Hugh Grant sticks up for Harry and Meghan: 'The tabloid press effectively murdered his mother'

There’s at least one fellow Brit cheering on Prince Harry amid the royal’s decision to “step back” from his formal duties alongside Meghan Markle.

In an interview for Andy Cohen’s Radio Andy show on Sirius XM on Monday, Hugh Grant defended the prince’s right to “protect his family.”

"I'm rather on Harry's side," said Grant, who appeared on the show alongside his co-stars in The Gentlemen, Charlie Hunnam and Matthew McConaughey.

"The tabloid press effectively murdered his mother, now they're tearing his wife to pieces,” he continued, referencing Princess Diana’s 1997 death, in which her vehicle was pursued by paparazzi. “I think as a man, it's his job to protect his family, so I'm with him."

Grant has had his own issues with the press. In addition to the heavy coverage devoted to his 1995 arrest for lewd conduct alongside sex worker Divine Brown, the Four Weddings and a Funeral star has also exposed illegal phone tapping by British tabloids.

Read more: Hugh Grant updates on Paddington 3

In 2007, he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a member of the paparazzi, though charges were later dropped, and he twice won damages in libel lawsuits over tabloid articles about his personal life.

He described his relationship to the tabloids as “very poor.”

The Gentlemen is in UK cinemas now.