“centerpiece” Prince Harry has said in a new interview that the reason behind his alleged break from the royal family was the lawsuits he has been pursuing for years against tabloid magazines. “I made it very clear that this was something that had to be done,” he said in a new documentary. The trial of the tabloidsaccording to diverse“It would be great if we did it as a family. I think from a service point of view and when you're in a public role, these are the things we should do for the greater good. But you know, I'm doing it for my own reasons. … It's caused, yes, as you say, a rift.” The documentary will air on Britain's ITV on Thursday.
The prince also expressed his regret that his late mother, Princess Diana, did not live to see the progress of his legal claims against the tabloid industry, which allegedly hacked his phones and those of other members of the royal family. He said: “There is evidence that she was hacked in the mid-1990s, and she was probably one of the first people to be hacked, and yet the press, the tabloids, still enjoy portraying her as paranoid. But she was not paranoid, she was absolutely right about what happened to her. She is not around today to know the truth.”
Harry said he first realised his phone was being monitored when he saw a headline about his ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy. He commented: “‘Harry’s girl is leaving him’ – it seems they knew something before I did.”
“I think there’s a lot of paranoia and fear and anxiety and discomfort and mistrust of people around you, and obviously a headline like that doesn’t generate any public interest at all,” he continued. “There’s a big difference between what’s in the public interest and what’s in the public interest, so what’s going on in my private life is between me and [my] “Then a friend is exactly that, between us.”
In December, a judge awarded Harry damages totalling £140,600 (about $178,000 at the time) to end the prince's lawsuit against Mirror Group newspapers, which includes woman, Sunday MirrorAnd Sunday peopleThe judge ruled that the newspapers had used “unlawful information gathering” tactics. In February, Harry agreed another £400,000 (about $505,000) settlement with the Mirror Group for invading his private life.
“To go there and come out and hear the judge rule in our favour was absolutely massive,” Harry said. The trial of tabloids“But for him to go this far with respect to specific individuals, you know, it wasn’t just about individuals. It was about the top… it was about lawyers and senior executives. And to be able to do that in one trial is a tremendous victory.”
A spokesperson for the Mirror Group said, according to the British newspaper, The Sun: “We welcomed the ruling issued in December 2023, which gave the company the clarity it needed to move forward from the events that occurred many years ago.” diverse“In the event of historical violations, we apologize unreservedly, take full responsibility and pay compensation.”
