Thomas Markle's friend accused of 'jeopardising' Meghan Markle's safety

A photographer friend of Thomas Markle Sr. has been accused of sacrificing the safety of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry with a paid sightseeing tour. The couple lives in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California with their children Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2.

Karl Larsen, who set up the YouTube channel "Remarkable Friendship" with the duchess' estranged father, is charging $1,200 for a nine-hour tour to a group of five or six people. The tour was listed on travel website Tripening.com, but has since been taken down after it triggered backlash and allegations that it will only help push "online harassment" into the real world.

One concerned netizen wrote on X formerly Twitter, "This tour would have facilitated stalking of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by fixated persons who are a danger to them and their children."

Christopher Bouzy, founder of tech firm Bot Sentinel, shared screenshots of the listing on Tripening. He then urged the site to take it down writing on X, "What we feared has now become a reality. These deranged people targeting Harry and Meghan are taking their harassment offline. This has to stop."

He added, ".@tripening needs to remove this garbage from their website. It's stalking and targeted harassment." The travel website was quick to heed his request.

Bouzy was featured in the "Harry & Meghan" Netflix series, in which he talked about his research into the online harassment aimed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Speaking about the celebrity sightseeing tour, he told Newsweek, "The recent incident where a celebrity tour was being organised to visit the neighborhood of the Duke and Duchess's residence is a concerning escalation of online harassment transitioning to the real world."

He called the listing "problematic" and "an act of targeted harassment" that "jeopardised the safety of the Duke and Duchess' family." He pointed out, "The rise in online harassment underscores the urgent need for robust legislation to counteract this escalating problem that affects everyone."

The tour, called "The Royal Celebrity Tour of Los Angeles and Montecito," is still listed on Viator. In it, Larsen describes himself as a "best friend" of Markle Sr. and "the guy with a stunning exclusive portfolio of pictures of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle together in Montecito."

He also claimed to be the "ONLY person in the world that knows the truth about what happened between Meghan Markle and her father ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018." Likewise, that he is the "only person who has an open communication pathway between" the duchess' camp and the rest of the Markle family.

He added, "There is nobody on the planet that knows more info than me and I'm the only person that's qualified to put on such a tour."

Larsen reportedly received the approval of Markle Sr. to do the tour, which will take visitors along the road leading to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Montecito home, to one of her favourite shops, Pierre Lafond, the Italian restaurant Tre Lune where the couple recently dined ahead of her birthday on Aug. 4, and to the Santa Barbara Polo Club. It will also head to her old homes and school in Los Angeles.

Following the backlash, Larsen clarified that he has no "intentions of going past Harry and Meghan's house" just where she grew up. He assured that despite opposition, the tour will go ahead as it is designed for fans of the Sussexes.

He explained, "It's like going to see Elvis, going to Graceland because they like Elvis. It's a custom tour so if people want to go see other sights that's what we're going to do but we will not go past [Meghan's mother] Doria [Ragland's] house and we will not go past Harry and Meghan's." Larsen also added a section of the listing that said "anyone on the tour whose intentions is to harass anyone will immediately be asked to leave without refund."