How the Royal Family Handled Princess Diana's Death May Have Forced Prince Harry Out
It’s no secret that Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle aren’t fans of the UK media, particularly those that have spent the past few years invading the Sussexes’ privacy and raining down unprovoked, racist criticism on Meghan alone. But those close to Harry also know that Meghan’s cruel treatment by the press wasn’t the start of the royal’s distrust of the press, and disdain for the practice of publishing private family matters. Some have long suspected that Harry blamed his mother Princess Diana’s death on the media frenzy that surrounded her — not a far stretch, given paparazzi’s involvement in her fatal car crash. But a new report of younger Harry’s reaction to how Diana’s death was publicized sheds even more light on the royal’s grudge against the press.
In 2008, over ten years after Diana’s death, the royal family opened an inquest to figure out exactly what happened in the Princess’ final moments. Her death was ultimately ruled manslaughter, with both chauffeur Henri Paul and the paparazzi in pursuit sharing blame for the crash. While Harry and William gave a polite statement to the press at the time, longtime royal reporter tells Ok! Magazine that his private meeting with Harry told a different story.
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“Harry was absolutely furious that his father’s advisors had put out a statement,” Larcombe explained. “That was a sign to me that he has an inbuilt, unresolved anger about having no control of what’s said.”
Clearly, it wasn’t Harry’s idea to hold a highly public inquest and turn the results into another media circus — and the more we think about it, the more sense it makes that Harry’s agitation with his private life being public would long precede marrying Meghan.
In 2019, while filming documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, Harry confessed that the cameras still haunt him, and remind him of Diana every time: “Being part of this family, in this role, in this job, every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back. So in that respect, it’s the worst reminder of her life, as opposed to the best.”
Less than a year after filming that scene, Harry and Meghan left the royal family. If anything, we should have seen it coming sooner.
Click here to see all the sweetest photos of Princess Diana playing with young William and Harry.
Launch Gallery: 18 Iconic Photos of Princess Diana That Will Always Live On
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