Prince Harry snaps at reporter after she asks unscheduled question: 'Don't behave like this'

Prince Harry snapped at a seasoned royals reporter during the final days of his royal tour of Africa.

While leaving a health center during his solo trip to Malawi, Harry had a tense exchange with Sky News journalist Rhiannon Mills after she asked him a so-called "unscheduled question."

"That short conversation, what do you hope to achieve through it?" Mills asked Harry after he spoke to health officials at the Mauwa Health Centre.

Visibly caught off-guard by the inquiry, the 35-year-old said, "What? Ask them," as he continued to move toward his car.

"Is that why it's important for you to come and talk to them?" Mills pushed.

Harry then used his arm to shoo her away and reprimanded her for the questions, "Rhiannon, don't behave like this."

SEE ALSO: Prince Harry releases forceful statement defending his wife, Meghan Markle

The moment happened on Tuesday, October 1, just hours before the Duke of Sussex released a forceful statement defending his wife, Meghan Markle, from "relentless" attacks in the media and announcing that the couple would be "taking legal action" against the Daily Mail and its parent company after it published a private letter Meghan had written her father, Thomas Markle.

"As a couple, we believe in media freedom and objective, truthful reporting. We regard it as a cornerstone of democracy and in the current state of the world -- on every level -- we have never needed responsible media more," Harry said in a lengthy statement. "Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son."

"Though we have continued to put on a brave face -- as so many of you can relate to -- I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been. Because in today’s digital age, press fabrications are repurposed as truth across the globe. One day’s coverage is no longer tomorrow’s chip-paper," Harry continued. "Up to now, we have been unable to correct the continual misrepresentations - something that these select media outlets have been aware of and have therefore exploited on a daily and sometimes hourly basis."

The British royal went on to remind the public and the media alike that he's experienced first-hand the effects of the media going overboard when it comes to interest and intense coverage of one of his family members, alluding to his mother, Princess Diana, being killed in a 1997 car crash as she was being chased by paparazzi in Paris.

"Though this action may not be the safe one, it is the right one. Because my deepest fear is history repeating itself," he said. "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."

One day after Harry's strongly-worded statement was released, he stepped out hand-in-hand with the Duchess of Sussex, putting up a united front amid heightened scrutiny.

Read Prince Harry's full statement here.