Harry warned royal family would become 'laughing stock' if he was blocked from suing The Sun's publisher
27 April 2023, 23:13
Prince Harry said the royal family would become a "laughing stock" if he was stopped from taking legal action against The Sun's publisher.
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The Duke of Sussex claimed in emails submitted to the High Court on Thursday that the Queen had been aware the newspaper was spying on the family and their friends.
He claims he was not informed about the true extent of phone hacking against the royals, and was not shown evidence relating to his voicemails being intercepted when told about it in 2012.
Harry has launched a phone hacking claim against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which is trying to convince the High Court to have the case thrown out on the basis that the claim is too late.
He said in his witness statement that he wanted to take action against in the run up to his wedding to Meghan in 2018.
He said he did not want to see Rupert Murdoch's employees at the event if they had not resolved the problem by then.
An email from Sally Osman, who was then the royals' director of communications, and News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson, was sent to the court.
It read: "The fact that we can have this conversation, with the Queen's full authority and knowledge of the scale and effect of hacking and surveillance on her family, their staff, associates, friends and family, is important with a view to resolution in the near future."
As he pushed for a resolution, he emailed her in February 2018, just months before his wedding: "The institution is supposed to be leading on this and is being made to look ineffective and weak.
"I can’t begin to tell you what it will say about the institution if this isn't resolved before the baby arrival and wedding. If it isn't resolved should the Queen be allowing them into Windsor on May 19th?"
"There needs to be an ultimatum otherwise this institution and everything it stands for becomes a laughing stock."
He went on to file the lawsuit against NGN in 2019.
Harry is due in the UK for King Charles’s coronation on May 6.
His visit is expected to be brief, and LBC has been told there is very little chance of repairing his relationship with his brother.
Journalist Tina Brown told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr: "They are totally estranged. I do not think there will be any contact between them at the coronation.
"I think that their relationship right now is on absolute ice. The longer Harry dwells on what happened in his life, the more he feels resentment against William, because he feels, I think, that William was even more calculated, essentially, in making him number two, making him the spare, and feel like the spare at all times.
"So, there's no contact between them, I'm told."
Prince William was "completely unaware" his brother planned to reveal details of an alleged secret phone hacking payout until it was made public, insiders also claimed.
The Prince of Wales was given the "very large" secret payout by Rupert Murdoch's media business to settle a phone-hacking claim, according to court filings.
It is claimed William was given the sum in 2020 following a legal claim made against the owner of The Sun and the News of the World.
According to Prince Harry, the "£1 million" payment shows the existence of a "secret agreement" between the royals and News Group Newspapers (NGN), which came about partly in an attempt to smooth the way for Camilla to become Queen Consort.
