Prince Harry: ‘My social circles were not leaky’
Michael Savage
The atmosphere has been tense between Prince Harry and Antony White, who is cross-examining him for Associated.
White is trying to establish that some of the journalists who write the 14 articles that Harry has complained about were in or on the fringes of his social circle and could have got stories through legitimate means.
Harry bristled at any suggestion of this and pushed back on the extent at which the journalists were in his circle, or whether his social circle would have shared information with them.
“My social circles were not leaky,” he said, adding that if he had suspicions about someone, he was forced to cut them off.
Key events
Michael Savage
“I am determined to hold Associated accountable, for everyone’s sake,” Harry’s written submission states.
The Duke of Sussex added:
I am therefore committed to pursuing this claim because I believe it is in the public’s interest.
If the defendant, the owner of various national newspapers, including the Daily Mail which, by its own definition, is the most influential and popular newspaper in the UK, can evade justice without there being a trial of my claims then what does that say about the industry as a whole and the consequences for our great country.
In response to a source close to the Duke of Sussex’s claim, who said Associated Newspapers Limited had used “game playing and dirty tricks” to bring forward Harry’s evidence, an Associated Newspapers spokesperson said:
Prince Harry has been in London since the weekend ready to give evidence in this case, which he launched three and half years ago.
We don’t intend to dignify this briefing by the other side with any further comment.
In his written evidence, the Duke of Sussex described a Daily Mail article from 2013, which stated he “faces a lonely New Year’s Eve”, as “creepy”.
He said:
Associated published this article about my relationship with Cressida Bonas, including information about our whereabouts and plans.
The headline speaks to exactly how they wanted me to be: lonely, miserable, depressed.
Again, this article is creepy. Kensington Palace should not be talking about private matters, but just because someone said Cressida’s not coming for Christmas, how did they know she was on Richard Branson’s island?
It’s a horrible existence for a young girl to be stalked like this – they probably tracked Cressida or blagged information about her flight, and would have had her under surveillance like they did my other girlfriends.
Duke of Sussex claims he was ‘forced to perform’ for reporters
Antony White KC, for Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), asked the Duke of Sussex about phone conversations he had with Rebecca English, now royal editor at the Daily Mail, during which he allegedly thanked her.
Harry said he had no recollection of the calls, but that journalists were people who “we were forced to work with, we had to have some kind of relationship with them”.
He added that he was “forced to perform” for reporters, sometimes at royal engagements, “knowing who they are and knowing full well the kind of stories they had written about me and how they have commercialised my private life”.
Harry, who took notes and occasionally sipped from a bottle of water while giving evidence, also said:
Yes, if there was an opportunity to befriend, through official channels, to be able to say ‘thank you’ or ‘are you ok?’, one would hope that would go a long way.
The duke also said that he thought the job of journalists was to “get stuff out of my friends”, earlier saying: “I am not friends with any of these journalists, and never have been.”
Discussing a Mail On Sunday article from October 2011, Harry said in his written evidence that the information in the story would have only been known by himself, Chelsy Davy and their close friends.
He continued:
It feels creepy, like you’re constantly being watched, and you can’t trust anyone around you.
It feels like every aspect of your life behind closed doors is being displayed to the world for amusement, entertainment and money.
The Duke of Sussex has said he “fundamentally” rejects the suggestion that “any coexisting with anybody means I have no private life”.
Harry also claimed that Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, “has been very good” at claiming that articles were in the public interest, and said Mr Dacre had “turned it into a business model”.
Justice Nicklin then said that witnesses “feel a particular pressure to make their point and to argue the point”, but continued: “You don’t have to do that, you just need to answer the questions.”
Harry responded that Associated Newspapers Ltd “have done a very good job of stripping out all the colour from the situations the claimants have been in”, that he had been under “24-hour surveillance” and that “people write about you claiming it is in the public interest when it clearly isn’t”.
Justice Nicklin said: “The careful balance between the public interest and the interference with privacy rights is one I have spent a career dealing with.”
Harry responded: “I just want you to have an idea of what it is like living in this world.”
The Duke of Sussex has claimed it was “beyond cruel” to publish an article about “confidential discussions” he had after a photo of a dying Diana, Princess of Wales was published in the Italian press.
In his written evidence, Harry described an article published in the Daily Mail in July 2006 as “really disgusting”, saying he was having private discussions with his brother, the now-Prince of Wales.
Harry said in his witness statement: “If Associated was willing to publish this type of material, then it really makes me wonder how far they are prepared to go and what else they learnt but never published because they would get caught.
“The amount of information and detail in this article would not have come from Clarence House; they were plainly listening in to calls as well as spending large sums on private investigators.
“To do that is simply shameful but to publish it I feel is beyond cruel and an abuse of journalistic privilege which I find extremely upsetting.”
There “would be a lot more out there” if three people who the Duke of Sussex described as some of his “closest friends” had decided to speak to the press, the High Court has heard.
Antony White KC, for Associated Newspapers Limited, suggested to Harry that comments from the duke of him talking about being in love with Chelsy Davy while at a campfire in Botswana could only have become known to Mail journalists if someone had told them.
Harry said the information was more likely picked up when he “talked about it on a voicemail” or other communication.
He added: “The quote is being attributed to three strangers. You are now trying to suggest that these three strangers are some of my closest friends. That does not add up.”
He continued: “These three people have never shared anything with anybody. If they had, there would be a lot more out there.”
Harry accuses the press of ‘wanting to drive me to drugs to sell papers’
Michael Savage
In his written witness statement, Harry makes serious claims against the publisher, all of which it denies.
Harry said the publisher waged “a campaign, an obsession of having every aspect of my life under surveillance so they could get the run on their competitors and drive me paranoid beyond belief, isolating me, and probably wanting to drive me to drugs and drinking to sell more of their papers”.
The Duke of Sussex has said in his written evidence that he was “really worried something bad was going to happen” when he was in a relationship with Chelsy Davy.
Describing a surprise visit to Argentina by Davy, Harry said in his written evidence that he “suspected someone had been paid to reveal our plans”.
He continued: “I was never suspicious of Chelsy in relation to stories like this but I was of her friends. If I saw this story at the time, I would have been very frustrated and angry.
“I would have questioned how Associated found out this information. But, at the same time, I would have felt like I had to accept this as the reality of my life.
“This sort of intrusion was terrifying for Chelsy: it made her feel like she was being hunted and the press had caught her and it was terrifying for me too because there was nothing I could do to stop it and now she was in my world.
“She was ‘shaken’ and I was really paranoid about trying to protect our privacy, as the article says.
“Their behaviour and treatment of Chelsy was not normal. I was really worried something bad was going to happen.”
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