Prince Harry loses claim with press body

BRITAIN’S press watchdog has rejected Prince Harry’s complaint about a tabloid newspaper article that said wild animals pictured in photos he posted on Instagram were drugged and tied up.

Harry posted the pictures of African wildlife on his Instagram account, which then had 5.6 million followers, to mark Earth Day and highlight conservation efforts.

But in April the Mail on Sunday reported the animals had been tranquillised and that a picture of an elephant in Malawi had been edited so it was not possible to see there was a rope around its hind legs.

The prince argued the report was inaccurate because it indicated he had intentionally misled the public to think he was a superior wildlife photographer who had captured the pictures under dangerous circumstances, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) watchdog said.

Harry said his caption had made clear the animals were being relocated as part of conservation efforts and the photo had only been edited to meet Instagram’s formatting requirements.

However, the paper said Harry had not explained the circumstances of the photo to his followers and that he hadn’t needed to crop the pictures in the way he did.

Harry and his American wife Meghan have increasingly become embroiled in conflict with Britain’s tabloid newspapers. Meghan is suing the Mail on Sunday over its publication of a private letter she sent to her father, Thomas Markle.