Prince Harry Made ‘Monumental Misjudgment,’ Claims ‘Not True,’ Diana’s Ex-Bodyguard Says

All smiles: Prince Harry at the British High Commissioner's residency AFP / Michele Spatari

Prince Harry’s claims about Princess Diana and Meghan Markle’s struggles from the press are not true.

Just recently, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex surprised many when they announced that they filed a lawsuit against Mail on Sunday for infringement of copyright and misuse of private information after the publication published excerpts from Markle’s letters to her dad. Along with it, Prince Harry released an emotional statement comparing how his mom and wife became victims of media intrusion.

Princess Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe reacted to Prince Harry’s move. According to Ken Wharfe who worked with the royal for 16 years and who served as the late Princess of Wales’ bodyguard from 1988 to 1993, the prince’s claims are not true.

“This is a monumental misjudgment. Much of what he claims is not true and it’s an unfair comparison to bring his mother into it,” Wharfe said about Prince Harry’s statement. “Diana died in a car crash due to a drunken driver and a woefully inexperienced protection officer, under the eyes of Mohamed Fayed. The Press don’t operate in the same way now, as they did when Diana was alive — and she did manipulate the media to her own advantage. Only five per cent of what was written about her was unfair.”

Wharfe was not the only one who reacted against Prince Harry’s statement. Royal correspondent Daniela Elser of News.com.au said that the duke misunderstood his mother’s relationship with the press.

Elser pointed out how Princess Diana used the media when she needed a voice. The People’s Princess even worked with Andrew Morton for her biography and was very close to Daily Mail’s Richard Kay whom she nicknamed “Riccardo.”

Stephen Glover was also not convinced with Prince Harry’s statement. Just like Elser and Wharfe, he didn’t believe that Princess Diana was a victim.

“But I fear he has drawn his sword only to slash at the air. He doesn’t provide a single instance of the Press’s supposedly heinous behaviour, and I fear he misrepresents his mother’s relations with the Press, wrongly seeing her as a wholly innocent victim,” Glover wrote.