Meghan Markle Faces Intense Backlash After Ban People From Taking Her Photo

Another day, another "scandal" for Meghan Markle. After attending Wimbledon with two close friends, the Duchess of Sussex is facing intense backlash for banning people in the stands from taking her photo. It's important to note that Meghan did not attend the famed tennis tournament in any official, royal capacity. She was there as a private citizen to cheer on her BFF Serena Williams in the competition.

The criticism of Meghan's decision to have her PPOs (Police Protection Officers) ask the people seated nearby at the match not to photograph her after a woman named Sally Jones spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the incident. Jones called the request "another example of silly control freakery." She also alleged Meghan's PPO was "quite embarrassed" to make this request on Meghan's behalf. She added that "he appeared a bit mystified as to why he was being asked to make such a request."

Though Jones found the incident off-putting, a palace insider told The Daily Telegraph it's actually quite normal for those tasked with protecting members of the royal family to ask bystanders not to photograph them. "tt’s not unusual for people accompanying Members of the Royal Family at private, or public, events to ask members of the public not to take photographs. It is to enable Members of the Royal Family to engage with people and events," the source explained.

Despite this insider information, a few prominent royal reporters took to social media to add their two cents. Rebecca English, royal correspondent for The Daily Mail, argued that royals are entitled to privacy...just not at "global sporting events." She went to say: "the issue of a PPO trying to stop people from taking pictures is a well worn one. As long as they have assured themselves the person is not a threat, it shouldn't be their job. And it's turned what should be a nice picture caption into a story being discussed worldwide."

Though many other royal reporters agreed with and bolstered English's take, ITV News royal editor Chris Ship defended the Duchess's actions. He shared photos showing Meghan interacting with a young fan at the match. "So what’s the real story here? In these pics by [PA Media], Meghan, Duchess of Sussex looks like 1) she *is happy to sign autographs or chat to a young fan 2) she had plenty of empty seats reserved around her for security (or other) reasons," he wrote.

"I’d say from these pictures, you could easily claim Meghan was being harassed by some members of the public and their camera phones at [Wimbledon] and a police protection officer appears to be doing his job," Ship continued. He also shared photos depicting unruly fans approaching Meghan as she watched the game.

What do you think? Was Meghan's request out of line for a royal?

Photo: Getty