‘She knew how much this meant to me’: Prince Harry claims Queen Elizabeth II was the only Royal to support him in controversial battle

A recent interview has seen Prince Harry speaking for the first time on his ongoing battle against the tabloid newspapers over phone-hacking allegations.

The prince recently appeared in the documentary Tabloids On Trial on the U.K. channel, ITV. The documentary delves into the illegal practices employed by the British press to obtain information and features Harry as well as other British celebrities such as Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church, and Paul Gascoigne.

What did Prince Harry say about Elizabeth II?

While being interviewed for the ITV documentary, Harry mentioned his grandmother, the late Elizabeth II, and what she thought of his battle in court with the tabloids. According to the Duke of Sussex, she was incredibly supportive of him and, prior to Elizabeth’s passing in 2022, the pair had spoken about the ongoing court battles on multiple occasions. 

“We had many conversations before she passed and this is very much something that she supported […] She knew how much this meant to me and she’s very much up there saying ‘see this through to the end’, without question.”

The documentary marks the first time Harry has spoken on the matter since he won his court case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which he called a “monumental victory”. It was decided that the tabloid had acted unlawfully in its methods to gather information about the prince’s personal life, according to the Independent.

Although he’s had a recent win with the case against MGN, Harry still has other battles to fight in court. An article from Variety reports that he has also filed suits against News Group Newspapers (NGN) as well as Associated Newspapers.

What do the rest of the royal family think about Harry’s court battle?

In the documentary, Prince Harry admits that his campaign against British tabloids has been a large contributing factor to the ever-increasing rift between him and the rest of his family. A supposed agreement between the Royals and NGN executives was made that would keep them out of the courtroom — apparently Queen Elizabeth knew of it, although Harry says he doesn’t blame her. This meant he couldn’t bring his claim against NGN sooner.

It seems like Harry is kicking up a stink and it’s ruffling some royal feathers — while the rest of the family seem content on letting sleeping dogs lie, and the past be the past, Harry is hellbent on retribution, believing that it’s “something that needs to be done.” The British press has antagonized him for years to the point that he no longer feels safe bringing his wife to the UK for fear of being attacked.

Despite having Elizabeth’s support, the same can’t be said for the rest of the family who haven’t shown the same sort of support. While he was reluctant to say anything about his relatives due to the “torrent of abuse” he would receive from the press, Harry did say, “It would be nice if we, you know, did it as a family.”