Prince Harry “cut off” friends as he tried to find out who was leaking stories to the newspapers, London’s High Court has heard.
The Duke of Sussex returned to the UK this week to attend the preliminary hearing in his case against Associated Newspapers.
The 38-year-old and a group of other well-known faces, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, are suing the publisher of Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday and Mail Online for invasion of privacy.
Prince Harry arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice for his privacy case hearing against Associated Newspapers pic.twitter.com/LLbi19m3DG
— Ellie Costello (@elliecostelloTV) March 27, 2023
In court on Monday, Harry’s lawyers cited 14 “unlawful articles” that included information “which was not shared publicly by the claimant or disclosed outside of his trusted circle”.
The royal’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy and their relationship was the subject of 8 of the stories featured in the two newspapers published by Associated Newspapers.
Other women Harry was romantically linked to – including Cressida Bonas, Laura Gerard-Leigh and Natalie Pinkham – and his former nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke were featured in other articles.
The court documents read: “The claimant is troubled that, through Associated’s unlawful acts, he was largely deprived of important aspects of his teenage years.”
“In particular, suspicion and paranoia was caused by Associated’s publication of the unlawful articles: friends were lost or cut off as a result and everyone became a ‘suspect’, since he was misled by the way that the articles were written into believing that those close to him were the source of this information being provided to Associated’s newspapers.”
“Moreover, the claimant regards Associated’s unlawful acts to amount to a major betrayal given promises made by the media to improve its conduct following the tragic and untimely death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.”
According to a press release, Harry and the other individuals suing the publisher “have become aware of compelling and highly distressing evidence that they have been the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy by Associated Newspapers”.
These “unlawful acts” alleged to have taken place include “the hiring of private investigators to secretly place listening devices inside people’s cars and homes” and “the commissioning of individuals to surreptitiously listen into and record people’s live, private telephone calls whilst they were taking place”.
They also allegedly include “the payment of police officials, with corrupt links to private investigators, for inside, sensitive information”, “the impersonation of individuals to obtain medical information from private hospitals, clinics, and treatment centres by deception”.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: A group of high profile people have launched legal action against Associated Newspapers, publisher of Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online for invasion of privacy: @DLawrenceOBE, Prince Harry, @eltonofficial, David Furnish, @ElizabethHurley, @Sadieliza. pic.twitter.com/KMcqrZeNMK
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) October 6, 2022
The publisher has also been accused of “accessing bank accounts, credit histories and financial transactions through illicit means and manipulation”.
Associated Newspapers denies the allegations.
