At the helm, Prince Harry denounces the intrusion of the press and recounts his suffering

June 6, 2023

Prince Harry denounced on Tuesday the intrusion of the press in his life and recounted his suffering since his childhood in the face of articles written about him, during a trial in London against a tabloid which he accuses of having illegally collected information.

“Every article has caused me pain,” said the Duke of Sussex after being sworn on the Bible as a witness. Harry denounced “the invasion of the press for most” of his life and claimed to have “known the hostility of the press since (his) birth”.

This testimony from the 38-year-old prince is the first appearance of a member of the royal family on the stand since that of the future Edward VII in 1891 for a libel trial.

Exiled to California with his wife Meghan, the youngest son of King Charles III, at odds with the rest of the British royal family, accuses the tabloid press of having been responsible for the death of his mother Diana, chased by paparazzi in Paris in 1997. He also criticizes him for what he calls harassment towards Meghan and for having a responsibility in the bad relations he has with his family.

He fought several legal battles. In the ongoing trial, which began last month, Harry accuses the Daily Mirror editor of using illicit means to gather information, including hacking into voicemails, between 1996 and 2010.

“In my experience as a member of the royal family, each of us is assigned a specific role by the tabloid press,” he denounced in his witness statement. Then the prince listed: “You are either the playboy prince or the failure (…) or, in my case, the cheater, the underage drinker, the irresponsible drug addict and the list goes on and on.”

“Looking back on it today, such behavior ‘on the part of these newspapers’ is utterly despicable,” he added.

“How much more blood is going to stain their fingers before someone stops this madness?” asked Harry in a passage from his written witness statement, mentioned in court, where he also denounces the links between the press and the government, both “at rock bottom”.

Thirty-three contentious articles were retained by the judge in the procedure out of 147 referred to by Harry.

His lawyer said the media group used the services of “at least 30 private investigators”

Faced with these accusations, Andrew Green, the lawyer for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) – which in addition to the Daily Mirror publishes Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, reiterated the group’s “unreserved” apologies. MGN has recognized since the start of the trial “some evidence” of illegal information gathering but highlights the age of the facts and rejects certain accusations.

The Duke of Sussex described the impact the illegal information gathering had on him: “I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone, which was a terrible feeling for me.”

“On discovering the extent of illegal activities carried out by (…) MGN towards me, I am somewhat relieved to know that my paranoia towards my friends and my family was in fact misplaced”.

The Duke of Sussex’s hearing is due to continue on Wednesday morning.

Prince Harry’s previous appearance in the UK dates back to his whirlwind trip to his father’s coronation on May 6.

He stayed away from his father and his brother, the heir to the crown William, whom he combed in his memoirs published in January.

Charles III was on a private visit to Romania this time, making a reconciliation unlikely again.

At the end of March, Harry caused a stir by appearing in the High Court – but in public – for a preliminary hearing against ANL, the publisher of the Daily Mail, accused of the same methods by a series of personalities including singer Elton John.