Henry Charles Albert David was born on September 15, 1984. He is known to the world as Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. He is a member of the British royal family and is sixth in line to the throne. He is the second son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales. Diana wanted Harry and his older brother William to understand more about life than just the royal family, so she would take them to places like McDonalds fast-food restaurants, amusement parks such as Walt Disney World in Florida, and more serious trips to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters.
Princess Diana was one of the most photographed persons in the world in the 1980s and 1990s. She was known for her beauty, her fashion sense, her mothering of her children, and especially for her humanitarian efforts. She and Charles divorced in 1996, and her life became even more of a media frenzy. She was killed in a car accident in 1997 while trying to get away from the hordes of press trying to photograph her in France. Prince Harry was 12 years old when his mother died and he was devastated.
Meghan Markle is an American television actress, born (August 4, 1981) and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is a former social worker and yoga instructor living in the Southern California area and is African American. Her father is a retired photography director and television lighting director living in Rosarito, Mexico and is Caucasian. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. She met and began dating Prince Harry in 2016. In 2017, they announced their engagement to the world, and married in a ceremony seen ‘round the world in 2018. In May of 2019, they had a child and named him Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
From the beginning of Harry and Meghan’s romance, the media – especially the British media – focused on their relationship. Harry, having been in the public eye all of his life, was used to the media presence -as well as the British press’s invasion of privacy. Meghan, even though an actress in a popular American television series (Suits 2011-2017), was not used to such an invasion of her personal life. Also, she was shunned by many in the media and outlying royal family because of her race. According to celebrity website TMZ, Meghan was fed up with the press and its constant invasion of privacy; both hers and her baby’s. She and Harry decided to remove themselves from their royal life and live in Canada where they would have more privacy.
If they had moved to California, they would have had more privacy too. In 2014, California instituted a new law preventing photographers from photographing the children of celebrities. The law includes "conduct occurring during the course of any actual or attempted recording of the child's image or voice by following the child or lying in wait and without consent of the parent.” The law is meant to prevent children from being the object of tabloid fodder and harassment.
The first offense is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $10,000. The second offense is punishable with a minimum five-day sentence and a fine of $20,000. The third offense is punishable with a 30-day sentence and a fine of $30,000. The parents of the child can also sue the photographer in civil court for damages.
Note, however, the law also states that distribution of a child's image does not violate the law, but rather it is the act of creating it that violates the law.