‘Press free zone’: How a small Canadian community is welcoming Meghan and Harry and rallying to protect their privacy... even if the world’s media is not

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “There are serious safety concerns about how the paparazzi are driving and the risk to life they pose,” said the letter, in what appeared to a reference to the death of 35-year-old Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 Paris car crash while being being pursued by press photographers, and with her driver having drunk three times the legal limit. “After Diana’s death Harry was very depressed and he says that the click of a camera shutter sets off bad memories.” In many ways, North Saanich, quiet, largely rural and which has a population of around 11,000, makes an unlikely destination for the couple, who said they had “no other option” but to stand down from royal duties if they wanted a more peaceful life. Harry and Megan visited Canadian officials at Canada House in London this month to thank them for the nation’s hospitality A number of residents have been quoted as being “excited” by the royal arrivals and at the Deep Cove Market, where Harry and Meghan stopped to try the homemade sandwiches and where a piece of white A4 paper taped tp the door read ‘Press Free Zone”, a metal rack offered a range of newspapers, including the international edition of the Daily Express whose front page on Wednesday featured a large photograph of the couple and a headline that read: “It’s Freedom… but at a price”. The local newspaper, the Times Colonist, had limited news of Harry’s return to Vancouver Island this week after securing agreement “to quit” from the Queen, to a single column on page five.