Los Angeles: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sued Thursday to stop the sale and publication of a photo of their son Archie. They said the picture was shot at their Los Angeles-area home in invasion of their privacy. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave a detailed account in the lawsuit of the media harassment they’ve had to constantly fight. They said that the media harassment has been continuing since they moved to Southern California a few months ago.
“This action arises out of the relentless and quite frankly shocking efforts of the tabloid media. The media is aiming to profit from serial intrusions of the privacy of a 14-month-old child in his own home,” the suit said. “The desire and responsibility of any parent to do what is necessary to protect their children from this manufactured feeding frenzy,” the suit added.
Meghan and Harry said the tabloid harassment finally came to a head when they saw a photo of Archie was being offered to media outlets. The photo of Archie was purportedly taken on a family outing in Malibu. It was clearly shot while he was in their yard, unbeknownst to them. “Archie has not been in public, much less in Malibu, since the family arrived here,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges the picture is mis-labled because the sellers knew it would be unlawful for them to sell a photograph of a child in his own home. The couple has not learned the identity of the shooters and sellers of the photos. They are listed as John Does in the lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. The plaintiffs are listed as Harry, The Duke of Sussex and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.
The lawsuit said the family was forced to erect a large mesh fence in their house. This was done to block photographers with telephoto lenses from shooting pictures of them. Since the erection of the fence, drones have been flying as close as 20 feet above their home, as often as three times a day, in attempts to get photos, the suit said.
Helicopters have flown over as early as 5.30am, waking Archie and neighbours. Some photographers have cut holes in their mesh fence attempting to get shots of them, the suit added.
Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth married Meghan Markle, an American actress who grew up here, at Windsor Castle in 2018. In January this year, the couple announced they planned to quit as senior royals. Seeking financial independence the couple moved to California. The split with the royal family became official at the end of March.
The couple chose to live at least part-time in North America ‘to escape the incessant UK tabloid fabrications’, the lawsuit said. Meghan is also suing a pair of media outlets there for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.
They were able to live quietly in North Saanich, Canada, for six weeks. Then a British tabloid published their exact location and hordes of photographers descended. This prompted them to head to the California home where their location was again published and paparazzi appeared in droves again.
“The plaintiffs have done everything in their power to stay out of the limelight, except in connection with their work, which they freely admit is newsworthy. We simply want to continue the public impact work that is so important to us while having the private life to which any family or individual has the right,” the lawsuit said.