Princess Diana’s former bodyguard has claimed Prince Harry “was wrong to blame the media” for his UK exit.

On 8 January 2020, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announced they would be departing the United Kingdom, in what the tabloids famously dubbed “Megxit.”

Queen Elizabeth II reportedly convened an emergency summit just days later to discuss the terms of their exit, with Buckingham Palace confirming that the couple would no longer serve as working royals nor use their “Royal Highness” (HRH) titles. The transition period formally came into effect several months later on 31 March 2020, marking the official end of their working royal duties.

Following the couple’s departure from the Royal Family, a 12-month review period began, with the Palace confirming on 21 February 2021 that their move was permanent and that they had formally stepped down from their remaining honorary military appointments and royal patronages.

The couple’s principal reason for their departure centred on hostility from the press, with Prince Harry repeatedly describing the British tabloid media as “toxic” and damaging to his family’s wellbeing.

Furthermore, he expressed fears of history repeating itself, voicing concerns for his wife’s safety and drawing parallels between the aggressive media pursuit and the treatment endured by his late mother, Princess Diana.

However, Diana’s former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe has argued that Harry was “wrong to blame the media” for walking away from The Firm. Ken, who became one of the Princess of Wales’s closest confidants during the most turbulent years of her marriage to the then-Prince Charles, spoke exclusively to the Daily Express US about Megxit.

According to Ken, he does not believe that Harry’s relocation was a “direct consequence of his mother’s death,” but instead a “complex” situation.

“Harry clearly has a deep dislike of the media and the paparazzi,” he said. “Much of his public life in recent years has centered around legal action against media organizations, together with his disputes with the Government and the Metropolitan Police over security.

“In my view, though, that has very little to do with Diana.”

He explained that Diana “accepted media intrusion” as she understood it was part of being a royal, just as Queen Camilla and King Charles reportedly do.