5 times British royals sued the press to protect their privacy – Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana took on the Daily Mirror while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had to move house

Sep 26 , 2021

Five times British royals like Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth fought back against the press. Photos: AFP, @diana.princess.wales/Instagram

Kate Middleton was snapped topless while on holiday with Prince William in France, and a reporter even posed as a footman to snap photos inside Buckingham Palace

Prince Charles took legal action when his former housekeeper Wendy Berry wrote her memoir The Housekeeper’s Diary, revealing private details about Princess Diana

While there are many benefits to being a member of the British royal family, there is a price to pay for the attached fame and fortune.

Three generations of royals were photographed together at Prince Charles’ 70th birthday. Photo: @PrinceHRHGeorge/Twitter

The sheer popularity of any royal news story often means members of the press will overstep the mark – and even the law – in pursuit of the royal scoop that could make them famous.

Here are five times members of the royal clan fought back against invasions of their privacy.

Queen Elizabeth vs Daily Mirror

When undercover journalist Ryan Parry got access to Buckingham Palace, he even managed to snap a photo of Queen Elizabeth’s breakfast table. Photo: AFP

This caused a huge scandal when it happened. Back in 2003, an undercover journalist managed to get unprecedented access to Buckingham Palace when he applied for – and got – a job working as a footman in the royal household. The reporter, Ryan Parry, submitted a fake reference when he applied for the job, and managed to snap a picture of Queen Elizabeth’s breakfast table, among other clandestine photos from around the palace.

Queen Elizabeth walks past the flags of the Commonwealth member countries as part of Commonwealth Day at St. George’s Hall in Windsor Castle, on March 6. Photo: PA Wire/DPA

After Daily Mirror published several of the pictures in a front page splash, the queen’s lawyers approached the courts to prevent the newspaper from publishing any further pictures they might have had. Eventually the queen and the paper agreed on a settlement.