Prince Harry has revealed a major reason he and his family remain estranged.
Since resigning from royal duties in 2020 and relocating his family, which includes Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, to California, the youngest son of King Charles has had a rocky relationship with the monarchy.
Launching countless attacks on them with a tell-all interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey in which he and Meghan claim an unnamed member of the Royal family questioned the colour of the then-unborn Archie, to the release of his memoir Spare in which he alleged his brother, Prince William physically attacked him, there has been no shortage of moments to reportedly infuriate the family.
Now, the Duke of Sussex has spoken out revealing the royal rift includes another key element, his legal battle against the British tabloids.
Speaking to ITV’s Rebecca Barry as part of the UK network’s documentary Tabloids on Trial, Harry claimed his family’s unwillingness to join him in his fight against the news outlets is a “central piece” to his estrangement.
“I think that’s certainly a central piece to it,” he said. Adding, “but that’s a hard question to answer, because anything I say about my family results in a torrent of abuse from the press.”
The ITV series focuses on the 2011 phone hacking scandal which included hacking and illegal snooping methods by a major UK tabloid between the 1990s and 2000s.
Prince Harry was one of several claimants in a lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers related to allegations of unlawful information gathering in previous decades. Photo / Getty Images
Since finding out he was a victim of the scandal, Harry has raised multiple court cases against the tabloid parent companies, such as News Group Newspapers and Mirror Group Newspapers, and aims to hold them accountable for invasion of privacy.
“I’ve made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done, it would be nice if we did it as a family,” he said. “I believe that from a service standpoint and when you’re in a public role, these are the things that we should be doing for the greater good. I’m doing this for my reasons.”
He continued to tell the news outlet that for him “the mission continues” and added, “it’s caused part of a rift”.
Harry’s legal team alleged in 2023 that William privately settled with Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers to “avoid the situation where a member of the royal family would have to sit in the witness box and recount the specific details of the private and highly sensitive voicemails that had been intercepted”.
The alleged settlement, as reported by Reuters and NBC News at the time, prevented Harry from raising a lawsuit earlier than he did as part of the agreement which allegedly meant members of the Royal family were unable to bring about litigation.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as she wipes away a tear at the sitting volleyball medal ceremony during day six of the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany in September 2023. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Since resigning from being a working royal, Harry and his lawyer, David Sherborne, have raised multiple lawsuits and won twice against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
NBC News reported MGN would, as compensation for invading the Duke’s privacy through phone hacking and illegal snooping, cover his legal costs and damages, would also make him a payment of £400,000 ($870,681).
Two months earlier, Harry was also awarded £130,000 ($282,971) in damages in relation to the company’s phone hacking scandal.
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