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.
