Prince Harry’s bitter, years-long feud with the British tabloid press will turn bitter this week. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday in a London courtroom to sue the Mirror newspaper group over allegations they hacked his mobile phone more than a decade ago.
King Charles III’s youngest son appearing on the witness stand is a major milestone for the House of Windsor – he’s the first senior royal to be cross-examined in a legal case since the 19th century – and that’s not one his family is likely to enjoy.
Harry, who is also known as the Duke of Sussex, may face embarrassing questions about his personal life before meeting his wife, Meghan, as well as about his relationships with other members of the family. royal family. For him and Meghan withdraw from royal duties in 2020 and leaving England for Southern California, Harry has become estranged from his father, Charles, and his brother, Prince William.
Members of the royal family prefer to deal with legal claims rather than being subject to courtroom supervision. William settled a phone hack against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper conglomerate, News Group, for a “huge amount” in 2020, Harry claimed in a legal filing in a separate lawsuit earlier this year.
So far, Harry has brushed any chance of resolution aside, making his campaign against the tabloids one of the living causes of his life. He said he held the tabloids responsible for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a car crash in 1997 after she was chased by photographers.
In addition to the Mirror Group, Harry has filed a lawsuit against News Group, which publishes The Sun and The Times, and against the publisher of The Daily Mail. He is also suing the UK Home Office for removing police protection after he and Meghan withdrew from their duties.
In a letter to the editors of four London tabloids in April 2020, Harry and Meghan condemned them as irresponsible and irresponsible, saying they had divided everyone’s lives. who “for no good reason, other than that obscene talk increases advertising revenue”.
The Mirror Group trial focused on allegations that newspapers hacked Harry’s cell phones, as well as those of his brother, aides and ex-girlfriends, during the early 2000s. one of four plaintiffs, including two actors who appeared in the popular British TV series “The Coronation Road”.
Mirror Group’s lawyers allege that Harry and three other plaintiffs waited too long to sue for acts that took place between 1991 and 2011. Mirror admitted in 2014 that they were involved in a phone hack and in February of the following year, they published a front page apology to the victims of the practice.
The trial promises to attract media attention, highlighting Harry’s single life before he became a husband and father. Among the names in bold it will revive is Chelsy Davy, whom he once dated.
In a legal filing, David Sherborne, Harry’s attorney, said details obtained from intercepted voicemail messages from Miss Davy resulted in intrusive articles, putting a strain on Harry and the relationship. his with her.
In one case, there was a series of suspicious calls to Ms. Davy’s mobile phone in September 2009. Within days, two Mirror Group newspapers published the headlines “Chelsy’s Harry’s Enough” and “The Conversation” Chelsy’s farewell ‘was on the cards'”. Both articles discussed in detail the couple’s imminent breakup.
Despite every effort to keep details of their lives secret – including letting Miss Davy travel under a pseudonym – Harry’s lawyers said reporters often showed up in places where The couple agreed to meet.
Mr Sherborne wrote: “This caused the couple to lose trust in many of their friends and put undue pressure on their relationship. The surveillance, he said, had left Harry “very distressed and confused, not least because of the security concerns he and his security guard had.”
In addition to arguing that Harry waited too long to sue, the Mirror Group cast doubt on his claim that they hacked Miss Davy’s phone. Its lawyers said calls could be made for comment following reports that she and Harry had split.
Furthermore, in 2009, the staff of another tabloid, Mr. Murdoch’s News of the World, received a prison sentence for stealing a phone. That puts Mirror journalists at risk by intercepting voicemail messages from Harry or Ms Davy, lawyers say.
Harry’s testimony may also attract the attention of Piers Morgan, a prominent British television broadcaster who was editor of The Daily Mirror from 1995 to 2004, a period when the paper was banned. accused of stealing the phone. Mr. Morgan has long denied any involvement in hacking or operating articles based on it, although Harry’s lawyers say it’s hard to imagine he wasn’t aware of it.
Mr Morgan has since become a fierce critic of Harry and Meghan. When asked recently by an ITV reporter about the trial, he said: “I will not be listening to a lecture on the invasion of privacy by Prince Harry, who has spent the past three years invading privacy. of the royal family cruelly and treacherously for great commercial gain. and tell a bunch of lies about them.
