Prince Harry says the clicking of cameras makes his ‘blood boil’

‘It takes me back to what happened to my mum and what I experienced when I was a kid,’ says the Duke of Sussex

Prince Harry has said the “clicking of cameras” makes his “blood boil” because it brings up memories of his mother’s death.

In his new documentary series, The Me You Can’t See, Harry said that while he did grow up in the public eye, the media frenzy “went to a whole new depth” after his relationship with Meghan Markle became public knowledge.

He recalled some of the first headlines written about Meghan, describing her as “almost straight outta Compton” and that “her exotic DNA will be thickening the royal blood”.

He said the onslaught that followed was a reminder of his mother’s death. Princess Diana was being followed by paparazzi at the time of the car accident which killed her in 1997.

“We would get followed, photographed, chased, harassed. The clicking of cameras and flashes of cameras makes my blood boil, it makes me angry, it takes me back to what happened to my mum and what I experienced when I was a kid,” Harry said.

He said him and his wife, Meghan, “spent four years trying to make it work” as senior members of the royal family, but the attention from both traditional media outlets and social media, coupled with what he says was a lack of support from his family pushed them to leave.

“It went to a whole new depth, with not just traditional media, it was also social media platforms as well. I felt completely helpless.

“We’d spent four years trying to make it work, we did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role or doing the job but Meghan was struggling,” he said.

Harry and Meghan announced they had decided to step down as senior members of the royal family and would work to become financially independent in January 2020.

In the third episode of the series, Harry draws another parallel between his relationship with Meghan and his mother, telling viewers that he could see “history repeating itself” and that he wished he called out the racism Meghan faced sooner. 

“Do I have any regrets? Yeah, my biggest regret is not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did.  

“History was repeating itself. My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn’t white. And now look what’s happened. You wanna talk about history repeating itself, they’re not gonna stop until she dies,” he said.

In response to previous interviews, where the Sussexes claimed to have been unsupported by the “institution”, Buckingham Palace said: “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.

“While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” the statement added.

The Independent has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.