Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's U.S. Move Hasn't Solved Paparazzi Problem

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been photographed by paparazzi in California at least four times since his book described how flash bulbs triggered his trauma.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series made much of the impact of the paparazzi on their lives while Harry's memoir Spare described flash bulbs as "traumatizing."

However, leaving Britain has not removed the paparazzi from their lives and one or both have been photographed in America going about their private lives four times in as many months.

Most recently, the couple were pictured leaving Michelin star restaurant, Sushi by Scratch Restaurants: Montecito, a short distance from their $14.7 million palatial home.

Meghan wore a brown long-sleeved dress in the images which were published by U.S. gossip site TMZ, while Page Six reported Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz were also at the dinner.

The images were published by two U.S. tabloid media brands after being taken on U.S. soil, complicating the couple's narrative about the British media, the recurring villain in multiple iterations of their story from their Netflix documentary to Harry's book.

And it was not the first time the paparazzi have photographed the couple in recent months, after a visit to private members' club San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood ended up in Page Six.

Video footage of the couple arriving showed Harry shout "hello, woah, hello," as flash bulbs fired when he stepped out of the car, in February.

In March, Meghan was filmed alongside her press secretary as she left Mexican restaurant Gracias Madre, in West Hollywood, on International Women's Day.

The images were credited to paparazzi agencies Mega and Backgrid and published as an exclusive by the U.K.-owned Daily Mail, with further reporting by People.

And the day after King Charles III's coronation, Meghan was photographed going hiking with friends in California, with the pictures published on the Daily Mail website.

The images led Megyn Kelly to suggest in an interview on Australian TV that Meghan staged the pictures: "'Oh you, oh hello ... where did you come from? How on Earth did you know I'd be here?' It was obvious, like everything with this woman."

There is no way to know the circumstances that led to the images being taken, though it would be no surprise if the paparazzi chose to stake out Meghan against her wishes on the days around the king's coronation, when pictures of her would sell for a premium.

Needless to say, Kelly's remarks were reported in the New York Post and it is striking that the pictures spawned follow up negative commentary from a U.S. voice in light of Prince Harry's account of the harm the paparazzi do in his Netflix show, Harry & Meghan.

During episode two, he says: "There's a lot of people who say, 'they've got such a problem with paparazzi.'"

"Back in my mum's day it was physical harassment," he continued as archive footage of photographers swarming around Diana's car played. "You know, cameras in your face. Following you, chasing you.

"Paparazzi still harass people but the harassment really exists more online now. Once the photographs are out and the story's then put next to it, then comes the social media harassment. To see another woman in my life who I love go through this feeding frenzy, that's hard. Because it is basically the hunter vs. the prey."

Harry and Meghan's U.S. lives are reported on extensively in Britain but a tabloid market for images of the couple going about their private lives appears to exist in America too, as does follow up negative commentary.

It all makes the focus the couple have placed on the British media complicated in a context where they have said very little to acknowledge the U.S. media can sometimes play a similar role.

One exception to that came after Page Six published photos of Meghan picking Prince Archie up from his first day at pre-school, in 2021.

Harry told the Armchair Expert podcast that May: "Page Six of the New York Post, they took photos of my son being picked up from school on his first day."

"It's this sort of rabid feeding frenzy," he continued. "And going back to the kids point, it's absolutely true. These kids don't get a choice; they don't get a say in it."

Their Netflix show also showed the couple expressing concern about a paparazzo apparently on a scooter following them in New York, though the photographer is never actually visible in the clip despite the fact they appear to be stuck in a traffic jam.

During footage shot in November 2021, Meghan asks their driver: "Do we have that pap on the scooter again?"

The driver replies: "Yes, ma'am." "Oh we do, really?" Meghan says. "Same guy?"

Later, she tells Harry, sat next to her in the back of the car: "He's following us. This pap. Worst case scenario, we're going from one garage to another."

Harry wrote in his book Spare: "I didn't love waking to find a photo of myself on the front page of a tabloid. But what I really couldn't bear was the sound of the photo being taken in the first place.

"That click, that terrible noise, from over my shoulder or behind my back or within my peripheral vision, had always triggered me, had always made my heart race, but after Sandhurst [military academy] it sounded like a gun cocking or a blade being notched open.

"And then, even a little worse, a little more traumatizing, came that blinding flash."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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