Prince Harry has revealed that he would fear for the safety of his wife if they returned to the UK.

In an interview with ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial, the Duke of Sussex said he worries Meghan Markle could be the victim of an acid or knife attack inspired by negative press.

“All it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read,” Harry said. “And whether it’s a knife or acid, whatever it is, and these are things that are of genuine concern for me. It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”

Prince Harry and Markle relocated to California in 2020. The Duke of Sussex was last in the UK in May for the Invictus Games and he was not accompanied by Markle.

Prince Harry said that his war with British tabloid newspapers was supported by Queen Elizabeth II before her death in September 2022. “She’s very much up there, going ‘see this through to the end,’” he told ITV News.

Elsewhere in the documentary, he reflected on a court ruling that he was the target of unlawful information gathering by Mirror Group Newspapers.

Prince Harry described last December’s judgment as a big moment. “To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favor was obviously huge,” he said. “But for him to go as far as he did with regard to, you know, this wasn’t just the individual people. This went right up to the top…this was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial that’s a monumental victory.”

Reflecting on intrusions into his privacy, Prince Harry told ITV News journalist Rebecca Barry that he has carried “paranoia, fear, worry, concern,” and distrust of the people around him.

“There’s a big difference between what interests the public and what is public interest,” said the prince, who has opened up his life for a major Netflix documentary series and penned a memoir revealing secrets about senior British royals.