Daily Mail’s ‘aggressive’ reporting on Prince Harry and Meghan ‘irreparably damaged’ press briefings

The Daily Mail’s “aggressive” approach to reporting on Prince Harry and Meghan’s Australian visit has “irreparably damaged” the Sussexes’ ability to brief press ahead of trips, Guardian Australia has been told.

The Daily Mail broke the embargo by publishing the royal couple’s movements five days before they landed in Melbourne, despite that information being strictly non-publishable until they arrived.

The Mail reported “under-wraps details” about the location of the stops in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra as well as the background notes and a Q&A, against the instructions given to media by the royal pair’s team.

The Guardian has been told the Sussexes’ media office complained, resulting in the Daily Mail report being taken down.

Sources close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also alleged the Daily Mail followed the advance security team from the airport and reported on their movements, with fears that the safety of Harry and Meghan was compromised.

The Daily Mail has been approached for comment.

The breach will have a major impact on the way the couple deal with all media in the future as it showed the tradition of embargoed information is not respected by some media, sources said.

The leak meant that Harry and Meghan’s itinerary had to be changed at the 11th hour and that the police involvement had to be ramped up – an unpopular aspect of the pair’s trip to Australia which was criticised as a waste of taxpayer money.

Victoria police had told the media it would deploy resources as necessary to ensure community safety. NSW police confirmed they had provided “some additional security measures”.

Sources said there was an “aggressive escalation” in the Mail’s reporting which led to aspects of the tour being changed, including the ability to brief journalists ahead of time as the couple moved from Melbourne to Sydney, and Harry travelled to Canberra.

Meghan’s PR team called out the Mail, Sky News Australia and the UK’s Daily Mirror last week.

“Media from the Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, and Sky News Australia unfortunately reported on sensitive embargoed information, complicating and compromising security arrangements,” a spokesperson from Meghan’s PR team said last week.