General

Surprise: Prince Harry doesn’t like the media

Videos of Harry in Afghanistan give clear picture of young prince

Now that Prince Harry’s Afghanistan deployment is over, video footage from Afghanistan is flowing in. TV crews had limited access to the Prince during his stint at Camp Bastion—and agreed to air the footage only after the deployment was over. It was an agreement made so that the media wouldn’t speculate on his whereabouts as they did during his last deployment, forcing him home early.

During the interviews the helicopter co-pilot gunner speaks of how he’s looking forward to being an uncle, about the unfortunate naked partying incident in Las Vegas, about killing Taliban, and gives tours of his barracks. Throughout though, his main concern seems to be getting across his understandable vexation with the media and his and his family’s lack of privacy:

“I’ve seen it too many times that someone behind a desk writes something, a story about someone that can end up persuading the whole nation on people’s opinions of that individual….Hopefully no one actually believes what they read. All it does is upset me and anger me that people can get away with writing the stuff they do, not just about me but about everybody.”

On the Vegas incident: “Yes, people might look at it going, ‘he was letting off steam. It’s all understandable now, he was going off to Afghanistan.’ But the papers knew I was going off to Afghanistan. The way that I was treated from them I didn’t think was acceptable.” (BBC)

On Kate’s pregnancy: “It was very unfortunate they had to publicize it when they did, but that’s just the media for you. I only hope that she and him, but mainly Catherine get the necessary protection to allow her, as a mother-to-be, to enjoy the privacy that that comes with. I had a chat to them, I didn’t send a letter of congratulations like most of the papers…how any of the papers know the relationship between myself and my sister-in-law is quite remarkable. But they’re wrong as always.” (BBC)

“I’m out here doing a job and I really enjoy it. I never wanted you guys to be out here, but there was an agreement made to invite you out—on the deal that you the media didn’t speculate before my deployment. That’s the only reason you guys are out here. It’s not a media stunt or nothing like that.” (BBC)

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