Prince Harry is no stranger to demanding that everyone, everywhere should mind their own business and give him privacy — unless they’re reading his autobiography or watching his Netflix show, that is. However, if the Duke of Sussex’s latest awkward run-in at Britain’s High Court is anything to go by, he might have to work on getting his message straight.
Harry is embroiled in a trial after taking the Daily Mirror to court over allegations the newspaper breached his privacy by hacking his phone. One of the stories the Duke alleges was obtained in this way was a short article the paper ran in 2002, where they reported he had received golf clubs from his uncle, Earl Spencer, for his eighteenth birthday and was planning to spend the big day at Highgrove House with Prince William and the now-King Charles.
However, er, it appears that may not actually be what happened. According to documents referred to in the High Court, it appears that the information in the Daily Mirror article came not from phone hacking but from Harry himself. Oops.
According to the documents, Prince Harry gave an interview to the Press Association to mark his birthday where he revealed the gift and his plans for the day itself. The interview was arranged by Harry’s own PR team, and was later published on the Press Association’s news wire where many publications, including the Daily Mirror picked it up. The newspaper denies that any phone hacking was used to get the information they printed.
This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.
