An emotional Prince Harry told the High Court on Wednesday that media attacks have made his wife Meghan's life 'an absolute misery'. The Duke of Sussex appeared to choke up during his two-and-a-half hours in the witness stand on the third day of his legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
Harry said it was 'disgusting' to hear ANL claim in their defence that he does not have any right to privacy. The duke described the case as a 'recurring traumatic experience' and a 'repeat of the past', adding: 'I have never believed that my life is open season to be commercialised by these people.'
Harry, along with Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Sir Simon Hughes, Sadie Frost and Liz Hurley, is suing ANL over allegations of unlawful information gathering, including phone hacking and 'blagging' private records. ANL has strongly denied the claims.
During cross-examination, Harry denied using a Facebook profile named 'Mr Mischief' to contact a Mail on Sunday journalist. ANL's barrister, Antony White KC, suggested the duke used the pseudonym to message former diary editor Charlotte Griffiths, who claimed they met in Ibiza in 2011. Harry said this was incorrect, stating he had only travelled to Ibiza with Meghan and their son Archie.
In his witness statement, Harry said he has had an 'uneasy relationship' with the press since his mother's death in 1997, and that the royal policy was 'never complain, never explain'. He claims 14 articles published by ANL between 2001 and 2013 were based on unlawful information gathering, including one about confidential discussions after a photo of a dying Princess Diana was published, which he described as 'beyond cruel'.
