One photographer’s drone once reportedly flew over Meghan Markle’s mansion in California, with one of her security guards furiously trying to swat it away.
It was in 2020, an incident took place when Duchess of Sussex lived in Los Angeles with her husband Prince Harry, in a house owned by movie producer Tyler Perry, before they moved to their £11million pad in Montecito.
According to Mark Karloff, a veteran LA-based photographer, one member of the paparazzi was caught hovering just yards above their roof and he was widely condemned for the alleged illegality.
Karloff, who has been snapping celebs for 14 years and hosts Paparazzi Podcast, told the Daily Star: “The few photographers that have drones, we know who each other are, so we kind of chat about who did what and the days we did it.”
“We realised that it was another guy, process of elimination I guess. I heard the security guard saw them, saw the drone and tried to swat it out of the sky.”
“Obviously if she (Meghan) was in the backyard sunbathing, and they get something like that, then that would be a big problem.”
According to SGR, a Los Angeles Criminal Defence Firm, there are various laws that would potentially make this allegation illegal, this includes trespassing and invasion of privacy by entering private land or airspace without permission.
Megan and Harry were also revealed fearing for baby Archi’s safety after spotting drones. And Karloff warned anyone caught attempting to fly a drone above the royal couple could face serious consequences.
He continued: “A drone will only see in front, so if someone is up there and they are flying, they can’t see what’s behind them, so if they are trying to hover around and they are in a close distance around there, anybody with a long stick or a hose, they could possibly knock it out of the sky, or even some sort of a weapon, a BB gun or a pellet gun.”
“I heard that they were close enough to see the tiles on the roof. Even closer if there was a guy trying to swat it out of the sky, that has got to be close.”
“I don’t know the guy. If you’re on the register, they catch the drone they know who is registered to it. If they catch the drone, physically have the drone, they could find out.”
He added he was first informed by someone who worked to identify the culprit.
Karloff explained: “He knows he is a photographer, he knows he can fly a drone on a job sometimes. He’d get the drone taken away. I would expect Harry and Meghan probably to prosecute as much as they could.”
The Daily Star has approached the Duchess of Sussex for comment.
