Prince
Harry: decision to take on tabloids contributed to family ‘rift’
Duke of
Sussex tells ITV documentary that legal battles against newspapers ‘central’ to
deterioration in relations
Caroline Davies
Wed 24 Jul 2024 16.46 BST
The Duke of Sussex believes his determination to take on
tabloid newspapers in the courts was a “central piece” in the deterioration of
relations between him and his family in the UK.
Speaking about his legal battles against newspapers over
privacy, Prince Harry told an ITV documentary Tabloids on Trial that his
decision to fight contributed to the “rift” with the royal family.
Asked if his decision destroyed the relationship, Harry
says: “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.”
He continues: “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.”
Asked what he thought of the royal family’s decision not to
fight in the way he has done, he replies: “I think everything that has 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.”
Harry has long despaired of the royal family’s failure to
take on the press, and has previously revealed that his father, King Charles,
told him it would be a “suicide mission”.
In his memoir, Spare, he wrote of what he saw as the royal
family’s connivance with the media through alleged leaking, believing himself
to be collateral damage. In the book Harry was withering about his father’s
failure to take on the media, writing that “the same shoddy bastards who’d
portrayed [Charles] as a clown” were now “tormenting and bullying” him and his
wife, Meghan.
In December 2023, after he won damages in his hacking case
against Mirror Group Newspapers, Harry made clear he felt vindication for his
long-running legal battles against sections of the British media. He said in
the statement at the time that he had “been told that slaying dragons will get
you burned”, adding a defiant: “The mission continues.”
Speaking for the first time about the case, he told the
documentary: “To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour
was obviously huge … a monumental victory.”
He also spoke about fears that his mother, the late Diana,
Princess of Wales, may have been an early victim of phone hacking.
The duke, who is one of several celebrities appearing in the
documentary which airs on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Thursday, is also involved in
continuing legal actions over privacy against News Group Newspapers and
Associated Newspapers.
No comments:
Post a Comment