Prince Harry has accused the Royal Family of “withholding” information from him about phone hacking.
The Duke of Sussex returned to the UK this week to attend the preliminary hearing in his privacy case against Associated Newspapers.
In a witness statement, the 38-year-old said his family did not want him to bring a claim as it would “open a can of worms”.
Harry explained that he was conditioned to accept his family’s rule to “never complain, never explain” when dealing with the press.
He said: “The institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms.”
Discussing phone hacking claims against News Group Newspapers, Harry said: “I became aware that I had a claim that I could bring” in 2018.
The father-of-two added: “The institution was without a doubt withholding information from me for a long time about NGN’s phone hacking and that has only become clear in recent years as I have pursued my own claim with different legal advice and representation.”
Explaining how he found out other people within or associated with the Royal Family had brought phone hacking claims against the press, Harry said: “It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble burst in terms of what I knew in 2020 when I moved out of the United Kingdom.”
“There was never any centralised discussion between us about who had brought claims as each office in the institution is siloed. There is this misconception that we are all in constant communication with one another but that is not true.”
Harry 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 is here and serious about taking down Daily Mail for phone hacking. We love to see it👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/scOv7F6dCp
— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) March 27, 2023
According to a press release, the Duke 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.
