'Royal Divide': Prince Harry Has 'Suffered a Lot,' 'Trying to Protect' Meghan and Archie

Cydney Henderson of USA TODAY wrote:Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are in pursuit of a "more peaceful" life after stepping back from the royal family in a bombshell announcement heard around the world.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex left behind their official duties, royal highness titles and public funding for the privacy and independence of Vancouver Island, Canada.

But what led to their unprecedented departure?

"He's being a father … a guy who is trying to protect his cub and his lioness from whatever it takes," Harry's longtime friend, professional polo player Nacho Figueras says Wednesday during ABC's special, Royal Divide: Harry, Meghan, and the Crown.

Figueras, who "spoke to Harry a few days ago," adds that the prince has "suffered a lot from all of the things that have happened to him. He suffers a lot from people judging him."

Prince Harry's mother, Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while evading paparazzi, a situation Harry says feels eerily similar to the media treatment of his family nowadays.

"My deepest fear is history repeating itself," Harry said in October, months before the split. "I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

The show explores how the British media differs in its coverage of Prince William's and Harry's wives, regularly praising Duchess Kate and blasting Meghan for the same circumstances.

"Not one member of the royal family said anything to support or defend her," says ABC News foreign correspondent James Longman. "I think both of them felt very alone towards the end of their time in the firm."

Figueras says that although the search for a "normal life" with Meghan and son Archie motivated his decision to step back from the royal life, Prince Harry may have underestimated the difficulties of privacy.

"He wants to live a normal life, as normal as his life is going to be, right?," Figueras says. "Because when you have 1,000 paparazzo outside your house in Canada waiting to get one picture of your son, that's not very, very normal."

Larry Hackett, managing partner of 10Ten Media and former People magazine editor, called their pursuit "a fool's errand."

"The idea that by somehow stepping back from the royal family they’re going to somehow regain control of their privacy is … just not going to happen. In fact, it’s going to get worse," says Hackett.

Longman adds, "Every single moment in their lives, whether it's the first major commercial deal that Meghan and Harry have just struck, or their next child, every single moment will be tracked."

Harry, Meghan and Archie are currently residing in Vancouver Island, Canada, the same place where the family spent Christmas, in a waterfront mansion.