Prince Harry holds back tears as he tells court Daily Mail made Meghan’s life a misery
By Michael Holden and Sam Tobin
LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Prince Harry fought back tears in the witness box as he told London’s High Court on Wednesday that the Daily Mail had made his wife Meghan’s life “absolute misery” as he gave evidence against the newspaper’s publisher in a invasion of privacy trial.
The Duke of Sussex, 41, and six other plaintiffs, including singer Elton John, are suing the Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, over alleged privacy violations dating from the early 1990s to the 2010s.
Associated, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday, called the allegations “absurd smears”, saying its journalists relied on legitimate sources, including friends and acquaintances of the celebrities.
Harry, who in 2023 became the first royal in 130 years to testify in court in another trial against the press, delivered a combative performance under questioning from Associated lawyer Antony White.
But he became emotional when asked about the impact of the case, saying his treatment by Associated had “only gotten worse” since he took the publisher to court in 2022.
“I think it’s fundamentally wrong that we have to go through this again when all we were asking for was an apology and some accountability,” said King Charles’ youngest son.
“It’s a horrible experience and the worst part is that by sitting here and taking a stand against them… they’re still coming after me.” Choking up, Harry, who now lives with Meghan in California, added: “They have made my wife’s life an absolute misery.”
HARRY SAYS CASE ‘TRAUMATIC’
In a final exchange of his less than two-hour testimony, Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, asked what it was like to read Associated’s defense. Harry said it was like “a repeat of a past, a recurring traumatic experience.”
“Having to sit here and relive all of this and have them pretend I have no right to privacy is disgusting,” he said.
Previously, he had repeatedly rejected White’s suggestions that Mail journalists were close to his “leaky” social circle.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I am not friends with any of these journalists and never have been,” Harry said during often tense exchanges with White.
The prince’s case focuses on 14 articles his legal team says were the product of illegal information gathering, including hacking voicemails, tapping landlines and obtaining private information through deception, known as “blagging.”
White said the information in the articles was obtained legitimately, letting Harry know that a former royal editor of the Mail on Sunday, Katie Nicholl, was in his social group.
Harry replied: “If the sources were so good and she was hanging out with all my friends, then why was she using private investigators who were connected to all the illegal information gathering?”
He said he spoke to reporters and tried to be civil, but felt he had little choice even though they were “commercializing my private life.”
ELIZABETH HURLEY TO TESTIFY ON THURSDAY
Harry and the other claimants launched their legal action in 2022, dragging Associated stocks for the first time into a phone hacking scandal that had long plagued the British press.
The other claimants are Elton John’s husband David Furnish, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, anti-racism campaigner Doreen Lawrence and former lawmaker Simon Hughes. Hurley is expected to testify Thursday.
For Harry – who has long blamed the press for the 1997 Paris car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana – the trial is the latest step in his battle against the tabloids, after winning an apology from Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper last year.
In his witness statement, Harry warned that “if the most influential media company manages to escape justice, then, in my view, the whole country is doomed.”
He said taking legal action was a “public duty”, adding: “When you’re faced with such a giant and intimidating media organization, the courts are your last and only hope.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Michael Holden; editing by Mark Heinrich and Ros Russell)
