'I was on receiving end of Prince Harry outburst and he looked really patronising'

Daily Mirror

25-07-2025

A royal expert has revealed a run-in she had with Prince Harry while he was a working royal and how a seemingly simple question blew up into an angry exchange
A royal correspondent has opened up about how she was on the receiving end of an outburst from Prince Harry after asking him a seemingly simple question.
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Before Harry and wife Meghan Markle quit their royal roles to move to California, they completed two royal tours together, one to Australia and New Zealand shortly after their wedding, and then one to Southern Africa in 2019. The trip to Africa saw the couple take young son Archie to South Africa, with Harry also going solo to both Angola and Malawi. The tour was seen as somewhat of a turning point for the Sussexes as they mulled over their future.
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Covering that tour was Sky News Royal Editor Rhiannon Mills, who was in Malawi with Harry and decided to ask him a question at the end of an engagement.
Mills had previously struck up a rapport with the Duke of Sussex after interviewing him for TV during his solo trip to New Zealand several years before. She told The Sun's Royal Exclusive show that she decided, as he walked to his car, to ask him why it was important for him to come here - but was quickly given a short shrift.
She explained: "It was a terrible question. It was a rubbish question. I just sort of said, 'oh, why is it so important for you to come here?' And he looked at me and said, 'oh, well, just go and ask those people over there'. And I probably inside thought, hang on a minute, I'm not gonna leave this one.
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"I said, well, is that why it's so important for you to come here? And then he turned around and just said, 'Rhiannon, don't behave like that'.
And then got in his car and drove off. I felt like I'd looked like an idiot. He looked really patronising. Nobody came out of it looking good. Anyway, it all blew up with his team. They were livid."
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After the exchange, Harry and the rest of the royal press pack travelled back to Johannesburg, where the couple dropped a bombshell statement that they were to launch legal proceedings against a UK newspaper. And Mills added: "Immediately I just realised, I frankly kicked the bear and I just didn't realise it at the time."
Shortly after the couple's return to the UK after that trip, a documentary aired on ITV detailing their visit to Africa. In it, Harry talked about his rift with William for the first time, while new mum Meghan revealed nobody had asked her if she was OK.
Afterwards, it was revealed that Meghan and Harry would be taking several weeks off from royal duties, and they later spent Christmas 2019 in Canada.
Just weeks later, following the Sandringham Summit, it was revealed the pair would be stepping down as senior royals and they've since carved out a life for themselves and their children in the United States.