Prince Harry forced to step in as Meghan Markle ambushed on Australia tour

The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Australia - Day 3

Chaos broke out during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's most high-profile appearance of their Australia tour to date

The Duke of Sussex, 41, was forced to intervene to shield his wife from journalists as they were spotted on the Scar Tree Walk in Melbourne.

The Aboriginal walking trail takes just over 30 minutes to complete and winds alongside the Yarra river, a favored spot for numerous walkers and joggers. As Harry and Meghan, 44, enjoyed the walk, they met numerous fans, with crowds quickly assembling. It comes after Meghan made another brutal snub to the royal family with an impromptu title change.

• Meghan Markle's Australia tour 'blunder' as choice branded 'hypocritical'
• Worried King making special preparation for deal with 1 major Trump concern

They were also engulfed by a throng of local press photographers and video journalists, with a helicopter circling overhead.

Five police officers responded as expanding numbers of media surrounded the couple on the bright Melbourne morning.

The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Australia - Day 3

One journalist in particular seemed to create a disturbance, with Harry guiding him away. Paul Dowsley, a Channel 7 reporter, drew the attention of the couple's team as he appeared in and out of camera frames during coverage of the visit.

The Sussexes communications director Liam Maguire was previously observed having several cordial exchanges with Dowsley.

However, following his effort to capture a selfie with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Thursday morning, April 16, Harry seemed to steer him out of Meghan's path.

The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Australia - Day 3

Dowsley told the Mail, "I suppose it's a break in protocol to ask for a selfie with a royal, but he told me that I'm always so well-dressed."

The journalist has been in attendance at all of the Sussexes visits and on Thursday morning wore a beige suit and floral tie. He noted that his encounters with Harry have consistently been "good-humored," with the Duke of Sussex even offering compliments about his tie selection.

On Tuesday evening, April 14, as the couple arrived for an engagement at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum, he was observed being directed away by a security guard known as Chris from Texas.

Meghan and Harry's visit to the Scar Tree Walk came after the Duchess of Sussex said she was "bullied and attacked" daily for a decade on social media and was "the most trolled person in the entire world."

She made the comments while speaking to a group of young people working with mental health organization Batyr on the third day of the Australia visit.

Meghan told those gathered, "I can speak to that really personally, which is why I like to listen, because it rings true for me in a very real way. For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world."

She continued, "Now, I'm still here. And when I think of all of you and what you're experiencing. I think so much of that is having to realize that you know that industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks - that's not going to change. So you have to be stronger than that."