The lawsuit says the family was forced to erect a large mesh fence to block photographers with telephoto lenses from shooting pictures of them from a ridge hundreds of yards away from the home of a friend in a gated community where they have been living.

That led to the appearance of drones that flew as close as 20 feet above their home, as often as three times a day, in attempts to get photos, the suit says. Helicopters have flown over as early as 5:30 a.m., waking Archie and neighbors, and some photographers have cut holes in their mesh fence attempting to get shots of them.

Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and sixth in line to the British throne, married Meghan Markle, an American actress who grew up in Los Angeles, at Windsor Castle in 2018, in a posh ceremony watched around the world.

In January, the couple announced they planned to quit as senior royals, seek financial independence and move to North America. The split became official at the end of March.

The couple chose to live at least part-time in North America “to escape the incessant UK tabloid fabrications,” the lawsuit says. Meghan is also suing a pair of media outlets there for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.

They were able to live quietly in North Saanich, Canada, for six weeks, the lawsuit says, before a British tabloid published their exact location and hordes of photographers descended, prompting them to head to the California home where their location was again published and paparazzi appeared in droves again.