Since March 27, Prince Harry is back in the United Kingdom to follow up on the complaint filed by several celebrities, including him, against the editor of the Daily Mail. This Tuesday, March 28, AFP revealed what the son of Charles III had said in his statement, of last February 24. And it is far from sparing the Crown.
The prospect of a reconciliation between Prince Harry and his family is getting further away. Since March 27, the youngest son of Charles III is in London to attend four days of preliminary hearings to determine whether a trial opposing him and six other celebrities to the publisher of the Daily Mail for “gross violations of privacy” will take place. This Tuesday, AFP revealed the contents of the deposition signed by Meghan Markle’s husband on February 24 in anticipation of this confrontation at the Royal Courts of Justice. And once again, the brother of Prince William does not spare the Crown.
While talking about his phone hacking claims against Associated Newspapers Limited, Harry said, “I became aware that I could file a complaint in 2018. There is no doubt that the Institution has withheld information about phone hacking from me for a long time.” Explicitly claiming that Buckingham Palace was aware of the illegal practices of the tabloid group, Archie and Lilibet Diana’s father made no mystery about the state of his relationship with members of the Firm. “It only became clear in the last few years when I filed my own complaint with different legal counsel,” he later clarified.
Prince Harry denounces the “compartmentalized” communication of Buckingham
In this statement that AFP was able to see, Prince Harry also said that the royal family had repeatedly dissuaded him from attacking the press in court because “it could open a can of worms.” “It is not an exaggeration to say that the bubble has burst in terms of what I knew in 2020, when I left the United Kingdom,” also noted the grandson of Elizabeth II. Pointing to the Crown’s eternal motto, “Never complain, never explain,” Harry admitted that his relationship with the press has been “difficult” since the brutal death of his mother, Lady Diana, in 1997. Pursued by paparazzi under the Alma bridge in Paris, the former wife of King Charles III lost her life at 36, when her sons were only 15 and 13.
The prince also made an interesting revelation about his filing of a complaint against the British tabloid. During the deposition, he said that other royalty had decided to sue some newspapers for “violation of privacy.” “There was never a centralized discussion among us as to who had filed the lawsuit, because each office of the institution is siloed,” he stressed to bust one of the persistent myths about the Firm. “There is a misconception that we are all in constant communication with each other, but that is not true.”
“I’m suing because I love my country,” Harry maintains
Not wanting to have members of the Windsor clan sitting in the witness box in a courtroom, Buckingham Palace reportedly clearly advised the complainants against pursuing their complaints. “Even the most serious or suspicious items were often never brought to my attention,” he said of the time when he was still an active member of the Crown.
Harry ended his written statement to the court by justifying his action and accusing the press of manipulating the facts and the British people. “I am suing because I love my country and remain deeply concerned about the unchecked power, influence and criminality of Associated Newspapers Limited,” he wrote in part before concluding, “The British public deserves to know the full extent of this cover-up and I feel it is my duty to expose it.”
With only two months to go before the coronation of his father Charles III, there is no doubt that these statements are not likely to ease the extremely tense relations between the rebel of the Crown and his own.
Photo credits: Zuma Press / Bestimage
Well done Harry. It is about time the media were brought back into line. The amount of lies still being told is ridiculous. Sadly there are many sheep that follow and believe all that is told. We each suffer stress etc in different ways. Harry obviously was not as strong as William but then he was younger. To be brought up where your mother was continually hounded and the sons often being present, must have been horrific. Then the same thing happened when Meghan came on the scene. It has been proven in TV documentaries how the press lied about them and then how the social media trolls believed it all and just made things worse. We have lost a great couple with Harry and Meghan but I salute Harry for taking his family away from it all. If it means he loses the closeness of his other family then it is their loss. They don’t seem to be doing much to rectify things. Yes I know all you haters will ;pile in with your comments. You know, I really don’t care what you haters think because you are just media followers, sheep, trolls, nobodies.