Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s friend who has photographed some of the couple’s most cherished family moments has said he’s ‘proud’ of the Duke for his new Netflix series.
In the week that Heart of Invictus was released on the streaming service, Misan Harriman shared a brooding black and white photo of Harry, 38, on his Instagram account and heaped praise upon him.
Mr Harriman, 46, who photographed key family moments for the Sussexes, including Princess Lilibet’s first birthday party, praised both the Duke and the Invictus Games itself for its contribution to improving the lives of injured veterans.
The photo, which was taken during the 2022 Invictus Games in The Netherlands, shows Prince Harry standing alone while dressed in a black shirt. As he looks up, he reveals the leather necklace with a silver pendant he has long cherished which he first began wearing in 2004 when he was dating Chelsy Davy.
The post comes amid criticism over some of Prince Harry’s claims in the documentary – including that he was offered little mental health support after returning from Afghanistan.
Misan Harriman, a professional photographer and friend to the Sussexes, posted a brooding photo of Prince Harry on Instagram and praised him for founding the Invictus Games after the Duke’s new Netflix series Heart of Invictus premiered
Mr Harriman, who is based in London, wrote: ‘I’m so proud of this man and the incredible space of healing that is [The Invictus Games].’
He continued: ‘Countless lives have been changed through the very real sense of community that Prince Harry has built with the Invictus Games.
‘I took this picture on the last day of last years games in The Hague. Empathy and purpose can go a long, long way.’
He then posted several hashtags including ‘mental health’, ‘be kind’ and ‘support our veterans’.
While many fans have gone wild for Prince Harry’s new documentary and the heartbreaking stories of injured veterans that are featured, others have taken issue with the Duke’s apparent swipes at his family.
The Duke of Sussex told the series that coming home from the conflict in Afghanistan in 2008 triggered the trauma of losing his mother Princess Diana but ‘no one around me really could help’.
This is despite Harry previously praising his brother Prince William and several close friends for seeking to persuade him to have therapy to deal with the impact of his mother’s death.
Speaking on a podcast with Bryony Gordon in 2017, he recalled how they told him: ‘Look, you really need to deal with this. It is not normal to think that nothing has affected you.’
Speaking to the Mad World podcast at the time, the Duke claimed his struggles with mental health were ‘not Afghanistan-related’, but were due to him having to process the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in the public eye 20 years earlier.
In September 2020, Mr Harriman, who has two daughters with Camilla Holmstroem, became the first black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover in its then-105-year history.
The Duke of Sussex takes viewers behind the scenes of the 2022 Invictus Games at The Hague in The Netherlands in the series
Mr Harriman (pictured) has captured several cherished moments in the Sussexes’ family lives, including Princess Lilibet’s first birthday party
The activist-themed cover featured England footballer Marcus Rashford and model Adwoa Aboah, with Mr Harriman working with a predominantly black team on set.
A year before, the Duchess of Sussex guest edited the September issue, which is traditionally the magazine’s most important of the year.
Photography is Harriman’s second career, after previously working in finance but he’s proved prolific since getting behind the lens.
He’s photographed everyone from Demi Lovato and Ed Harris to Elton’s husband David Furnish. Elton and David are longtime friends of Harry and Meghan.
The photographer told British Vogue at the couple’s second pregnancy announcement shoot that the Duchess of Sussex had thanked him for helping her find love with Prince Harry, saying: ‘Meg reminded me that had I not introduced her to a mutual friend then she wouldn’t have met Harry. I’m grateful for whatever small part I played’
He was a wedding guest at their nuptials in 2018, and Harriman captured a birthday portrait of the couple’s one-year-old daughter Lilibet’s birthday celebrations last year.
The Southbank Chair released a series of three images taken at a ‘casual, intimate backyard picnic’ hosted by the Sussexes at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor on June 4th 2022, having been invited to attend the small gathering as one of just a handful of select guests, alongside his wife and their two daughters.