The Duke of Sussex has described a judge’s ruling on phone hacking as a “monumental victory” in a new ITV1 documentary.
Prince Harry discussed his mission to expose illegal tactics of Britain’s tabloid press in the interview to be shown on Thursday.
It is his first major sit-down since the conclusion of his court case against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).
Sitting on a sofa and being interviewed face-to-face by ITV News’s Rebecca Barry, Harry said: “To go in there and come out and have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge.
“But for him to go as far as he did with regard to, you know, this wasn’t just the individual people.
“This went right up to the top...this was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial that’s a monumental victory.”
Tabloids On Trial featuring Harry - the first British royal in living memory to give evidence in court - airs on ITV1 & ITVX at 9pm.
The duke, 39, sued MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its publications were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” – gaining information by deception – and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.
In December, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that phone hacking became “widespread and habitual” at MGN titles in the late 1990s and that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN, awarding him £140,600 in damages.
A trial found 15 articles were the result of unlawful information gathering, and MGN and Harry also settled the remainder of his claim in February with “a substantial additional sum by way of damages” and Harry’s legal costs.
When asked if his determination to fight the tabloids destroyed the relationship with his family, Harry - who stepped back from duties with wife Meghan Markle to live in California - alleges: “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.
“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.”
Speaking of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, Barry asks him whether hacking made him paranoid.
Harry says: “I think paranoia is a very interesting word because yes, then it could be paranoia, but then when you’re vindicated it proves that you weren’t being paranoid. You know, same with my mother.”
He claims: “You know, there is evidence to suggest that she was being hacked in the mid-nineties, probably one of the first people to be hacked and yet still today, the press, the tabloid press very much enjoy painting her as being paranoid. But she wasn’t paranoid, she was absolutely right of what was happening to her. And she’s not around today to find out the truth.”
An MGN spokesperson told the Standard: “We welcomed the judgment in December 2023 that gave the business the necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago.
“Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid compensation.”
