Prince Harry getting a reputation for telling it like it is. There’s been the Oprah interview, the Netflix docuseries, and his memoir, Spare. Now the British royal has been interviewed for an explosive ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial addressing his legal battle with the tabloid press and what it meant for his family.
The Duke of Sussex appeared in the episode alongside other high-profile celebrities involved in similar phone hacking scandals, like Hugh Grant, Paul Gascoigne, and Charlotte Church. Prince Harry’s life unfolded in the spotlight since before he was born — after all, he was the son of the future king and the beloved Princess Diana.
However, things took a turn when he started dating Suits actress Meghan Markle, who eventually became his wife and mother of his two children. The two were constantly harassed by the media, which gained access to personal data through illegal methods. Now, Prince Harry is shedding light on how his legal battle affected his relationship with the royal family and is making more shocking claims.
The revelations from Prince Harry’s new interview
Prince Harry blamed the legal battle for his “rift” with the Royal Family, noting that it was “certainly a central piece to it.”
“Yeah, that’s certainly a central piece to it. But, you know, that’s a hard question to answer because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press. I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done. It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family. I believe that, again, from a service standpoint and when you are in a public role, that these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. But, you know, I’m doing this for my reasons.”
“I think everything that’s played out has shown people what the truth of the matter is. For me, the mission continues, but it has, it has, yes. It’s caused, yeah, as you say, part of a rift.”
He also called his win in court for his phone-hacking case “monumental,” noting that they got more than they expected:
“To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favor was obviously huge. But for him to go as far as he did with regard to, you know, this wasn’t just the individual people. This went right up to the top… this was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial that’s a monumental victory.”
Prince Harry argues that he isn’t doing this for his benefit, but for the greater good. “This is a David v Goliath situation,” he explained. “The Davids are the claimants and the Goliath is this vast media enterprise. I’m trying to get justice for everybody. I don’t think there is anybody better in the world to see this through than myself.”
He also addressed his mother, Princess Diana, during the documentary, and admitted that hacking made him “paranoid,” and that he shared a similar experience as his late mother, claiming she was also hacked. “I think paranoia is a very interesting word because yes, then it could be paranoia, but then when you’re vindicated it proves that you weren’t being paranoid. You know, same with my mother.
“You know, there is evidence to suggest that she was being hacked in the mid-nineties, probably one of the first people to be hacked, and yet still today, the press, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid. But she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right of what was happening to her. And she’s not around today to find out the truth.”
He admitted he felt “vindicated” after the win last December, getting £140,600 in damages. “Yeah, I did feel vindicated. Phone hacking has been going on for a long time. The defendants claim for it all to be historical.”
The royal also recalled getting hit over the head with a camera when he was younger after a night out. “In those days the paparazzi was something else. I remember that night out I remember being hit over the head by cameras. My security did everything to keep them away.” He added: “It feels horrible then and it feels horrible now.”
Of course, the last big revelation was that Prince Harry still fears for Markle’s safety if she were to return to the U.K. “It only takes one lone actor [who reads negative stories about Harry and Meghan in the press] with a knife or acid. That’s a real concern for me and why I won’t bring my wife back to this country.”
His new interview comes right after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex broke a 64-year-old tradition. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have updated their children’s surnames on their royal website, as Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie now carry the surname Sussex instead of Mountbatten-Windsor.
When they were born, their children weren’t given titles since they weren’t the grandchildren of the monarch, but that changed when King Charles was crowned. In 1960, the Privy Council released a decree that all male-line descendants of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, would have the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. Now, the two broke the tradition and changed it to Sussex.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been very outspoken about their fear of the media, and the new interview brings us back full circle, with new versions of the royal rift.
Published: Jul 26, 2024 04:35 am