Prince Harry accepts 'damages' and an apology over aerial pictures taken of his and Meghan Markle's private country home
Prince Harry means it when he asks people to stay away from his home and family. The Duke of Sussex has now won “substantial damages” from a news agency that recently apologized for taking aerial photographs of the country home that Harry and Meghan Markle had been residing in prior to their move into Frogmore Cottage.
In a short statement issued by the Buckingham Palace, which currently oversees all of Harry and Meghan's official work, it was revealed that Harry “acknowledges and welcomes the formal apology from Splash News and Picture Agency as referenced in the Statement in Open Court today.”
As per People, the pictures were taken from a helicopter that hovered close to the royal couple's former home in Oxfordshire in January and were published in multiple media outlets, including The Times. The low-altitude shots were said to have looked “into the living area and dining area of the home and directly into the bedroom,” as per the High Court ruling in London on Thursday.
Prince Harry's lawyers, in a statement issued in court on Thursday, further mentioned that the couple's home, considered to be their private country bolthole, “had been chosen by the Duke for himself and his wife given the high level of privacy it afforded given its position in a secluded area surrounded by private farmland away from any areas to which photographers have access.”
It was further said that the images taken aerially by the media publication “very seriously undermined the safety and security" of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, "and the home to the extent that they are no longer able to live at the property.” The statement added, “Splash has agreed to pay a substantial sum in damages and legal costs, and has apologized to The Duke.”
Reports suggest that Meghan and Harry used the property on the Tew estate in Oxfordshire as a rural escape from their first marital home, Nottingham Cottage, the two-bedroom home at Kensington Palace. However, the duo has since moved to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, where they arrived just a few weeks before the birth of their son Archie on May 6.
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