Prince Harry's 'spectacularly rude' comment to reporters after Meghan Markle's awkward jibe

Prince Harry reportedly ruffled feathers among a group of journalists with an offhand comment while returning from a previous royal tour with his wife, Meghan Markle.

The couple had embarked on a trip to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand shortly after their 2018 wedding, a journey that coincided with the Invictus Games in Sydney.

Despite the tour being hailed as a success - with Meghan announcing her pregnancy upon landing in Sydney - there were underlying tensions according to an expert.

Speaking on HELLO!'s podcast, royal correspondent Valentine Low recounted an uncomfortable encounter between Prince Harry and the press, the Mirror reports.

He noted that the reporters, who had been away from their families for over 16 days, were expecting a casual chat with the royals during the flight from Tonga to Sydney.

He recalled: "We were flying from Tonga back to Sydney. And often on these tours, there comes a point towards the end, when the royal might come back to the back of the plane and have a chat with us off the record, you know, not for printing, but it's a way of making bonds.

"It's a way of keeping us sweet. It's a way of having informal contact. And we were promised that he or they would come to the back of the plane, and it didn't happen.

"It didn't happen and this was a four or five-hour flight, 'When's this gonna happen?'"

He continued: "Then we were buckling up for the descent and we landed. And it hadn't happened. And only after we landed, they came back into the back of the plane. And Harry was slightly in front of Meghan, she was slightly behind him.

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"And she didn't say much. She did make some strange remark about us wanting to get back for our Sunday lunch. And it was completely bizarre.

"But it's what he said that was memorable. He said, 'Thanks very much for coming, even though you weren't invited.' And we thought, 'What? '"

Valentine delved deeper into the episode in his book, 'Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown', shedding light on the journalists' stunned reactions.

Speaking of Harry's comment, he said: "This was spectacularly rude - and incorrect. The media had been invited to cover the tour."

It is reported that Harry's aides later informed him of "how badly" his words had been taken, prompting a defiant response from the prince: "Well, you shouldn't have made me do it."

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