Prince Harry testified for over seven hours on Tuesday and Wednesday in a case against three British tabloids, where lawyers for the Mirror Group Newspapers attempted to prove that he had no concrete evidence that its journalists had hacked his phone. Harry and three other plaintiffs had filed a lawsuit against three Mirror titles — The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, and People. In his testimony, Harry described the pain that media intrusion had caused him and argued that the tabloids published articles with details about him that could only have been obtained through illegal means. The Mirror Group has denied the claims and maintained that Harry’s allegations, which relate to articles published several years ago, were filed too late.
Here are the key points from Harry’s testimony.
Harry questioned the authenticity of articles citing ‘palace sources’.
The tabloids repeatedly reported private details about Harry’s relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, sometimes attributing that information to “palace sources” or “friends”. However, Harry claimed that he and Chelsy had stopped sharing information about their relationship with others, including palace officials, due to concerns about leaks. Speaking about a tabloid article that revealed details about a difficult period in their on-and-off relationship from 2004 until 2010, Harry said, “I never discussed with the palace any details about my relationship with my girlfriend.”
During his testimony, Harry remained composed even when facing tough scrutiny from the Mirror Group’s lawyer. When the lawyer mentioned that journalists had illegally obtained information about his mother visiting him at school, Harry replied that the palace had already announced the visit through the Press Association, a news agency.
Harry’s approach to taking on the tabloids was different from the rest of the royal family.
Harry’s claims relied on his allegation that phone hacking was happening on an “industrial scale” at certain tabloids in the two decades leading up to the closure of The News of the World in 2011. When asked why he chose to take this case against the Mirror, Harry replied that he wanted to use legal means to stop the abuse and intrusion that he and his wife had faced, rather than relying on the institution’s approach. Harry noted that the palace had settled a similar case concerning phone hacking with a Rupert Murdoch-owned British media group, News Group Newspapers, in secret. This case is one of three lawsuits that Harry has filed against British news media companies.
Jane Kerr, a former editor at The Mirror, also testified.
After Harry’s testimony, his lawyer, David Sherborne, questioned Ms. Kerr, a former royals editor at The Mirror, about the news-gathering methods that Mirror reporters used to get scoops, such as working with freelancers or companies that had engaged in illegal practices. Mr. Sherborne asked Ms. Kerr if she knew how third parties obtained information, which included freelancers, investigators, and news agencies. Ms. Kerr replied that she did not know their methods as “It didn’t occur to me that anything was unlawful.”
Harry spoke on the detrimental effect on his mental health.
In 55 pages of written testimony, Prince Harry stated that media intrusion had “a devastating impact on our mental health and well-being.” However, to win the case, Harry must prove that journalists published information about him that was obtained through hacking or other unlawful means, not solely that their practices caused him harm.
