Details of Prince Harry’s accusations against the publisher of the Mirror newspaper have been unveiled in his witness statement as he commences presenting evidence in court. The Duke of Sussex expresses his intention to ensure that “unlawful behavior is exposed.”
Prince Harry has attributed the tabloid press for “inciting hatred and harassment” in his personal life, asserting that he found himself “conforming to many of the headlines” when he was portrayed as a “playboy prince” and a “thicko” during his earlier years as a member of the royal family.
In his witness statement, Prince Harry’s allegations against the publisher of the Mirror newspaper have been disclosed as he commences presenting evidence in court.
The Duke of Sussex expressed “I genuinely feel that in every relationship that I’ve ever had – be that with friends, girlfriends, with family or with the army, there’s always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press.”
Prince Harry asserted that he was bringing the claim “to hold people to account for what they have done so that they can’t hide behind their own institution or organization,” emphasizing his determination to “get to the bottom of it once and for all.”
Regarding the portrayal of members of the Royal Family by the tabloid press, he stated, “As ‘spare’ to the ‘heir’ – Prince William – ‘you’re then either the ‘playboy prince,’ the ‘failure,’ the ‘drop out’ or, in my case, the ‘thicko,’ the ‘cheat,’ the ‘underage drinker,’ ‘irresponsible drug taker,’ the list goes on.”
Describing his response to the media’s portrayal during his teenage and early twenties, Prince Harry shared, “I ended up feeling as though I was playing up to a lot of the headlines and stereotypes that they wanted to pin on me mainly because I thought that, if they are printing this rubbish about me and people were believing it, I may as well ‘do the crime,’ so to speak.” He further criticized the tabloids’ behavior, stating, “Looking back on it now, such behavior on their part is utterly vile.”
He explained that due to the image created by the media, he anticipated judgment whenever he entered a room, expressing, “Because of the personality he had been portrayed as, every time he walked into a room he ‘expected people to be thinking ‘he’s obviously going to fail this test, because he’s a thicko’.
Prince Harry’s witness statement unveils several additional key claims:
• He asserts that the “intrusion” into his private life resulted in him feeling paranoid about his relationships.
• The thought of former Mirror editor Piers Morgan and journalists allegedly hacking his mother Diana’s phone makes him feel “sick.”
• Prince Harry believes that both the UK press and government “are at rock bottom.”
• He reveals that he has never been an account holder or received a bill for a mobile phone, as this responsibility was managed “by the Institution, presumably for security purposes although that now seems rather ironic.”
• He further states that the Institution had the ability to “wipe our devices remotely.”
Prince Harry, aged 38, has filed a lawsuit against the publisher, seeking to establish evidence that journalists associated with the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People newspapers were involved in activities such as phone hacking, “blagging” (deceptive methods to obtain information), and the utilization of private investigators between 1996 and 2010.
MGN, the publisher, is challenging the allegations and has either denied or not acknowledged each of them. The publisher also contends that some of the claimants have initiated legal proceedings after the expiration of the applicable time limit.