Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are suing paparazzi photographers for violating privacy rights after shooting their 14-month son into the couple’s backyard using drones and telephoto lens.
According to The Blast, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claim they are being constantly harassed and hounded by a group of photographers who have gone ‘over the line’ to snap pictures of their baby Archie.
In the lawsuit, the couple claims the situation “arises out of the relentless and quite frankly shocking efforts of the tabloid media to profit from serial instructions of the privacy of a 14-year-old child in his own home, and the desire and responsibility of a parent to do what necessary to protect their children form this manufacture feeding frenzy.”
The couple claims they moved to Los Angeles, in part, to escape the “incessant UK tabloid fabrications” but after arriving in the U.S. their location was broadcast by the media and the onslaught began.
In the documents, Harry and Meghan claim upwards of 40 media outlets and photographers descended on their rental home, and they were forced to construct a “large mesh fence to guard against these telephoto lenses.”
But, they claim, “some paparazzi and media outlets have flown drones a mere 20 feet above the house, often as three times a day, to obtain photographers of the couple and their young son in their private residence.” Also, they say helicopters fly over the home as early as 5:30 a.m and as late as 7:00 p.m waking up the neighbors and their son.
Shockingly, the lawsuit alleges photographers even cut a hole in the security fence itself, so they could ‘peer through it.’
In the end, the couple is decided to file a lawsuit after recently learning the photographers ‘crossed a red line for any parent’ after they starting shopping photos of 14-month-old Archie from the family’s backyard.
In the suit, Meghan and Harry say the photos were shopped falsely claiming they were taken at a recent outing in Malibu, but there were actually shot in the backyard. “The unscrupulous people shopping these photographs have not innocently mislabeled the photographs as having been taken in a public place. They have done so intentionally because they know that unsolicited photographs of a young child in the privacy of his own home are very much unlawful,” the lawsuit states.
The couple is suing “John Doe” because they claim they do not know exactly who the photographers are who took the photos, but they are hoping a judge will help them identify the culprits.
They are asking for a court order for the photogs to be forced to turn over the pictures and stop them from continuing to harass the couple. “The photos at issue are not news. They are not in the public interest. They are harassment,” the lawsuit states.
