Prince Harry confirms Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will not return to the UK over ‘genuine concerns’
Prince Harry has declared he will not bring wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to the UK out of “genuine concerns” for her safety.
The Duke of Sussex shared his fears in an interview on British broadcaster ITV that aired in the UK on Thursday night, focusing on his legal battles with the tabloid press.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Prince Harry addresses his legal battles with the UK tabloids.
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“All it takes is for one lone actor who reads this stuff to act on what they’ve read,” he said during the ITV1 documentary Tabloids On Trial.
“And whether it’s a knife or acid, these are things that are genuine concerns for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will not return to the UK out of safety concerns.](https://images.thenightly.com.au/publication/C-15483953/ec85524cc84b32f39227956fbe31cc8f19fb426b.jpg?imwidth=810)
The couple stepped back as senior working royals in 2020 and moved to the US where they now live with their two young children, Archie and Lilibet.
Meghan has not been on UK soil since Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022.
However, Harry has made several visits. During one trip he gave evidence in a legal battle against UK publisher Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
In December 2023, the UK High Court ruled the Duke of Sussex was the victim of phone hacking and other means of “unlawful information gathering” by the publisher.
He became the first royal to give evidence in a court in 130 years.
“It would be nice if we did it as a family,” Harry told Barry of his legal battles, before explaining his decision to give evidence “caused ... part of a rift” with the royal family.
Harry also addressed his late mother, Princess Diana, observing she had been through a similar experience with the media and claiming she was “probably one of the first people to be hacked”.
In the interview, Barry asked him if the hacking had made him paranoid.
“I think paranoia is a very interesting word because yes, then it could be paranoia, but then when you’re vindicated it proves that you weren’t being paranoid,” he responded.
![Prince Harry has spoken publicly for the first time on his legal battles with the UK tabloids.](https://images.thenightly.com.au/publication/C-15483953/6b181714f3ff3eeea8405ae74bc5ca8531b2d32d.jpg?imwidth=810)
“You know, same with my mother.
“You know, there is evidence to suggest that she was being hacked in the mid-90s, probably one of the first people to be hacked and yet still today, the press, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid.
“But she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right about what was happening to her. And she’s not around today to find out the truth.”
While it was never legally proven that Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, was hacked, it remains a sensitive subject for her youngest son.
He also addressed a story published by MGN which claimed his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was about to “dump” him and was part of the court case.
“I think there’s a lot of ... paranoia, fear, worry, concern, distrust in the people around you, clearly a headline like that has absolutely no public interest whatsoever,” he said.
Harry called his legal win last year a “monumental victory”.
“To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge,” he said.
“But for him to go as far as he did with regard to, you know, this wasn’t just the individual people.
“This went right up to the top … this was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial, that’s a monumental victory.”