'Manufactured feeding frenzy': Harry and Meghan sue paparazzi over alleged drone, helicopter stalking
Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, filed a lawsuit in California on Thursday against unnamed paparazzi photographers for allegedly taking “illegal” photographs of their son, Archie.
The lawsuit alleges that drones and helicopters entered the privacy of the airspace above the couple’s residence.
CNN reports the Duke and Duchess of Sussex aim to take the action in their new home, California, to protect their son’s right to a private life. Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was hounded by paparazzi in the build-up to her death in a 1997 Paris car crash.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, cited “serial intrusions” of the privacy of the couple’s child, and came as a measure to protect him from the “manufactured feeding frenzy.”
“Every individual and family member in California is guaranteed by law the right to privacy in their home. No drones, helicopters or telephoto lenses can take away that right,” Michael Kump, acting for Harry and Meghan, told CNN via a statement .
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are filing this lawsuit to protect their young son’s right to privacy in their home without intrusion by photographers, and to uncover and stop those who seek to profit from these illegal actions.”
The couple seeks “no special treatment” and is only seeking the right to be left alone in the privacy of their home as guaranteed under the laws of California, the lawsuit states.
Harry and Meghan have taken an unusually combative stance against the media compared to other royal family members, suing some and withdrawing all cooperation with others. As well as the paparazzi suit, Meghan has taken legal action against the Mail on Sunday, a U.K. title, over its running of parts of a letter she penned to her now-estranged father Thomas Markle.
In June, Meghan sought a court order to stop the publisher of one U.K. tabloid from disclosing the names of friends who could be witnesses in an ongoing legal dispute, citing their right to their own privacy.
Following a brief detour in Canada, the family is now living in L.A. after stepping down from their royal roles at the end of March to forge new careers. They moved out of the U.K. after growing hostility to the media’s intense coverage of their private life.
In April, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told Britain’s biggest tabloids, including The Sun, and Daily Mail, that there would be “zero engagement” with them in future because of their false and invasive coverage.