Prince Harry: ‘This isn’t just about phone hacking. This is about accountability of power’

Prince Harry appeared before the High Court this morning to give evidence in his case against Mirror Group Newspapers. The first member of the British royal family to testify in court since the 1890s, Harry and more than 100 others, are suing MGN – publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People tabloids – over accusations of phone hacking and other unlawful activities that took place between 1996 and 2010/2011.

Condemning the tabloids for spinning a narrative that painted him as a “thicko” and “drug taker”, Harry described MGN’s behaviour as “utterly vile”. 

“It was a downward spiral, whereby the tabloids would constantly try and coax me, a ‘damaged’ young man, into doing something stupid that would make a good story and sell lots of newspapers,” he explained. “Whilst they would, of course, report on my successes in life, it seemed to me that they took far greater pleasure in knocking me down, time and time again.” In addition to his in-person testimony, Harry has also provided a written witness statement outlining his claim against the newspaper group. 

Also accusing the tabloids of damaging his personal relationships both with his brother, Prince William, and his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, Harry said that the tabloids were intent on “putting as much strain” on things and “creating as much distrust as humanly possible”. 

According to Harry, there is a “real blurring of the lines” in terms of what is in the public interest and what isn’t. “The tabloids concentrated on salacious stories about my relationships and so on to satisfy the latter while appearing to completely ignore the former, as a means of justifying the intrusion.”

Listing off the people with whom he was in regular contact during the period in question, Prince Harry said that voicemail was his preferred method of communication at the time as “text messaging was much less common back then”. Said voicemails would include incredibly private and sensitive information about his relationships, operational security and personal plans. 

While he did note some “unusual mobile activity” – hearing voicemails for the first time that weren’t marked as ‘new’ on his phone or multiple missed calls and hang-ups, for example – Harry said that he didn’t pay particular attention to these things and would pass them off as technical glitches. However, the knowledge he now has regarding phone hacking has led him to believe that both his phone and those of his associates were hacked by MGN to glean private information about him – including material that was gathered from listening to live calls he made on his landlines. 

“I would say their actions affected every area of my life,” Harry told the court this morning of how the scandal impacted him and those around him. “It created a huge amount of paranoia in my relationships. I would become immediately suspicious of anyone that was named in a story about me… I felt that I couldn’t trust anybody, which was an awful feeling for me especially at such a young age.”

Harry alleges that approximately 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods. Going on to address 33 of those articles, Harry concluded his statement by saying that he is bringing this claim not because he hates the tabloid press but in order to “properly hold the people who have hijacked those privileges, which come with being a member of the press, to account for their actions”. 

Despite stepping down as a working royal in 2020, Harry said that his decision to bring a claim against MGN has resulted in both he and his wife, Meghan Markle, being subject to “a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation” from Piers Morgan – editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004. 

“Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom. Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo.”

“This isn’t just about phone hacking,” Harry previously said in reference to his case. “This is about accountability of power”.

The MGN trial began last month and is due to last approximately six or seven weeks. Prince Harry’s case is one of four representative cases being brought against the newspaper group alleging them of phone hacking and other widespread unlawful practices carried out with the knowledge of senior editors and executives. 

MGN is contesting the claims and denies senior figures were aware of wrongdoing. It also argues some of the lawsuits were brought too late.