Prince Harry’s brutal reaction to the man exposed his true colours
Prince Harry(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Prince Harry may have usually seemed smiling and happy around fans during his many years as a working royal before meeting wife Meghan Markle but it turns out this wasn’t always the case behind closed doors. While on the royal stage, the Duke of Sussex always gave off a bright and cheery impression but there was one moment in a restaurant away from the spotlight which showed Harry in a very different light.
This moment came in 2013 when the prince was out enjoying a lunch with his former girlfriend, Cressida Bonas, and her family in Kidlington. Harry and the Bonas family were able to enjoy their meal towards the back of the restaurant, with a limited number of people able to see them so they could have some privacy.
It was only after their dinner, when they had finished eating, that the 41-year-old duke was approached by an elderly man who had one small request. According to royal author and expert Tina Brown, Harry was asked by the man if he could take a photograph for his unwell wife, which Harry did not respond to pleasantly, the Express reports.
Explaining how the incident unfolded in her book The Palace Papers, Tina Brown wrote that the man said to Harry, “Oh, sir, so sorry, I know it’s Christmas time, but could I just take a photograph to give to my wife who isn’t well?” Ms Brown continued: “And so Cressida opened her mouth and said: ‘Oh, of course.’
Harry and his ex-girlfriend Cressida(Image: Karwai Tang/WireImage)
“And Harry said: ‘Get out of my way’ and went bright red in the face and stormed off in a huff.” Harry or Cressida have never brought up the incident, which occurred out of the spotlight.
However, it is well known that Harry did not enjoy media attention while he was dating Cressida, especially as her privacy was often violated. As well as turning down the elderly man’s request for a photograph, Harry would also get visibly frustrated at photographs who waited for him when he was out and about.
Another moment where he lost his temper was on Valentines Day with Cressida when Harry was informed that a photographer was waiting on him.
Upon discovering this, the prince changed his plans for the evening and instead had a night in at Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace estate.
It is believed that Harry spent a lot of time at home with most of his former girlfriends, instead of spending time out and about as a result of wanting to avoid being caught by the paparazzi.
The duke now lives in the States with his wife Meghan Markle and their two kids, Archie and Lilibet, after relocating to Montecito in the US in 2020.
Harry has been very open about his dislike for the paparazzi in the past and has publicly said that he blames them for the death of his late mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 after being relentlessly chased by the media.
Speaking in an interview to honour the 20 year anniversary of her death, he slammed the paparazzi for taking pictures of his mother dying in a car instead of trying to help her.
He said: “I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with is the fact that the people that chased her through into the tunnel were the same people that were taking photographs of her, while she was still dying on the back seat of the car.”
During an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby in 2019, when the prince was on a trip to Africa for the Harry & Meghan: An African Journey documentary, Harry was asked if he is at peace “in a way yet” with his mother’s death or if there is still “a wound that festers”.
He admitted its a wound that festers, and that being followed by paparazzi is the “worst” reminder of her life as opposed to the best.
He heartbreakingly said: “Every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back.”