Stories About Prince Harry "Came From Members of the Royal Family"

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published 12 May 2023

Certain tabloid stories about Prince Harry were based around information disclosed by members or representatives of the Royal Family, a court has heard.

Prince Harry is currently involved in a number of court cases against tabloid publishers in the U.K. over issues including invasion of privacy and libel. If, like me, you're finding it hard to keep up, this by Reuters is an easy-to-follow summary.

The Duke of Sussex' latest case to go to court is the one against Mirror Group Newspapers, the publishers of the Daily Mirror. The accusers allege that stories were published in the paper over a number of years based on information gathered unlawfully, including via phone hacking, according to Sky News.

Now that court proceedings have begun, MGN has denied that a majority of the articles the duke cited as part of his claim included unlawfully gathered information.

Instead, MGN's lawyer claimed in a court document seen by Yahoo! News: "Many [of the articles] came from information disclosed by or on behalf of royal households or members of the Royal Family."

This claim is a significant one, because if proven accurate, it would work to corroborate previous statements from Harry, who alleged in his Netflix docuseries that representatives of the royal households planted stories in the media in order to control the narrative in various ways.

For example, Harry claimed that he had not been consulted on a "joint" statement he supposedly put out with his brother Prince William following the Sussexes' decision to quit their royal duties.

Harry explained on the series, "A story came out saying that part of the reason why Meghan and I were leaving was because William had bullied us out.

"And once I got in the car after [a] meeting, I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother's name, squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family."

Harry is expected to testify in person in the case against MGN in June.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.