The Stern Warning Prince Harry Gave To Meghan Markle About The Paparazzi

From the start, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have had a tumultuous relationship with the media, with the brunt of the negative headlines focused on the Duchess of Sussex. In fact, when the couple revealed that they were dating, they had to go to great lengths to secure their privacy.

Writer Katie Nicholl dished in her book, "Harry: Life, Loss, and Love," that there was a time when the two had to crash at a friend's house to dodge the hounding press. Early in their relationship, Harry attempted to trick the media into thinking he was in the U.K., while the duke had actually taken a trip to visit Meghan in Toronto. The ruse didn't work, and the couple had no choice but to take refuge with their pals Jessica and Ben Mulroney, where Harry bonded with the kids. "He was brilliant with them and I think what swung it for Meghan was how good Harry was with them," a source divulged (via Vanity Fair). "I actually think that might have been the moment Meghan really fell for Harry."

As an actor, the Duchess of Sussex was already used to getting papped, but she didn't know the British media was a different beast. In their Netflix documentary, "Meghan & Harry," the duchess revealed that Harry gave her a stern warning about the paparazzi fro the get-go.

Meghan Markle revealed to fans how Prince Harry prepped her for the unrelenting British media. In Episode 2 of "Harry & Meghan," the duchess recalled a time she went to buy flowers, and the paparazzi descended on her. "There must've been nine or ten paps standing in the middle of the street, and they're all sort of blocking the car," she recalled (via Express). "I was like, 'oh, thanks! Stay warm, guys!"

But according to Harry, that was the wrong move. "I remember H the next day saying, 'you can't talk to them.'" When she reasoned that she was only trying to be "pleasant," her then-boyfriend explained the repercussions. "He says, 'right, but the UK media are saying you love it. You're smiling. You love it.'"

To this day, Harry is a staunch defender of his wife. In 2019, he pleaded with the public to stop the "bullying" against Markle in a statement. "I have been a silent witness to her private suffering for too long. To stand back and do nothing would be contrary to everything we believe in," he wrote at the time (via The Guardian). "There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behavior because it destroys people and destroys lives. Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. We all know this isn't acceptable, at any level. We won't and can't believe in a world where there is no accountability for this."