lived while filming the legal drama "Suits," has
sparked a public debate over who should pay for their security.
The government's response "should be simple and succinct: No," the
Globe and Mail, Canada's leading newspaper, said in an editorial.
In a letter published on the newspaper's website on Tuesday, Olga
Eizner Favreau argued that Harry's decision to "defy family tradition
should not suddenly absolve [the royal family] of the responsibility
to ensure his safety."
"It is the royal family who should foot the bill for protecting him,
not Harry himself - and certainly not Canadian taxpayers," Favreau
wrote.
Meghan became close to the leading political families of former
Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and current premier Justin
Trudeau while she was filming "Suits" and living in Toronto.
The couple's lavish royal wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018 was
attended by several of her "Suits" co-stars and celebrities,
including Elton John, Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and George and
Amal Clooney.